PSYC101 Week 1 Forum Topic Part 2

Part 2 Topic Questions

Our course textbook discusses several research approaches, including case studies, observational studies, surveys, psychological tests and laboratory experiments 

Imagine you are going to conduct research investigating a human behavior that you would be interested in learning more about. Based on your reading describe what research method you would use for investigating it.

1. What drew you to this method?  Why would it be well suited for your hypothetical research?

2. What are the strengths and weaknesses of this type of research?

3. Then, when responding to your classmates for the minimum of two reply posts requirement, take their research topic of interest and recommend another type of research approach to the study of the topic they chose (Ex:  "Another method that might also work is _______" or "Have you thought of the _________ method?" - we want to be respectful and professional and not criticize a classmate's method choice) and explain why you would recommend that alternative method. 

To help jump start this part of the discussion, here is an example of a human behavior that has been researched:  Say you were interested in whether men or women approach each other first in social situations where they do not know one another.  You might have an opinion based on personal experience but you want to avoid bias toward one's own experience and ideas that such might cause, so you are going to conduct a research study.  To research this, one might choose "naturalistic observation," which could require going into nightclubs and taking note of what you observe men and women doing.  Another research method would be to give out a survey to see how men and women respond to the question of whether they approach the other.  As researchers who have used these methods for studying human behavior will tell us and as is discussed in our textbook, each has a both a strength and a weakness.