PSY 2307 - Chapter 6 Lecture

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Chapter 6: Surveys and Observations: Describing What People Do PSY 2307 CHAPTER 6 IS DUE FRIDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2023, AT 11:59 PM, CST. 1

Outline • Construct Validity of Surveys and Polls − Choosing Question Formats − Writing Well-Worded Questions • Encouraging Accurate Responses • Construct Validity of Behavioral Observations • Making Reliable and Valid Observations 2

Introduction • Researchers use surveys, polls, and observations to measure variables • Good construct validity ensures that the method of measurement matches the theoretical concept of interest • Learning Objective : Describe how researchers make systematic observations with good construct validity Researchers use surveys and polls to ask people questions over the telephone, in door-to-door interviews, through the mail, or over the Internet. You may have been asked to take surveys in various situations. Perhaps after you purchased an item from an Internet retailer, you got an e-mail asking you to post a review. While you were reading an online newspaper, maybe a survey popped up. Good construct validity ensures that the method of measurement matches the theoretical concept of interest (i.e., are you accurately measuring what you are supposed to be measuring?). In this chapter, we will describe how researchers make systematic observations with good construct validity. 3

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Construct Validity of Surveys and Polls • Survey : When people are asked about a consumer product • Poll : When people are asked about their social or political opinions • Both methods pose questions to people on the phone, in interviews, on written questionnaires or online The word survey is often used when people are asked about a consumer product, Whereas the word poll is used when people are asked about their social or political opinions. However, these two terms can be interchangeable, and in this book, survey and poll both mean the same thing: a method of posing questions to people on the phone, in personal interviews, on written questionnaires, or online. Psychologists might conduct national polls as part of their research, or they may use the polling information they read (as consumers of information) to inspire further research. How much can you learn about a phenomenon just by asking people questions? It depends on how well you ask. As you will learn, researchers who develop their questions carefully can support frequency, association, or causal claims that have excellent construct validity. 4

Choosing Question Formats • Four question formats: 1. Open-ended 2. Forced-choice 3. Likert scale 4. Semantic differential Research questions typically fall into one of four types: 1) open-ended, 2) forced- choice, 3) Likert scale, and 4) semantic differential. 5

Choosing Question Formats • Open-ended : Allows participants to answer any way they like − Provides spontaneous, rich information − Responses must be coded and categorized Researchers may ask open-ended questions that allow respondents to answer any way they like. They might ask people to name the public figure they admire the most or ask a sample of people to describe their views on immigration. Departing overnight guests might be asked to submit comments about their experience at a hotel. Their various responses to open-ended questions provide researchers with spontaneous, rich information. The drawback is that the responses must be coded and categorized, a process that is often difficult and time-consuming. In the interest of efficiency, therefore, researchers in psychology often restrict the answers people can give. Unfortunately, participants usually do not like open-ended questions because they require an extra degree of effort compared to Likert-scale questions. 6

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Choosing Question Formats • Forced-choice : Participants give their opinion by picking the best of two or more options • Example: Choose 1 statement from each pair of items 1.______ I really like to be the center of attention. ______ It makes me uncomfortable to be the center of attention. 2. ______ I am going to be a great person. ______ I hope I am going to be successful. One specific way to ask survey questions uses forced-choice questions , in which people give their opinion by picking the best of two or more options. Forced-choice questions are often used in political polls, such as asking which of two or three candidates respondents plan to vote for. An example of a psychology measure that uses forced-choice questions is the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI; Raskin & Terry, 1988). This instrument asks people to choose one statement from each of 40 pairs of items, such as the following: 1. I really like to be the center of attention. It makes me uncomfortable to be the center of attention. 2. I am going to be a great person. I hope I am going to be successful To score a survey like this, the researcher adds up the number of times people choose the “narcissistic” response over the “non - narcissistic” one (in the example items above, the narcissistic response is the first option). 7

Choosing Question Formats • Likert scale : Participants use a rating scale to indicate how much they (dis)agree with a statement • Example: I am able to do things as well as most other people. 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Strongly Disagree Agree In another question format, known as the Likert scale , people are presented with a statement and are asked to use a rating scale to indicate their degree of agreement. When such a scale contains more than one item and each response value is labeled with the specific terms strongly agree, agree, neither agree nor disagree, disagree, and strongly disagree, it is often called a Likert scale (Likert, 1932). If it does not follow this format exactly (e.g., if it has only one item, or if its response labels are a bit different from the original Likert labels) it may be called a Likert-type scale. Above is one of the ten items from the Rosenberg self-esteem inventory, a commonly used measure of self-esteem (Rosenberg, 1965). It can be considered a Likert scale. 8

