Methodology in
Environmental
Psychology
Methods in Environmental Psychology
• Does environmental psychology need unique
methodology?
• Environmental psychology uses methodology drawn
from a variety of different disciplines and areas of
psychology:
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Clinical psychology
Social psychology
Perception
Sociology
Epidemiology
Geography
Architecture
Methods
• Projective techniques
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Rationale
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
Cognitive mapping (developed by Kevin Lynch, geographer)
Social schemata, figure placement, dolls, cutouts etc.
Projective Tests
Thematic Apperception
Test
Rorschach Inkblot
Dust Bowl 1930s
Dust Bowl 1930s
Methods
• Observational techniques
– Behaviour mapping
– Ecological psychology (Roger Barker)
– Self-observational techniques (time budgets, diaries, etc.)
Methods
• Simulation
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Drawings
Retouched photographs
Specialized simulation equipment (Berkeley simulator)
Computer simulation (Club of Rome’s “Limits to Growth”
study
Methods
• Experimental methods (importance of random
assignment of subjects to treatment conditions)
– Laboratory
– Field
Methods
• Correlational techniques
– Urban sociology
– Correlation (association) does not imply causation
– In some areas of investigations, there is simply no
alternative methodology (e.g., community noise)
Methods
• Unobtrusive measurement
– Rationale
– Triangulation: using different types of measures to see if the
same relationship is obtained with both reactive and
nonreactive measures. If several imperfect measures
provide the same result, then there is confidence that the
relationship really exists and is not an artifact of the
measurement process. By using both reactive and
nonreactive measures, one can estimate the distortion
caused by reactivity.
Types of Unobtrusive (nonreactive) Measures
• Erosion: the wearing away of a substance
• Accretion: the depositing of a substance (e.g., litter, fingerprints,)
• Archival data: any sort of recorded information (e.g., government
records, cartoons, photographs, newspaper articles, public
health data, etc.)
• “Hardware” assisted observations (e.g., hodometer in art gallery
study)