Methods Strengths & Weaknesses

Naturalistic Observation

Disadvantages

• No interaction may cause misinterpretation
• Don’t get full details
• Too many variables to explain outcome completely
• Time consuming

Advantages

• Completely natural
• Subjects don’t know they’re being studied
• No distractions
• Reflects real world
• See greater length of time for changes

Interview

Disadvantages

• Bias can influence
• Person may be nervous
• Apprehensive subjects know they’re being studied
• Answers may be unclear
• Subject may be untrustworthy
• Only one person is interviewed
• Might not get full information
• Catch subject on off day

Advantages

• Personal
• Details- facial expressions
• Ask deeper into questions
• Not time consuming

Survey

Disadvantages

• Low response rate
• Impersonal
• Biased questions
• Tendency to receive imprecise answers
• Represents large part of but not whole population
• Those taking survey can lie
• Answers and questions tend to be vague
• Questions may not pertain to subject’s personal life

Advantages

· Covers many people

· Impersonal

· Subjects don’t tend to take things such as embarrassment into consideration

· Cost effective

· Convenience

Case Study

Disadvantages

· Possibly receive useless information

· Subject responses may be biased or dishonest

· Nothing to compare to

· Require lots of effort

· Different views

· Can’t generalize results w00t

Advantages

· Background info

· Deep study

· Study people in similar circumstances

· Different perspectives

· Can be used for therapy

Field experiment

Advantages

• Setting= more realistic
• Contains necessary stimuli for subjects reactions
• Certain aspects of the subject can be assumed
• Research can be detailed info

Weaknesses

· Difficult to know the extent of all variables

· Difficult to control for independent variable

· Less safety for the experiments

· Equipment might not meet necessary needs

· Uncontrollable stimuli/environment

· Researcher may be biased

· Tests limited on amount of info

· Tests limited on amount of Obj. info

Lab experiment

Strengths

• Researcher = Objective
• Provides correct info usually
• Mostly guaranteed safety
• Settings may be controlled
• They can re-create the experiment if there was a mistake

Weaknesses

• Artificial settings, not real world
• Have to make assumptions on some aspects on the experiment
• Tests limited on amount of information
• Interpretations of results may be distorted

Psychological Test

Strengths

• Standardized
• Easy to administer
• Specific tests for each trait
• Increases accurate
• Very little room for speculation – accurate interpretation

Weaknesses

• Not personalized for each subject
• Subject may manipulate test by choosing “ideal” answers
• Focuses only on one thing