Foundations of Research Assessment 1
1. The research in the article focuses on a particular Research Method. Identify the method used and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of this method.
The research method used in the journal article 'Effects of Attractiveness and Nature of Request on Helping Behaviour' is a field experiment. A field experiment is carried out in a real life setting and involves manipulating an independent variable to see if it has an effect on a dependant variable; participants do not usually know they are taking part in an experiment(Complete Psychology, pg371). One of the strengths of this research method is that the results have high ecological validity, meaning they are more likely to reflect real life behaviour
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An experimental hypothesis is based on background research on the area of study and should be a testable statement (complete psychology, pg 638). An independent variable is the factor which is manipulated by the researcher, the dependant variable is what is measured by the researcher and is affected by the independent variable. The independent variable in the experiment in the article is attractiveness and the nature of request; the dependant variable is the level of help received from strangers. The hypothesis for this experiment could either be one tailed, predicting the direction of change that manipulating the independent variable would have on the dependant variable, for example “Increased attractiveness of an individual will increase the level of help received” or two-tailed, predicting change but not indicating the direction, “The attractiveness of an individual will have an effect on the level of help received.” With every hypothesis there is a null hypothesis, which states that there is no relationship between the variables but that the results are a result of chance. If it can be shown that t chance is unlikely to be the reason, then we can disprove the null hypothesis, giving support to our experimental hypothesis (complete psychology). A null hypothesis for the experiment in the article could be “The attractiveness of an