Research Methods

Types of research Developmental research designs Ethics

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Developmental Research Methods and Designs

Types of Research
Descriptive Correlational Experimental

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Developmental Research Methods and Designs

Descriptive Research Example:

How do adolescents spend their time?

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Developmental Research Methods and Designs

People with whom adolescents spend their time (Csikszentmihalyi & Larson, 1994)
Friends Alone Family Others Classmates

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Developmental Research Methods and Designs

Correlational Research Example:

Are childrens friendships related to their relationships with siblings?

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Developmental Research Methods and Designs

Becoming a sibling
Sibling interaction at
6 months Peer play quality Fantasy play .44* 14 months .47*

.25

.51*
(Kramer & Gottman, 1992)

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Developmental Research Methods and Designs

Interpretation
affective experience emotional support working through issues particular child characteristics

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Developmental Research Methods and Designs

Experimental Research Example:

Does drawing improve childrens memory for an event?

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Developmental Research Methods and Designs

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Developmental Research Methods and Designs

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Developmental Research Methods and Designs

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The Effects of Drawing on Memory Performance (Butler et al, 1995)

20 15 10 5 0

RECALL

NO DRAW

DRAW
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Developmental Research Methods and Designs

Measures
Independent variable: drawing vs telling alone Dependent variable: memory performance

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Developmental Research Methods and Designs

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The Effects of Drawing on Memory Performance (Butler et al, 1995)

20 15 10 5 0
Free Recall
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Tell Draw

Direct ?
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Developmental Research Methods and Designs

Developmental Designs
Cross-sectional Longitudinal Sequential Microgenetic

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Developmental Research Methods and Designs

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Childrens Memory for Medical Emergencies: 2 Years Later

100 80 60 40 20 0 Injury Hospital

% Accuracy

3-4

5-6

8-9

12-13
Peterson, 1999
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Age in Years
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Mean Percent of Relevant Components Recalled at 2 years

100 80

Mean %

60 40 20 0 Injury Hospital

3-6

8-13

Age in Years
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Cross-sectional
Cheap and fast tells little about how change occurs cohort effects

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Developmental Research Methods and Designs

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Longitudinal
see patterns of change subjects are own control expensive high drop out rates practice effects how to assess same behavior at different ages other events cloud conclusions
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Prosocial Development from 7 to 19

7 6 Internalized Law 5 4 3 7 9 11 13 15 17 19
(Eisenberg et al, 1995)
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Hedonistic, selffocused

Age in Years
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Developmental Research Methods and Designs

Cross-sequential
same strength and weaknesses as longitudinal, just not as striking less time, less $

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Developmental Research Methods and Designs

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Microgenetic
target process of change

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Developmental Research Methods and Designs

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Infant Locomotion (Adolph, 1997)

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Developmental Research Methods and Designs

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Developmental Research Methods and Designs

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Strategies on Safe and Risky Declines

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Developmental Research Methods and Designs

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Microgenetic

Expensive High drop out rates Practice effects/boring

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Developmental Research Methods and Designs

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Are you doing all you can to stimulate your infants development?

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Developmental Research Methods and Designs

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The Objectives of Babyscapes

Faciliate parent-child bonding Provide multi-sensory learning Increase attention span

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Developmental Research Methods and Designs

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Experimental Design
Random assignment
random sampling rare representative sampling

Selection bias Subject variables Differential mortality

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Developmental Research Methods and Designs

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Ethics: Selected Issues

Do no harm! Informed consent Confidentiality Obtain necessary assistance Beneficial treatments

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Developmental Research Methods and Designs

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