1. Research Methods
• Types of research
• Developmental research designs
• Ethics
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Types of Research
• Descriptive
• Correlational
• Experimental
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Descriptive Research
Example:
How do adolescents spend their time?
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2. People with whom adolescents spend their time
(Csikszentmihalyi & Larson, 1994)
Friends
Alone
Family
Others
Classmates
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Correlational Research
Example:
Are children’s friendships related to their
relationships with siblings?
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Becoming a sibling…
Sibling interaction at
6 months 14 months
Peer play
quality .44* .47*
Fantasy
play .25 .51*
(Kramer & Gottman, 1992)
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3. Interpretation
• affective experience
• emotional support
• working through issues
• particular child characteristics
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Experimental Research
Example:
Does drawing improve children’s
memory for an event?
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The Effects of Drawing on Memory
Performance (Butler et al, 1995)
20
15
10 RECALL
5
0
NO DRAW DRAW
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Measures
• Independent variable:
drawing vs telling alone
• Dependent variable:
memory performance
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5. The Effects of Drawing on Memory
Performance (Butler et al, 1995)
20
15
10 Tell
Draw
5
0
Free Recall Direct ?
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Developmental Designs
• Cross-sectional
• Longitudinal
• Sequential
• Microgenetic
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Children’s Memory for Medical
Emergencies: 2 Years Later
100
80
% Accuracy
60
Injury
40 Hospital
20
0
2 3-4 5-6 8-9 12-13
Age in Years
Peterson, 1999
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6. Mean Percent of Relevant
Components Recalled at 2 years
100
80
Mean %
60
Injury
40 Hospital
20
0
3-6 8-13
Age in Years
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Cross-sectional
• Cheap and fast
• tells little about how change occurs
• cohort effects
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Longitudinal
• see patterns of change
• subjects are own control
• expensive
• high drop out rates
• practice effects
• how to assess same behavior at different
ages
• other events cloud conclusions
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7. Prosocial Development from 7 to 19
7
6
Internalized Law
5
Hedonistic, self-
focused
4
3
7 9 11 13 15 17 19
Age in Years (Eisenberg et al, 1995)
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Cross-sequential
• same strength and weaknesses as
longitudinal, just not as striking
• less time, less $
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Microgenetic
• target process of change
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8. Infant Locomotion (Adolph, 1997)
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Strategies on “Safe” and “Risky” Declines
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9. Microgenetic
• Expensive
• High drop out rates
• Practice effects/boring
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Are you doing all you can
to stimulate your infant’s
development?
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The Objectives of Babyscapes
• Faciliate parent-child bonding
• Provide multi-sensory learning
• Increase attention span
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10. Experimental Design
• Random assignment
random sampling rare
representative sampling
• Selection bias
• Subject variables
• Differential “mortality”
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Ethics:
Selected Issues
• Do no harm!
• Informed consent
• Confidentiality
• Obtain necessary assistance
• Beneficial treatments
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