Application of Psychological Research Methods to Cultural Differences Final Project
Core Learning Objectives:
Social Perspectives: You will be able to:
- identify and explain the methods of analysis used to examine and
evaluate group and individual attitudes and behavior in society.
- Critical Thinking and Problem Solving: You will be able to:
- use methods, concepts and theories in new situations.
- International, Gender, and/or Minority Perspectives: You will be able to:
- articulate similarities and differences in the various cultures of the world and demonstrate familiarity with the skills necessary to make informed judgments.
In this assignment, you will identify and define the three descriptive research methods (Survey; Naturalistic Observation; Case Study).
Students will also explain the appropriate use of each descriptive research method by describing an example in which each research method could be used.
You will also identify the strengths and weaknesses of the three descriptive research methods.
Next, you will select a person or group of people who are culturally different (any cultural difference, including geographic, generational, religious, gender, or ethnic) from themselves and study them using one of the descriptive research methods. If you use a method where questions are needed (survey or interview), you should develop 5-10 open-ended questions and these questions, as well as the participants’ responses (data), should be submitted with the project. If observation or case study method is employed, a journal should be kept and attached.
The project will be approximately five pages typed and double-spaced.
In Part I of the project the you will discuss the descriptive research methods.
In Part II of the assignment you will describe how you used the selected research method to gather data, include your findings, and compare and contrast your own cultural behaviors to those of yours participant(s) (should be a full typed page). Students must also research the culture that they are observing. At least two recent and reliable resources should be used and cited in a Reference page in APA style (see APA style sheet link in the Canvas course space). The text book should be used, but there must be two resources in addition to the text.
Part 1
- Identify three descriptive research methods
- Define each method
- Describe an appropriate example in which each method is useful
- Identify the strengths and weaknesses of each descriptive research method
- You may use your book as a reference for this part of the project
Part 2
- Describe your own culture as compared to the culture of the person/people you studied. Outside research should be used in crafting your description
- Describe the culture you are observing and discuss its characteristics using information from your research on the culture
- Identify the specific participant(s) that you have chosen to study and why you chose them
- Identify the research method (from those defined above) that you have chosen to use in your study and explain why it is appropriate
- Describe how you collected your data
- Discuss the cultural similarities and differences between you and your participant(s)
- Conclude your project with describing the most important thing that you learned in completing this assignment
- Attach a separate References sheet (this will be the LAST page), which should include at least two sources in addition to the text book, attached at the end of the body of the paper
- Include your data* at the end of the paper
*data will be one of the following, depending on the research method you chose: Your notes from several observation sessions; the questions you asked and the answers given by the person/people you are studying; or the questions you asked in an interview and your recording of the responses.