IB Psychology a guide to research methods
Whether you are studying IB Psychology at Standard Level or Higher Level you will need to have an understanding of approaches to researching behaviour in order to sufficiently answer the exam questions you will encounter. Below is an excerpt from our forthcoming IB Psychology Standard Level and Higher Level study guide written by IB teacher and author Jacob Solomon, which presents a guide to research methods you will encounter in your studies. Bookmark this useful tool and refer back to it throughout your IB Psychology course and during your IB exam preparation to remind yourself of these fundamentals of researching behaviour. For a reminder of when our IB Psychology study guide becomes available, sign-up for our newsletter below.
Approaches to researching behaviour
This part of the syllabus enables you to apply critical thinking skills in evaluating the strengths and limitations of the research studies by challenging their assumptions, designs, methodologies, findings, and conclusions. Though methodology and critical analysis underlie the entire syllabus, they are formally examined in their own right at HL only.
However, approaches to researching behavior form a vital, integral part of the course, without which psychology would have little or no credibility. Methods used to study behavior including the design of the investigation, the methods of analysis, the drawing of conclusions and the critical analysis of the results. These are essential elements within the theories and research studies occurring throughout the chapter’s text. Suitable responses to exam questions in Papers 1 and 2, as well as 3 will tend to incorporate research methods and their critical analysis of their use in various depths. This applies equally to HL and SL students. For this reason, SL students as well as HL students will need to be familiar with the content of this chapter. Its purpose is to place and present the methods mostly already encountered into a systematic framework that is coherent, logical, all-embracing, and easy to review.
Indeed, every essay response question in Papers 1 and 2 (HL and SL) allocates 12 marks out of 22 for the method-related issues: Criterion C use of research to support answer (6 marks), and Criterion D critical thinking (6).
As a student, you will find yourself constantly dealing with methods as you progress through the course. You will have also grappled with research designs, hypotheses, methods of analysis, and evaluation of evidence in the experimental investigation that form your internal assessment. You should also find yourself revisiting earlier theories and research studies in the light of your growing understanding of the methods through your progress in this unit.
Quantitative research methods used in psychology
The five quantitative methods in the table below are commonly used to investigate psychological phenomena. These are laboratory experiments, field experiments, quasi-experiments, natural experiments, and correlations research.
Methods
Laboratory experiments
Description
Uses similar samples in the control condition and in the test condition(s). The IV (independent variable) is manipulated entirely by the researcher.
Strengths
Allows researcher to determine cause and effect.
Laboratory environment is easier to replicate than natural environment.
Limitations
Needs to take into account possible extraneous variables that if not suitably controlled can become confounding variables which may negate the validity of the study.
Field experiments
Similar to #1, but the researcher manipulates the IV in a natural, real-life rather than laboratory setting
Allows researcher to determine cause and effect. Ecological validity; natural setting
May be difficult to control extraneous variables in a natural environment May be harder to find similar conditions for replication
Quasi-experiments
The IV is pre-existing; it occurs naturally, e.g. gender, age group, nationality. It is not manipulated by the researcher
Ecological validity; natural setting.
Experimenter cannot manipulate the IV.
Natural experiments
All variables occur naturally. The IV cannot be manipulated by the researcher
Likely to have ecological validity.
Extraneously variables could be difficult to control May be hard to find similar conditions for replication
Correlations research
Non experimental: no test and control populations, no IV and DV (dependent variable). Focus on two or more variables that may be related to each other, the degree of the relationship being shown in the statistical degree that the variables appear to be related.
Allows the use of quantitative data that might be difficult or impossible to manipulate experimentally, e.g. genotypes.
Can accommodate the collection of data over a longer period of time.
Cannot not demonstrate cause and effect: variables A and B which appear to be correlated may have both been influenced by not-studied variable C. At best, can only indicate a statistically significant relationship.
Qualitative methods used in Psychology
The three qualitative methods in the table below are commonly used to investigate psychological phenomena. These are interviews, observations, and case studies.
These methods can elicit in-depth information that cannot always be obtained by quantitative research. Qualitative research can also explore in depth relationships that have been indicated by previous quantitative studies.
Methods
1. Interviews
Interviews in qualitative research are typically semi-structured or unstructured. They become focus groups where several respondents are being interviewed at the same time.
