Psychology Portfolio Issues - Assignment Example

Psychology Portfolio Introduction This work will review statistical approaches to psychological studies with a consideration of both the statistical and qualitative research. An emphasis of the study is also on the methods of research as well as that of interpretation of the same data. Therefore, the work will have four sections that address the two types of data mentioned already. The first part will concern conducting and interpreting statistical analysis while the second will deal with experimental design and understanding the statistical analysis. Additionally, the third element of the work will feature a sample research question and the fourth will deal with conducting and interpreting the qualitative analysis. Section 1: Conducting and Interpreting Statistical Analysis There are a number of examples of models in family psychology that have the association between two factors hypothesized as being dependent on other variables. Studies that test the effectiveness of such theories have examined moderator effects as well as the existent interactions (Sherry & Henson 2005). There is even a study finding that indicates the use of regression analysis in the study of interaction effects. Such a case has provided the background in the testing of variables such as children’s health, marital violence, adolescent mothers, and physical punishments among others. For instance, this work will use an example of a research testing the ability to support the family (F) to regulate the correlation between depression (D) and life event stress (L). A considerable model is the fact that life event stress has the potential of resulting in depression, but the existence of an excellent family support may buffer such effects. The research methods employed in such a scenario involves the collection of data using both the primary and the secondary methods (Banister, Bunn & Burman 2012). The test of the buffering or moderating effect of the support of the family is a statistical consideration of two models. The first one is additive: D = b0 + b1L + b2F and Moderator: D= b0 + b1L + b2F + b3L * F. the last term found in the moderator model is a product of the existing predictors. There are different ways of testing if the difference between the uses of the two models has a significance. Three of such methods are (a) testing if the increase in the squared multiple correlations (R2) is bigger than zero. The second is testing if the coefficient b3 is different from 0. The last one is examining if the correlation between the product of L, F, and D while controlling for F and L is different from zero (Reavey 2011). The same test used in the examination of family moderating effects has a relevance regardless of the design of measuring. There is a consideration of the relative advantages of using the methods to give the best results. Not only are there three types of methods of research available for use by psychologists, there are multiple options for each method that they use. The figure below indicates an overview of methods of research especially those subsumed under non-experiment. Methods of research in psychology. Source: Seltman (2012). Section 2: Experimental Design and Interpreting Statistical Analysis The experimental design involves a careful balance of the various features that may include power, various validity forms, generalizability, costs, and practicality. A thoughtful balance of the mentioned features in advance gives the best chance of getting accurate results for the experiments. There is a need to consider that there are a number of experiments designed with avoidable flaws. In such cases, the results yielded do not represent the accuracy of the hypothesized concepts. Analysis of statistical experiments begins with both no-graphical and graphical explanatory data analysis. Such a move is useful in the detection of mistakes, checking of assumptions, among others. Most of the methods used in the process of rely on theoretical positions and mathematical presentations of the observable characteristics of the data collected. For example, a t-test may include may have an assumption that individual measurements used in the experiment have a correlation. In the above example, there is a hypothesized concept that the three variables have a relationship. For this case, the levels of depression in the population will always depend on the existence of life event stresses. As such, there is a direct proportionality between the two variables with depression being the dependent variable. In addition, the severity of the depression caused to the family members will depend on the levels of support that the affected members will receive from the rest of their families Robert & Ilardi 2008). The illustration given below indicates the relevance of statistical methods and the context of research An oversimplified concept map for Experimental design and interpreting statistical analysis. Source: Willig (2012). Section 3: What Is The Role Of Stressful Life Events? On November 11, 2000, there was a report on the CNN that an eruption on cable train killed about 170 people in Salzburg, Austria. The catastrophe left hundreds of people in devastated moods, especially the family members and the relatives of the deceased. Some of the affected families may never recover from the losses they incurred on the fateful day. Among the affected people, there are those who are survivors, who experienced life-changing events. For this case, there is an apparent assumption that the event caused depression to all the affected persons in the case. Consequently, there is a formulation that the resultant stress out of the event would require a strong, supportive effort from family and friends of the affected members (Schwarzer & Schulz 2012). However, at this point, there is a need to review the role of stress in life and its relationship to psychology. Section 4: Conducting and Interpreting Qualitative Analysis The collection of data for this case study utilized the methods of collection of data mentioned in the previous section of this work. The finding was that the events of the fateful day left a number of the affected individuals in devastated states (Yuntao, Myeong-Gu & Bartol 2014). As such, a number of them developed life-changing experiments, which have since not healed. The stress caused a number of the affected to shift their attitudes and habits concerning electric cable cars. Therefore, there is a realization that the role of stress in is the shaping of people’s opinions about some aspects of life. An explanation of the data and the findings of the research could be explained using the convention summarized in the figure below. A simplified diagram of the relationship between the causes of stress and the consequences of the stressful events. Source: Zhang (2013). From the above illustration, stressful life events cause a change in the behaviors of individuals. For instance, the case study in this work created a number of the affected individuals not to come to times with what happened. An explanation for such a happening is the fact that most of them lost their relatives, which interrupted their social set-up (Zhang 2013). Coping with the situation was particularly difficult because the victims lacked the much needed social support. Such situation could also coincide with the findings of the previous section concerning the interrelations of the three variables. There is, therefore, a realization that stress has the effects of altering people’s characters and that the rate depends on the support of the family members. Conclusion This work has analyzed psychological research methods and data interpretation. There is a realization that psychologists, like other researchers, have a wide range of statistical methods they can employ in researching. There is also a realization that the interrelation between the variables of a study has an implication on the formulation of hypotheses. References Banister, P., Bunn, G. C., & Burman, E. (2012). Qualitative Methods In Psychology: A Research Guide. Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill Education. Charmaz, K., & McMullen, L. M. (2011). Five ways of doing qualitative analysis: Phenomenological psychology, grounded theory, discourse analysis, narrative research, and intuitive inquiry. Guilford Press. Chow, S. L. (2002). Methods in psychological research. Maidenhead, Berkshire: Open University Press. Eysenck, M. W. 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