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Understanding Human Behaviour Notes

This document outlines key concepts in behavioral research including stages of research such as developing a hypothesis and research design, measuring variables, establishing causality and validity, and selecting appropriate scales of measurement. It discusses direct and indirect measures of attitudes and behaviors, such as self-report questionnaires and physiological responses. Validity ensures measures accurately assess the intended construct, while reliability means measures are consistent. Qualitative and quantitative approaches each have strengths for research.

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Cyn Stan
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219 views3 pages

Understanding Human Behaviour Notes

This document outlines key concepts in behavioral research including stages of research such as developing a hypothesis and research design, measuring variables, establishing causality and validity, and selecting appropriate scales of measurement. It discusses direct and indirect measures of attitudes and behaviors, such as self-report questionnaires and physiological responses. Validity ensures measures accurately assess the intended construct, while reliability means measures are consistent. Qualitative and quantitative approaches each have strengths for research.

Uploaded by

Cyn Stan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Lecture 5:

Stages of behavioural studies research:

Problem
Theory/hypothesis
Research design
Measurement selection/design
Select sample
Collect data/run study
Code and analyse data
Write research report

Measurement:

Can it be quantified
Quality of measures
Changes in variables

Causality:

Correlation is not causation but can show how one thing leads to another

Variables:

Independent variable: the thing that influences the DV.


Dependent variable (outcome variable): a variable that is influenced by
another e.g. weight, drinking.

Validity:

The degree to which a measure accurately measures what it is supposed to


measure (Vogt & Johnson, 2011)

Types of validity:

Face validity: where it looks like it measures what it is supposed to measure


Concurrent validity (Criterion validity): does it correlate strongly with an
already established measure? If you develop a measure for alcohol drinking,
results must match scores already available for alcohol drinking.
Predictive validity (Criterion validity): Does it actually measure the behaviour
it is supposed to represent.
Discriminant Validity: Making sure it doesnt measure something unrelated to
the construct of interest.

Reliability:

Reliability of a measure means that it is consistent and stable.

Types of reliability in questionnaires:

Test-re test: the measure should result in the same scores at two different
time points.
Split-half reliability: if a 10-item scale measuring self esteem was divided in
half (e.g. odd vs even questions) the two sets of 5-items should yield the
same scores.

Scales of measurement:

Stanley Stevens (1946) on the theory of scales of measurement: All


measurement can be done using one of four scales: 1. Nominal (labels,
catergories or catergorical data), 2. Ordinal (ranking, ordering, relative
position), 3. Interval (assesses the distance between things/objects/items
i.e. 25 degrees to 35 degrees is the same as 45 degrees to 55 degress, 4.
Ratio (similar to interval, but has an absolute zero point: e.g length of hair,
unlikely to be used in social sciences) . These are challenged ideas.
Strongly agree to strongly disagree: Likert scale or Interval scale
Ranking food in order of preference: ordinal scale
Where do you live: Richmond, Caulfield, Clayton: nominal scale

Qualitative vs Quantitative:

Qualitative: open-ended format (can provide insights and depth)


Quantitative: can provide degree or level, level of agreement, involve more
people because of its simplicity

Types of scale responses:

Forced choice (dichotomous): yes or no


Forced choice scale (no mid-point): -3 -2 -1 1 2 3
Semantic differential opposite meanings as anchors for ends of scale: Hate
------------------ Love. Issue with this is equivalence between scales. Would
need to make up a quantifiable scale to relate to it.

Types of attitude measures for attitudes and behaviours:

Direct measures: self report, questionnaires, scales, surveys and behavioural


measures
Indirect measures:
o Observational: watch behaviour, reaction, eye movements
o Physiological measure: pupillary dilation, facial muscular activity, brain
activity, skin response
o Implicit measures: word/stem completion (method for assessing
memory and priming tasks), implicit association test (IAT): new
approach, designed to test strength of a persons automatic
association between mental representation of objects.
Explicit (direct): measures may represent conscious attitudes
Implicit (indirect): may represent stored associations built up over time. May
be unconscious.

Socially desirable responding (SDR):

Impression management: we want to appear to be a good person. Try to


please researcher.

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