Description
Semi-structured interviews include both closed and open-ended questions that enable the participant to expand in detail and the researcher to use prompts to keep the responses within the framework of the research objectives. They tend to be informal and conversational in style.
Unstructured interviews tend to be narrative in content: typically, “tell me what you thought, how you acted, and how you would act now when in that situation”. They tend to be flexible: the participant can be asked to expand on the parts of the the narrative of importance to the researcher.
Focus groups typically consist of about 6 respondents where the researcher, presents the areas of investigation and keeps the group discussion on focus. It can enable participants to react to one another as they would in real life.
Strengths
Interviews and focus groups enable the researcher to pursue themes of importance that arise during the interview that until then may have not been considered by the researcher.
They also enable participant(s) to communicate an in-depth experience from their own viewpoint though which the researcher can explore how they construct meaning in their lives.
As long as focus groups are well-structured, and skillfully managed, they can respond to issues raised by others and enable the interviewer to access the spectrum of opinion. The participant is likely to feel less pressure from the interviewer when being one of a few than when being the only one.
Limitations
May be time consuming and demanding to analyze.
Lack of investigator reflexivity (where the data’s accuracy may be influenced by the viewpoint of the researcher) could affect the objectivity of the research.
Possibility of the participants’ responses being affected by demand characteristics (the participant responds according to what he or she thinks that the researcher wants to hear), especially when not feeling relaxed and secure.
Lack of structure can elicit a great deal of irrelevant information and can often be difficult to manage.
Focus groups may face clashes in personalities, dominant personalities over-presenting and shy participants unable to make their contributions heard.
2. Observations
Naturalistic observations include participant observation (where the researcher(s) act as part of the group studied) or non-participant observation; and overt observation (where participants know that they are being watched) or covert observation (where participants do not know that they are being watched).
Naturalistic observations in qualitative (as well as in quantitative) research involve measuring naturally-occurring behavior with as much precision as possible.
Likely to produce field-notes, record frequencies of behavior, and intensities of the behavior (e.g. displays of aggression) as judged by the observing researcher.
Likely to have high ecological validity as it takes place in the natural environment, and in the usual routines of those being watched
Can supply a relatively large amount of detailed data. Observation can more easily build up trust between participant and researcher than in the laboratory environment, with less likelihood of participants’ behaviors being influenced by demand characteristics – particularly true in covert observations.
Using several observers with standardized procedures and comparing notes afterwards reduces possible individual researcher bias.
Difficulties in assessing how far naturalistic observation-based findings may be transferable to environments that are not the same as the one observed.
Problems with in recording data accurately and objectively in the field, particularly if only one researcher is involved.
(b) Possibility of interference from extraneously variables: atypical behavior may erroneously generalized as being the norm.
Ethical issues involved in covert observations that have to be justified, as this method invariably involves deception.
Possibilities of the Hawthorne Effect: where the behavior of those observed differs from the norm as they perceive they are being watched.
Possible difficulties in finding similar environments in which to replicate the research.
3. Case studies
Focus is on one individual or a small group, usually over a period.
Data collection could use both periodic observations and semi-structured interviews with the student and teacher. For example, a researcher focuses on a single immigrant teenager in investigating the efficacy of a particular approach for learning English for the first time. It can be used to investigate sensitive issues, such as team issues and conflicts within a group.
Likely to elicit highly level of detail. Also, the only way of studying people in unique circumstances (for example a single survivor of a particular sensory deprivation).
Likely to share the advantages common to observations and semi-structured interviews (above).
Likely to share the same difficulties common to observations and semi-structured interviews (above).
Possible hazard of the interviewer effect, where the interviewer’s attitude and demeanor could influence respondent inaccuracy, for example giving a sudden frown that could prompt a demand-characteristics-influenced response (applies also to interviews in general).
The respondent may exercise the right to withdraw information later regarded as sensitive, leaving the investigator with no recourse to continue the study.
Continue revising
The review of research methods is but one component of approaches to researching behaviour. You will need to build your understanding of other elements such as research design, ethical considerations in psychology, analysing data, evaluating research, and drawing conclusions. Throughout your IB diploma, seek out tools that help you develop your critical thinking skills and overall understanding and refer back to them regularly to inform your revision and exam preparation. Our IB Psychology resource page is a great place to start when looking for new tools or resources.