research in social psychology

8/3/2019 Research in Social Psychology

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Amity Institute Of PsychologyandAllied Sciences

Research in Applied Social Psychology

Dr. Neelam Pandey


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Personal knowledge is the mostprecious gift in the life of a

(wo)man.

Polanyi (1958, 1975)


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Triplett (1898) Social Influence

Triplett (1897-1898) conducted what has been

considered by many the 1st social psychologyexperiment

Observed that cyclists go faster when racing against

others or in front of a crowd


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Theory Research

Theory Research


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A Model of the Scientific Method Employed by Psychologists

Hunches

Based onBackgroundKnowledgepersonal

experiences ,casual

observation

Theoryaboutsocial

behavior

Predictionsderived from

theory-hypothesis

Theory isrejected

Predictionsconfirmed

Predictionsdisconfirmed

Empiricalresearch to test

predictions

Theory ismodified

Confidencein theoryincreased

Confidencein theoryreduced


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Scientific Research Methods in Social Psychology

Methods used in social psychology often depend on theresearch question. Experimental

Laboratory Field

Non-experimental methods Survey

Case study Archival Observational

Quantitative vs. Qualitative


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Experimental Method

The experimental method flourished within social

psychology 1930s-1970s

Manipulate one or more variables (independent variable)

& look at effect on other variable(s) (dependent variable),control extraneous variables

Still the most popular method in social psychology today


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Laboratory Experiments

Typical Advantages Internal Validity controlledenvironment means that results obtained aredue to manipulation of IV & causality can be

inferred?


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Field Experiments

Like lab experiments we still manipulate an IVand measure its effect on a DV. e.g., Sherifs summer camp studies.


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Non-Experimental MethodsOften used when it is impossible to perform an experiment:

Archival Research

e.g., look at media reports & how they change over time this typeof data may be biased. Case Studye.g., major events, such as genocide, tsunami Survey Research (usually co relational)

e.g., look at the relationship between attitudes & intentions tobehave a certain way Observational Field Studies (observe behavior in natural setting)e.g., observe aggression in childrens play this type of researchtends to be less reactive.


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Action Research


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Action ResearchAn iterative approach to research

Developed by Kurt Lewin (1940s) (who is known as

the founder of modern social psychology)

Lewin conducted systematic, dynamic experiments

with real groups

Pioneered use of action research, in which what is

learnt is applied again, within the experiment, in acyclical, dynamic fashion


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Action Research

Action Research is the process

by which practitioners attempt tostudy their problems scientificallyin order to guide, correct, andevaluate their decisions andactions.

-Kurt Lewin (1947)

Plan

ActObserve

Reflect


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Kurt Lewin is creditedas the person whocoined the term actionresearch.

His approach involves aspiral of steps, each ofwhich is composed of acircle of planning, actionand fact-finding aboutthe result of the actionThe basic cycle involves
http://www.infed.org/research/b-actres.htmhttp://www.infed.org/research/b-actres.htmhttp://www.infed.org/research/b-actres.htmhttp://www.infed.org/research/b-actres.htmhttp://www.infed.org/research/b-actres.htm


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Carr and Kemmis [1986] define AR as follows:

"Action Research is a form of self-reflective

enquiry undertaken by the participants [teachers,

students or principals, for example] in social[including educational] situations in order to

improve the rationality and justice of

[a] their own social or educational practices,[b] their understanding of these practices, and

[c] the situations [and institutions] in which these

practices are carried out."


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Professor John Elliott, (at the time of writing) Dean of the

School of Education at UEA, and a very influential figure, has

defined AR as:"the study of a social situation with a view to improving the

quality of action within it." [Elliott, 1982]

Bridget Somekh [in McBride, 1989] has built upon this

definition to derive a more inclusive one.

She sees AR as:"The study of a social situation, involving the participants

themselves as researchers, with a view to improving the

quality of action within it."


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What is Action Research?Practitioner based research

Systematic enquiry made publicImproving student learningDeveloping teacher as learner

Enquiry made public

Values/criteria in Action Research


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AIPSDOING ACTION RESEARCH - THE PROCESS


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Why do Action Research?

Living our values/criteria in our professional practiceyou need to be clear about what you are doing and whyyour are doing it.

Empowering us as teachers to bring about improvement.

Teaching as a form of enquiry, leading to knowledge andunderstanding of practice.

Developing awareness of practice by being critical ofpractice.

Helping to bring about a more anticipatory/collaborative

view of teaching and learning.


