Descriptive Research Strategy

Descriptive Research Strategy

Question 1: Descriptive Research Strategy

There are several fundamentals or central parts of descriptive research methods and they include an observational, case study and survey methods. To begin with, the observational way where human or animal behavior is carefully monitored and observed. This method is divided into two categories and that is naturalistic observation and laboratory observation (Stangor, Charles & Jennifer, 69).

Another fundamental method is the case study method, which involves an in-depth study of an individual or a group of people (Stangor, Charles & Jennifer, 49. The disadvantage of case studies is that they have lacked the accuracy of prediction ad the biases resulting from the inaccuracy can lead to misinterpretations of participants’ descriptions and poor generalization.

Lastly is the survey method, where the participants are required to answer questions administered through interviews and questionnaires. The assessment and description of the responses given are done after the participants have responded to the questions.

Surveys can be administered through interviews and also through a questionnaire. The questionnaire is a paper containing a list of questions that respondents need to answer individually (Stangor, Charles & Jennifer, 99). This will help the researcher to get the information they want. This method has several advantages like questionnaires are inexpensive, allow comparability, and allow getting of results. The disadvantages are that they are not suitable for obtaining long and complex issues, and some questionnaires may be incorrectly filled. Surveys can also be administered through interviews, and interviews also have advantages and disadvantages. The main advantage is that it is suitable for even those people who cannot read and write. The interviewee can also gauge the accuracy of the answers. Disadvantages include interviews that are costly, time-consuming, and sometimes lack of accessibility of the respondents.

Question 2: Key Ethical Standards Covered in the APA Ethics Code

Ethical issues in human participation in research are critical. One of the critical ethical standards covered in the American Psychological Association is No harm. The researchers need to avoid anything that will harm research participants or any torture or any cruel behavior (Brenner et al., 79). Hurting in this context would mean anything that can put a participant in a position of discomfort. So, the remedy to this essential ethical standard is the minimization of the risks that would cause them harm.

Another critical ethical standard is informed consent. This essential foundational element of the whole system of APA research ethics (Brenner et al., 79). It requires that an individual provide the available information that he or she has used so that to make the study success so that an individual can make a well informed and rational decision to participate in the study. It is advised that participants should always be providing consent or should be taking part in the agreement without being forced or even engaging in corrupt practices. There should be a proper explanation as to why the participants sometimes deny approval.

Protecting confidentiality is another critical component of the American Psychological Association research ethics. Participants always have and will always be willing to volunteer information, especially information that is private, confidential, and sensitive only when the researchers assure them to hold such information in confidence (Brenner et al., 79). Researchers can achieve this standard by getting to know form participants which data is private and which one is not and try as much as possible to provide privacy to confidential information.

Question 3: Characteristics of Between Subjects Design

Between subjects, the design has several characteristics that describe it. One of the features is that between subjects, models are used in both experimental and non-experimental designs. It has several features and of them is that it compares different groups of individuals. There is manipulation of the independent variables by the researcher and, lastly creation of different separate conditions. The diverse set of groups or individuals is then assigned to each of the various shapes (Emerson, 78). After this, the researchers measure the dependent variable for each person, and examination and analysis of the data are also examined, looking for differences between the groups. Another characteristic is that each treatment condition or level of the independent variable includes a different group of individuals. There is no repetition of having the same group for the same situation.

There are three ways of limiting confounding by individual differences and one of them is randomization, which involves assigning individuals to groups that have limited to ensure predetermined characteristics for the separate groups (Emerson, 89). The second one is matching groups where there is an assignment of individuals to the group so that a specific variable is balanced. The last one is restricting the range of variability, whereby one variable is held constant.

Question 4: Fundamentals of Factorial Design

A factorial design is a design research that has two or more independent variables. The variables can include variables such as gender and age. The number of factors always describes the fundamentals of factorial models, and they include two-factor design and three-factor design (Arévalo et al., 60). A two-factor design is an experimental design that allows data to be collected for all the possible combinations of the levels of the two factors of interest. For instance, a balanced (a) by (b) is a factorial design for which there are levels of Factor A, b levels of Factor B, and n independent replications taken at each of the × b treatment combinations. Three-factor design has three groupings factors that are independent variables A, B, and C.

Also, under a factorial design, we have main effects and interaction effects. Under the main effects, the differences between two columns or rows means are called mains effects. Interaction effects, on the other hand, are a factorial design that allows researchers to examine how combinations of factors working together affect behavior (Arévalo et al., 78). Using a hypothetical example of data showing the treatment factor for two-factor study, for instance, fixed time and self-regulated time columns, will give the main effect for a mode of presentation while rows will be controlling the time of the study.