Choosing Question Formats • Semantic differential : When participants are asked to rate a target object using a numeric scale that is anchored with adjectives • Example: Overall Quality Profs get 1 2 3 4 5 A real gem F’s too Level of Difficulty Show up 1 2 3 4 5 Hardest thing and pass I’ve ever done Instead of degree of agreement, respondents might be asked to rate a target object using a numeric scale that is anchored with adjectives; this is called a semantic differential format. For example, on the Internet site RateMyProfessors.com, students assign ratings to a professor using the following adjective phrases: The five-star rating format that Internet rating sites (like Yelp) use is another example of this technique. Generally, one star means “poor” or “I don’t like it,” and five stars means “outstanding” or even “Woohoo! As good as it gets!” There are other question types, of course, and researchers might combine formats on a single survey. The point is that the format of a question (open-ended, forced-choice, or Likert scale) does not make or break its construct validity. The way the questions are worded, and the order in which they appear, are much more important. 9

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The Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. They are known for conducting comprehensive and well-designed surveys on a variety of topics including politics, education, criminal justice, and more. Below is the link to a brief clip of someone from their research team explaining the importance of question wording and placement when it comes to survey design. https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=eFzGdQrr2K8&%3Blist=PLZ9z -Af5ISavJpPlvdMU4T-etIDOUmldk&%3Bindex=6&%3Bt=0s 10

Writing Well-Worded Questions • Leading question: When a question’s wording leads people to a particular response • Double-barreled question : Asking two questions in one • Negatively worded questions : Questions that cause confusion by containing negative phrasing As with other research findings, when you interrogate a survey result, your first question is about construct validity: How well was that variable measured? The way a question is worded and presented in a survey can make a tremendous difference in how people answer. It is crucial that each question be clear and straightforward. Poll and survey creators work to ensure that the wording and order of the questions do not influence respondents’ answers. A leading question is one whose wording leads people to a particular response. A double-barreled question asks two questions in one. These questions have poor construct validity because it is unclear which part of the question people are responding to. Negatively worded questions are another way survey items can be unnecessarily complicated. Whenever a question contains negative phrasing, it can cause confusion, thereby reducing the construct validity of a survey or poll In general, if the intention of a survey is to capture respondents’ true opinions, the survey writers might attempt to word every question as neutrally as possible. When 11

researchers want to measure how much the wording matters for their topic, they word each question more than one way. If the results are the same regardless of the wording, they can conclude that question wording does not affect people’s responses to that particular topic. If the results are different, then they may need to report the results separately for each version of the question. 11

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Encouraging Accurate Responses Socially desirable responding : Participants refrain from telling the truth to look “good” Most of us want to look good in the eyes of others, but when survey respondents give answers that make them look better than they really are, these responses decrease the survey’s construct validity. This phenomenon is known as socially desirable responding or faking good . The idea is that because respondents are embarrassed, shy, or worried about giving an unpopular opinion, they will not tell the truth on a survey or other self-report measure. To avoid socially desirable responding, a researcher might ensure that the participants know their responses are anonymous — perhaps by conducting the survey online, or in the case of an in-person interview, reminding people of their anonymity right before asking sensitive questions 12

Construct Validity of Behavioral Observations • Observational research : Systematically recording how people behave • Construct validity can be threatened by three problems… 1. Observer bias 2. Observer effects 3. Reactivity Survey and poll results are among the most common types of data used to support a frequency claim — the kind you read most often in newspapers or on websites. Researchers also study people simply by watching them in action. When a researcher watches people or animals and systematically records how they behave or what they are doing, it is called observational research . Some scientists believe observing behavior is better than collecting self-reports through surveys, because people cannot always report on their behavior or past events accurately. Observational research is a way to operationalize a conceptual variable, so when interrogating a study, we need to ask about the construct validity of any observational measure. We ask: What is the variable of interest, and did the observations accurately measure that variable? Although observational research may seem straightforward, researchers must work quite diligently to be sure their observations are reliable and valid. The construct validity of observations can be threatened by three problems: observer bias , observer effects , and reactivity . Observations have good construct validity to 13

the extent that they can avoid these three problems. Observer bias occurs when observers’ expectations influence their interpretation of the participants’ behaviors or the outcome of the study. Instead of rating behaviors objectively, observers rate behaviors according to their own expectations or hypotheses. Observer effects , or expectancy effects, occur when the observer inadvertently changes the behavior of those they are observing. Finally, reactivity occurs when there is a change in the behavior of a participant because they know they are being watched. Potential solutions to these issues include conducting blind studies and unobtrusive observations. 13

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So, is it ethical for researchers to observe the behaviors of others? • Most psychologists believe it is ethical to observe people in public • Ensuring anonymity protects participants and ensures that they provide accurate responses • Ethical decisions made by the IRB protect participants privacy and confidentiality So, is it ethical for researchers to observe the behaviors of others? It depends. Most psychologists believe it is ethical to watch people in museums, classrooms, hockey games, or even at the sinks of public bathrooms because in those settings people can reasonably expect their activities to be public, not private. Of course, when psychologists report the results of such observational studies, they do not specifically identify any of the people who were observed. 14

Chapter 6 Key Concepts • Construct Validity of Surveys and Polls − Survey, poll − Open ended, forced-choice, Likert scale, semantic differential − Leading questions, double-barreled questions, negatively worded questions • Encouraging Accurate Responses − Socially desirable responding • Construct Validity of Behavioral Observations − Observational research • Making Reliably and Valid Observations − Observer bias, observer effects, reactivity 15