Developmental Psychology/ Research Methods - Essay Example

How might the physical changes of becoming older have psychological effects? Are we doing enough to accommo older Americans and their special needs in our society? Why or why not? In the process of aging, people would, in the normal course of events, tend to lose their physical capabilities which we take for granted in youth. Reading even not-to-small letters becomes strained because the letters double up and blur, and seeing and hearing become more difficult in general. One gets tired more easily, and could not bend down to retrieve a dropped pen or climb a chair to reach a high shelf.

There are psychological effects of these developments. Older people were once young and active, and may have been proud that they could go about independently and look after themselves. Then they wake up one morning and find out that they could not bound out of bed as easily because of a sharp pain in the knees. It becomes mentally debilitating to feel that more and more, one comes to rely on other people for simple errands, such as fetching or even picking up things. Needing to walk about with a cane draws a lot of unwanted glances and irritated grunts from people who are slowed down because one walks slower, particularly in narrow corridors.

Incontinence becomes an embarrassing but frequent condition, and repeated visits to the bathroom become the butt of jokes. Psychologically, the older person feels diminished, at times useless and a burden to others. Legally, in the U.S., older people’s needs have been covered, from discounts for health services to workplace discrimination. Older people who have a comfortable pension will normally be able to afford the material needs. There are senior citizens associations which afford them some support.

However, we could do more, particularly for their psychological needs. Older people need to feel needed. Social programs which could tap into their knowledge and experience, for instance, could benefit both them and society in general. Describe the quasi-experimental research method in detail. Design and describe an experiment that uses this approach. Cleary define the independent and dependent variables as well as how you will assess these different measures. Make sure to discuss why the quasi-experimental approach is necessary, and how this study could be redesigned into a true experiment.

The quasi-experimental design is similar to the experimental design in that it provides for control of one or more independent variables, and measures a single dependent variable. However, it is different from a true experimental design because it uses non-randomly assigned participants in groups (Heppner et al., 1992 in Dawson, 1997; Gibbons & Herman, 1997). This makes the internal validity of quasi-experimental designs somewhat inferior to that of experimental designs; however, it is the best possible that can be hoped for, given that quasi-experimental designs are resorted to when the conditions for a true experimental design are not feasible in the situation the researcher finds himself in.

According to Cook & Campbell (1979, in Dawson, 1997), there are three principal types of quasi-experimental design. These are the non-equivalent-groups design, the cohort design, and the time-series design. There are many variations for each of these categories. One type of quasi-experimental research would be a situation where the effects of drinking is studied. Habitual drinkers are chosen for the study. However, some participant drink 3 cans of beer a day and some 5; however, it is not ethical to make those who drink 3 increase their drinking to 5 cans, so the experiment is conducted on this basis (say, response times to various stimuli during driving), and the differences accounted for in the analysis.

In this case the independent variable is the drinking, and the dependent variable is the recorded response times. In a future, a true experimental design can be applied by ensuring that all participants in the experimental group have ingested the same amount of alcohol in a clinically controlled procedure, and response times more carefully measured with more sensitive instruments. Design another quasi-experimental research project, and discuss the seven different threats to internal validity that Cook and Campbell (1979) outlined in the text.

Make sure to discuss the threats that you feel are present in the study that you designed. As a researcher, what can you do to overcome some of these limitations? Thoughts? Another quasi-experiment could be the determination of the benefits of social networking among a particular age group, such as the young adults ages 18 to 25. The experiment would be about the impact on the social and professional lives of the young adults as they begin their lives on their own cognizance. The subjects will be asked to accomplish the survey questionnaires, and may occasionally participate in interviews for the qualitative reactions and validation of the interpretation of survey results.

The data gathering will be repeated every six months with the same set of subjects as much as possible. The data will target the positive and negative contributions of the subject’s social networking to his or her personal and professional undertakings. History – This refers to “an event that occurs at the same time as the treatment and produces changes in participants behavior therefore the event becomes an alternative explanation as to why the behavior perhaps changed.” (Zechmeister, et al., 2001, p. 249) With the common usage of online social networks, it is difficult to determine the influence of earlier usage of these networks during the subjects’ adolescence.

Maturation – The individual subjects may vary over time, but given the popularity of social networking, restricting the sample to a general class may be sufficient for consistency in the findings. Testing – Assuring the validity of test conditions may be a problem; however, a large enough sample may overcome any minor inconsistencies and still produce a general trend. Instrumentation – There does not appear to be any major problem with instrumentation, although slight changes in the context of questions may be necessary from year to year, as changes occur at a fast rate in the online networks.

Regression – Regression is not foreseen to be a problem, as there is not stringent correlation that is sought to be established between two variables. Subject Mortality – Subject mortality is not foreseen to be a problem, except where some subjects may relocate to areas not accessible to electronic communication. Selection – Selection is not expected to be a problem, as subject qualification need only be their general demographic class as may be determined, their age group, and the fact that they are participants in social networking venues.

Neither are problems particularly expected insofar as interaction with the subjects is concerned. References: Gibbons, Barry & Herman, Joan. “True and quasi-experimental designs.” Practial Assessment, Research & Evaluation, 5(14),7 (1997). January 2011 from http://pareonline.net/getvn.asp?v=5&n=14 Dawson, Thomas E. A Primer on Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Design. Texas A&M University. (January, 1997). Retrieved 7 January 2011, http://ericae.net/ft/tamu/Expdes.htm.