Associate Level Material
Appendix B

Research Methods Matrix

A psychologist is planning to conduct a study that would examine pathological liars and the quality of their romantic relationships. You have been asked to provide the psychologist with a recommendation for which research method should be used to gather data on the pathological liars and their spouses.

Using the table below list each research method and its advantages and disadvantages for use in this study.

|Research Method |Advantages |Disadvantages |
|Naturalistic Observation- Research method |The advantage is that the behavior is more |The disadvantage is observer bias. The |
|involving the systematic study of animal |natural because it is being observed natural |researcher might observe, but obscure the |
|or human behavior in natural settings |environment (real-life) than in a lab |results in his/her own interpretation. The|
|rather than in the laboratory (Morris, |setting. |individual knows they are being observed |
|2010). | |and they might act different to alter the |
| | |results. |
|Case Studies- Intensive description and |It allows the observer to study one or a |Disadvantages are observer bias and since |
|analysis of a single individual or just a |number of individuals with interviews, |you are studying one case, the observer |
|few individuals (Morris, 2010). |psychological tests and other techniques used|might draw conclusions from the one case |
| |to study the individuals. It also is in their|study. |
| |natural environment. | |
|Surveys- Research technique in which |The advantage is the researcher can receive a|The disadvantages are that you need to |
|questionnaires or interviews are |large number of responses from a carefully |carefully think about the questions you |
|administered to a selected group of people|selected group of people and can draw |will ask because they individuals being |
|(Morris, 2010). |conclusion from the surveys. |surveyed might not give an honest answer. |
| | |Also, you cannot observe the behavior of |
| | |the individual. |
|Correlational Research-Research technique |The advantages of this are the researcher can|The disadvantage is that cause and effect |
|based on the naturally occurring |compare a past test of characteristics that |relationship cannot be explained. |
|relationship between two or more variables|the individual took to a recent test and | |
|(Morris, 2010).