Question

The text discusses several methods of studying human behavior. These include the case study, naturalistic observation, correlational research, survey research, and the experimental method. If you were going to design a study investigating the relationship between alcohol and violence, which of these methods would you choose and why? What would be the relative strengths and weaknesses of this study? What ethical considerations must be taken into account while undertaking this study?

Answer 1

I would go with naturalistic observation because a person cannot be analyzed in a lab set-up or surveys as they might not cooperate or provide wrong information. In naturalistic observation, I could just watch the person perform in their natural setting.

The strength of the study is that the person might not know that I’m observing, so, the person will behave naturally thus contributing well. It’s easy to conduct because we know what time and where the person goes for drinking alcohol and what happens there. We could also hear some information that people talk about him. It is cost effective too.

The limitations are that if the person knows that someone is observing them, they might act differently. At times, it’s time consuming and we need to wait till the person comes to that stage. If the person exhibits the violent behavior only at home, I might need to interview the people in the house for which naturalistic observation might not help.

One of the major ethical issues includes how intrusive we are in the life of the person who we observe. As long as we don’t get into the person’s personal life, we may not require consent but it is always better to let the legal and statutory bodies know that you are doing a research otherwise they might thing that you are spying.