Identify what type of study each of the examples below are. Each study correlates with one
example; there are no repeats.
1. You want to study the Christian community and ask its residents if they would mind you
observing their services for the next 6 months. You won’t be taking part but simply
observing.
2. You want to know if people report higher stress when presented with a male doctor, a
female doctor or a nonbinary doctor so you create a simulated doctor’s office experience
with these three different groups.
3. Meredith has a rare personality disorder and her twin doesn’t. A Psychology researcher
asks for Meredith’s mother’s permission to interview Meredith and study her over the
next few weeks.
4. A researcher wants to study the side effects of birth control on women, more specifically,
if birth control increases or decreases cramps. They send out a questionnaire to 3000
willing participants.
5. You want to study the happiness of middle class Americans over their lifespan. You
gather a sample of 500 people of each age bracket and have them all take a single
survey that asks about their current happiness.
6. You wonder if growing up in rural America is connected to developing depression in
adulthood. You discover that growing up in rural America has a positive association with
depression.
7. You want to study the Harlem community so you move into an apartment in the area.
You inform your neighbors of the study and ask if they would be willing participants then
you join their community for events and social gatherings as a member of the
community.
8. You want to study the happiness of middle class Americans over their lifespan. You
conduct surveys and collect qualitative data every 5 years from age 5 to death.
Word Bank:
Case Study
Survey
Naturalistic Observation
Correlational
Experiment
Participant Observation
Longitudinal
Cross-Sectional