METHODOLOGICAL PROBLEMS OF PSYCHOLOGY,
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PROBLEMS( CROSS CULTURAL PSY RELATED)
1.· Uncritical acceptance of observed differences in the social domain as reflecting valid cross-cultural differences
Some social psychological differences may be deeply rooted in a culture and may even manifestthemselves in a wide variety of behaviors, whereas others merely reflect superficial conventions that are unrelated to other psychological processes.
2.· Uncritical rejection of observed cross-cultural differences in the cognitive domain as measurement artifacts:
3.· Insufficient attention for equivalence and bias:
In psychology we tend to pay little attention to sampling procedures. The replicability of our results would improve if we would follow the sampling procedures that are the standard in cross-national survey research
- · Overgeneralizations
Our samples are often small and chosen more for convenience than appropriateness; similarly, our instruments are often short and do not adequately cover the underlying construct or behavior domain of interest (Embretson, 1983). These factors alone or in combination lead to a poor replicability of results, and this sub-optimal mapping of constructs may be one reason for seemingly conflicting results reported by different researchers.
· 5. Paradigmatic organization of research
individualism—collectivism
two-country comparisons, often a South-East Asian country and the USA.
- Focus on significance testing, insufficient usage of effect size estimates, and scant attention to pattern differences:
- · Poor measurement of the environment/social context: The quality of our instruments to measure individuals exceeds by far the quality of the measurement of the environment. This is hardly surprising in mainstream
psychology, which after all deals more with individuals than with their environments, but the prominence of this one-sided development is more surprising in cross-cultural psychology
- Western bias: Many writers have lamented about the Western bias in psychology in general, and cross-cultural psychology in particular..... there
has been severe criticism of validity and reliability problems associated
with a blind importation of Western instruments in non-Western countries
Ethics of Psychological Research
WITH HUMAN BEINGS
Universities and colleges (where most psychological research is carried out) usually
have institutional review boards, groups of psychologists or other professionals who look
over each proposed study and judge it according to its safety and consideration for the
research participants.
- Rights and well-being of participants must be weighed against the study’s value
to science. In other words, people come first, research second.
- Participants must be allowed to make an informed decision about participation. a legal term
known as informed consent.
- Deception must be justified.
In some cases, it is necessary to deceive the participants because the study wouldn’t work any other way. about the test beforehand, you would have to withhold that part of the experiment.
The participants have to be told after the study exactly why the deception was important.This is called debriefing
- Participants may withdraw from the study at any time.
- Participants must be protected from risks or told explicitly of risks.
- Investigators must debrief participants, telling the true nature of the study and
expectations of results
- Data must remain confidential
- If for any reason a study results in undesirable consequences for the participant,
the researcher is responsible for detecting and removing, or correcting, these
consequences.
WITH ANIMALS
any animal research is also covered by ethical considerations;
primary focus is on avoiding any unnecessary pain or suffering
why use animals?
animals are easier to control
animals have shorter lives; easier to study long-term effects
some research questions are important but can be dif cult
or dangerous to answer with human participants