Research Methods in Developmental Psychology PDF

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Research Methods in Developmental Psychology

Research Methods in Developmental Psychology What does studying development mean? The study of development involves identifiying change over time The study of developmental trajectories

Why study development? It can help us answer many questions e.g. are we born with personality Helps us better understand human nature What's the role of early experiences? What can parents/educators/society do to promote optimal development?

Ethical Considerations Research organisations (e.g. University, NHS give clear guidance about appropriate ethical issues e.g. developmental psychologists need to consider carefully how to present themes in some research that may be unfamiliar, unsuitable or even frightening to children

Informed consent Informed consent: Agreement based on a clear and full understanding of the purposes and procedures of the research study, to participate in that study. But does the baby/child have this full understanding? Parents or legal guardians must provide informed consent on the infant's behalf

Information sheet / Debriefing: Provide children/caregivers/techers with information about the purpose of the findings of the research

Challenges Young children cannot read instructions They cannot talk (babies) They often change mood/state We cannot ask them to stay awake/happy They get bored quickly Babies are unpredictable

Approaches Scientific methods: framing hypothesis, measure-able and replicable method, collecting and analysing data to the test the hp When this is not possible (e.g. exploring a new topic), exploratory methods: Pilot study, collect info/data first to build a hp It is important to provide the child with the best opportunity, i.e. best method to show of their abilities

Research Designs A study aims to determine how the various factors in development (age, gender, experiences, SES (social economic status), etc.) are related and interact, and to identify the reasons of changes in development

Correlational Designs A correlation does not indicate causal relations between factors Tests for a relationships Test whether some variables (gender, age, race) or experiences of childhood are related to other variables or experiences of childhood in a systematic or predictable way Positive Correlation: Both measures increased in step with one another Negative Correlation: One measure increases and the other decreases

Experimental Designs These investigate causal connections among factors, can be conducted in a lab or a in a natural setting

Lab Experiments These allow research to control the one factor they have hypothesised to be the cause of the variable they want to study Usually involve two groups of participants: Experimental and Control group Participants are randomly assigned into these two groups Independent variable: Factor that experimenter is manipulating Dependent variable: Factor that the experimenter expects to change as a function of change in the IV

Field Experiments Limitations of Lab Experiments: Ecological validity Field experiments: A change is deliberately introduced in a person's normal enviroment (manipulation) Important to minimise the observer bias by making sure the observer is unaware of the kind of manipulation

Natural Experiments Researchers measure the result of events that occur naturally in the real world Children are already exposed to a set of conditions that are of interest to the researcher It allows some assessment of cause and effect by clearly and systematically examining differences between the group of interest and a control group

Cross-Sectional Design Compairing different (groups of) individuals of different ages at the same point in time on a specific topic

Non informative about causes of developmental changes because we cannot know how the children were at a younger age

Sequential Design This combines feautures of both the cross-sectional and the longitudinal methods by testing samples of children of different ages of periodic intervals

Methods Reports Reports by family members of teachers Strength: based on many observations over time in a variety of situations Weakness: human memory is not reliable

Self Reports A child reports information about her/himself, answers a series of questions Potential Problem: language and comprehension and production

Observation Observation in a natural environment Ideal to 'make sure' this is what happens in real and everyday life but it might be difficult to: Maintain a spontaneous behaviour when a stranger is observing (however if observation is done on a regular basis, people get used to it) Achieve entirely objective observation Keep all the variables under control Comparisons between individuals not recommended Observation in a artificial environment, e.g. lab Structured observation controlled situation and fixed variables but application in everday life can only be inferred

High amplitude sucking technique Experiment

Babies increase their rate of sucking on a dummy when they hear something novel and their response increases when they are able to discriminate between stimuli, e.g. they suck harder to hear their mother's voice or their native language The evidence that newborns can discriminate their parents' voice and lanuage indicates the basis of language abilities

Looking behaviour experiment Infants have relatively developed visual abilities This is how newborn infant perceives expression at different distances

This tells us that even newborns can pay attention and look at surrounding stimuli showing their visual preferences

Preferential looking tasks Presenting two or more stimuli and measuring the length of time the infant looks at each The stimulus that the infant looks at for longer can be inferred to be more interesting

Habituation Technique The infant is first presented with a stimulus until he/she 'get's bored' of it, i.e. the stimulus becomes familiar and the baby looks away In second phase (preferential looking), this stimulus is presented alongside with a novel stimulus - the location is also counterbalanced If the infant looks longer at the novel stimulus, one can infer that the infant recognized the familiar stimulus and can discriminate between the two

stimuli

Cueing Paradigms Spatial cueing paradigm Gaze following task - Gaze following is fundamental for the development of joint/shared attention

Eye Tracker It gathers data about gaze direction and eye movements

Measures of the Peripheral Nervous System (PNS) Heart rate, sweating response or skin, muscle activity

Measures of the Central Nervous System (CNS) fRMI, EEG, NIRS

fMRI Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging It uses strong magnetic fields to detect the level of oxygentated blood present across the brain This indicated the brain areas involved in a particular task Downsides: Expensive Participants are required to stay still Noisy and Claustrophobic environment In development it's used with asleep infants or children > 5

EEG Electroencephalogram Possibly the most widely used brain imaging technique in developmental psychology It measures the electrical activity on the scalp which arises from neurons that fire when the brain is active

Researchers use EEG to measure 'Event Related Potentials' ERP brain activity timelocked to a particular stimulus or behaviour Strengths: Relatively cheap to maintain and tolerable for young babies

NIRS Near infrared spectroscopy Similar to fMRI, it detects levels of oxyhaemoglobin in the brain - active areas in the brain Infrared light (like the sun rays) passes through the skull and is refracted differently by oxygenated and deoxygentaed blood

Handwritten Notes...