Clinical/Case Studies
- an approach where researchers focus on one person or a handful of individuals
- often done in individuals who exhibit rare conditions or cases.
Strengths
- allows researchers to gain insight and deep understanding of an individual with a rare particular phenomenon
Weaknesses
- research in case studies only apply to very special groups of people
- difficult to generalize results to the larger population or to an average person.
Naturalistic Observation
- an approach where researchers observes a behavior in its natural context
- to observe a phenomena, researchers blend into the environment to observe behavior while remaining as unobtrusive and as inconspicuous as possible
- this is because when people know that they are being observed, they are less likely to act naturally
Strengths
- information collected has a high validity or accuracy as observing behavior as they normally would has a higher degree of realism than other approaches
- the ability for results and findings to be generalized to real-world situations is enhanced
Weaknesses
- difficult to set up and control
- it comes at the fact that realistic data when or if it can be observed
- requires significant time, money and some luck.
- prone to observer bias
Surveys
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lists of questions to be answered by research participants.
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can be delivered or administered as paper-and-pencil questionnaires, via an electronic device, or conducted verbally
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can be completed in a short amount of time
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Population
- the overall group of individuals that researchers want to study
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Sample
- a subset of individuals selected from the population
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Researchers study the sample via a survey, then they seek to generalize results to the entire population.
Strengths
- easier to administer to a large number of people
Weaknesses
- people don’t always give accurate responses
- they may lie, misremember, or answer questions in a way that make them look good.
Archival Research
- an approach that uses existing records to answer various research questions.
- relies on past records or data sets to look for patterns or relationships.
Strengths
- time and money invested is generally less than with other approaches.
Weaknesses
- you have no control over what info was previously collected.
- research questions have to be tailored according to the structure of the data sets.
- this is so that they can be answered according to the structure of the data sets.
- consistency between two different sources cannot be guaranteed
Longitudinal and Cross-sectional Research
- Longitudinal Research
- a research design where the data-gathering procedure is administered to the same set of individuals repeatedly over an extended periods of time
- often informative as they can be used, for example, to track development of diseases and how risk factors develop.over time
- requires an incredible time and resource investment.
- research participants may also choose to discontinue their participation, or may undergo significant life changes
- attrition rates are commonly high on the course of a longitudinal study.
- Cross-sectional Research
- a research design where the researcher compares multiple subgroups of the population at the same time
- has a shorter-term time investment but limited to the differences that exist between each subgroup.