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Basic steps in action research

Review current practice

Identify aspect worth investigating

Imagine a way forward Try it out

Take stock

Modify in light of what we find

Monitor

Review

Evaluate


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Kemmis model

Cyclical model ofaction research


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Research in Professional and Public Life

Action research is a collaborative approach to inquiryor investigation thatprovides people with the meansto take systematic action to resolve specificproblems.Action research is not a panacea for all ills and doesnot resolve all problems but provides a means forpeople to get a handle on their situations and

formulate effective solutions to problems they face intheir public and professional lives. The basic actionresearch routine provides a simple yet powerfulframeworklook, think, act


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Research in Professional and Public Life

Look Gather relevant information (Gather data) Build a picture: Describe the situation (Define and describe)

Think Explore and analyze: What is happening here? (Analyze) Interpret and explain: How/why are things as they are?

(Theorize)

Act Plan (Report) Implement

Evaluate


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LOOK

THINK

ACTACT ACT

LOOK LOOK

THINK THINK

Action Research Interacting Spiral


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How to do Action Research? Whitehead Living Educational Theory

Whitehead (1989 ) formulated action reflections cycles into thesestatements:

What am I concerned about/what do I want to improve;

What am I going to do about it;

What data will I need to collect to enable me to make a judgement on myeffectiveness;

Act and gather data;

Evaluation of effectiveness;

Modification of concerns, ideas and actions in the light of evaluations; Submission of descriptions and explanation of my learning in the

educational enquiry, How do I improve my practice? to w validation

group.


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Living Educational Theory

Two processes involved in following these steps:

Systematic actions as you work through steps

Your actions embody your learning and your learning is

informed by your reflections on your actions.


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Living form of Action Research

Questions of the type;

What am I doing?

Why am I doing it?

Give a living form to an educational enquiry.

How do I improve what I am doing?

How do I live my values more fully in my practice?(Whitehead, 1993)


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Action Research Advantages

Relatively natural more mundane realism / externalvalidity

Better construct validity because the situations are

less artificial and multiple measures are used

Ethical

Empowering e.g., research is combined with

education


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Action Research

Disadvantages Internal Validity Lack of scientific control - cant infercausality

Demand Characteristics e.g., wording effects in

surveys.

Participant Effects May guess the purpose of a survey,may have social desirability effects.

Researcher-Dependent


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The Crisis in Social Psychology: Who Cares?

(The Relevance Crisis)

1970s: Limits of the scientific method become clear

and the social constructionist viewpoint became more

accepted.

Criticism of experimental social psychology as

obsessed with arcane theory and conducting cleverexperiments without any social relevance (Ring) vs.Criticisms of social constructionism for being tooconcerned with relevance (McQuire)


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The Crisis in Social Psychology:Empiricist vs. Constructionist Debate

Major criticisms of social psychology (late 1960s)

reductionist positivistic demand characteristics experimenter effects ethical issues lack of social context


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Reductionism

Reducing behavior to the individual, ignoringsocial context

e.g. studying stereotyping in the lab by looking

at individual cognitive processes


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Positivism

Non-critical acceptance of science and its methods

Is the scientific method & especially the experiment

suitable for social psychology?

Science as religion

Is objectivity possible?


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Research Ethics

Informed consent

Protect participants from harm & discomfort

Avoid excessive use of deception

Confidentiality

Fully debrief participants


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Social Constructionism

1. Culturally Embedded: Social psychology experiments dis-embed eventsfrom the cultural context e.g., body language, spitting.

2. Sequentially Embedded: Experiments only consider very short sequencesof eventsso are they appropriate for explaining phenomena like attraction?

3. Openly Competitive: In the real world, a no. of stimuli compete isolated inthe lab.

4. Final Common Pathways: Multiply determined; naturally confound eachother.

5. Complexly Determined: Difficult to manipulate greater than 3 IVs in the lab.

6. Social Psychology as History: Meanings change over time e.g.,racism/language change from negroes/coloured to Black to African

Americans (back to Black?


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Social Psychology as History

Interpretation of the meaning of events & behaviorchange across cultural history

Therefore, there are no general laws of behavior

all hypotheses contain some truth for somepersons at some time


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Research Methods in Social Constructionism - 1

Social constructionism (social world is product ofsocially & historically situated practices)

Research findings do not have meaning until

interpreted

No knowledge is transhistorical & transcultural (i.e.,all knowledge is culturally situated


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Research Methods in Social Constructionism - 2

Importance of reflexivity (researchers awareness of

own biases, assumptions etc.)

Critical social psychology (value-laden & political)

Research methods focus on analysis of language,

discourse & use of rhetoric

Observations, interviews, records of naturally

occurring events


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Summary

The application of scientific methods distinguished psychologyas a unique and respected field during the 20th century.

Social psychology has been a hot-bed of development anddebate with regard to research methods in social science.

Research methods in psychology have exhibited a waxing &

waning paradigmatic debate between specific, controlledexperimental studies and larger, more complex, naturallyoccurring social psychological studies


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Questions Which research method is best? Is the experiment still useful? Methodological pluralism?

research in social psychology

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