(CHAPTER 2) TECHNIQUES, TOOLS, AND TACTICS Anggita Putri Maharani 22/495026/EK/23874 Ilmu Ekonomi WHY STUDY RESEARCH METHODS? THE ANSWER As a manager, you may interact with psychologists to find solutions to management problems, and you will be responsible for making decisions based on the recommendations of the company psychologist or of the consulting psychologist your organization has hired. THREE REQUIREMENTS OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 1) Objective observation Objection evidence, which they view without preconceived ideas or biases. Example, the decision about something cannot be determined by private hunches, by the recommendation of some prestigious authority, or even by past research. The decision should be based on an objective evaluation of the facts of the present situation. 2) Control For example, if psychologists are studying the effects of background music on the efficiency of employees in data-entry jobs, they must control the experimental situation so that no factors other than the music can affect worker productivity. 3) Duplication and Verification We can have more confidence in research findings if they have been verified by other investigators. Verification is possible only under carefully controlled conditions. Thus, psychological research in any setting requires systematic planning, control of the experimental situation so that the findings can be duplicated and verified, and objective observation. THE PROBLEM OF PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH Not All Behavior Can Be Studied One obvious limitation is that research methods cannot be applied to every problem. Observing Behavior Can Change It For example, the workers may deliberately work faster or slower than they would on a normal workday when they were not being observed. Hawthorne effect Sometimes employee behavior changes just because something new has been introduced into the workplace. This phenomenon was first observed during the Hawthorne experiments and has come to be called the Hawthorne effect Artificial Settings Simulated job environment. In such cases, research results will be based on performance in a situation that is not identical to the job environment in which the findings are to be applied. College Students as Subjects Thus, college students may behave differently from employees and managers on the job, and these differences limit the generalizability of the research findings. The topic : the psychologists suspect some problem is insufficient lighting THE EXPERIMENTAL METHOD The independent variable is the level of lighting. This is the stimulus variable, which the psychologists will increase during the experiment to determine the effects. The dependent variable is the workers' response rate-in this case, their measured rate of production with the changed lighting. The Element of control Controlling the experimental conditions ensures that any change in the behavior or performance of the research participants is solely attributable to the independent variable. Two groups of subjects in an experiment Experimental group, which consists of the subjects exposed to the independent variable Control group. The people in the control group and the experimental group must be as similar as possible THE NATURALISTIC OBSERVATION METHOD Advantage Observation is that the behaviors being observed and the situations in which they are observed are typical of what occurs in everyday life. Disadvantage Because researchers do not manipulate the inde- pendent variable, it is sometimes difficult to conclude with assurance what brought about any resulting change in the subjects' behavior or performance. Another limitation is that the observation cannot be repeated. It is impossible to duplicate the exact conditions that prevailed during the initial observation. SURVEYS AND OPINION POLLS Interviews Web-Based Surveys The advantage : Finding and training The advantage : These surveys are faster appearance, manner, and behavior can types of surveys capable interviewers is vital because their influence the way people cooperate with them and answer their questions A disadvantage : Some people are uncomfortable disclosing per- sonal and less expensive to conduct than other A disadvantage : Management has tended to solicit employee opinions just because it can be done so easily information in a face-to-face situation. Paper-and-Pencil Questionnaires The advantage : Questionnaires offer a cheaper and more convenient way to obtain information from large numbers of people over a wide geographical area A disadvantage : The response rate is typically only 40% to 45%. Telephone Surveys The advantage : The advantage of a low cost per interview and the possibility that a single interviewer can cobtact several hundred people a day A disadvantage : It is difficult to reach some people by telephone because modern technology makes it easy for them to avoid unwanted calls ANALYZING RESEARCH DATA The Variables : Descriptive Statistics Mean, Median, and Mode Normal Distributions and Skewed Distributions Variability and the Standard Deviation Item 5 20% Item 1 20% Item 4 20% Item 2 20% Item 3 20% DESCRIPTIVE STATISTIC The test scores are shown in Table 2-1. Looking at this swarm of numbers you can see why it is important to have a way to summarize and describe them. It is not possible to make sense of the data as they are. You cannot formulate a useful prediction or make a meaningful evaluation of the potential job performance of these applicants as a whole by looking at a table of individual numbers. table Trying to describe or represent their data in a meaningful fashion The graph offers a clearer idea of the test performance of the job applicants than does the table of raw scores. Also, the graph provides useful information about group performance by showing that most of the subjects who took the test scored in the middle range. frequency distribution ANOTHER DATA SOURCE Mean Modus Mode Which is calculated by adding the If we arrange the 99 scores in The mode is the most frequently by the total number of scores the median is the score distribution; a distribution may scores and dividing the resulting sum order from lowest to highest, obtained by the 50th person. Normal Distributions The normal distribution is predicated on the random nature and size of the sample tested. If the sample is not representative of the population but is biased in one direction or another, the distribution will not approximate a normal curve. obtained score in the have more than one mode. Skewed Distributions When measurements are taken from specially selected groups, the distribution will most likely be an asymmetrical or skewed distribution. VARIABILITY AND STANDARD DEVIATION The basic measure of variability is the standard deviation (SD), a precise distance along the distribution's baseline. Once we determine this distance, we can learn a great deal about the data and describe them more meaningfully. CORRELATION….. In positive relationship, increasing scores on one variable are accompanied by increasing scores on other variable. Positive correlation range from zero to +1.00 In negative relationship, increasing scores on one variable are accompanied by decreasing scores on other variable Positive correlation range from zero to -1.00 Inferential Statistic Inferential statistics are used to determine the level of statistical significance of the difference between the means of two groups by indicating whether the difference is so large that it is unlikely to have occurred by chance. Metaanalysis is a technique for averaging the results of a large number of studies, thereby making the research findings more relevant to practitioners.
