LECTURE NOTES

Chapter 1: Introduction to Psychology

What is Psychology?
Science of human and animal behavior; it includes the application of science to solve human
problems.

Psychology as a Science
• A science is a body of systematized knowledge that is gathered by carefully observing
and measuring events.
• As a Science, Psychology is systematic
• Scientific theories are general principles which summarize many observations and predict
what can be expected to happen in new situations
• It includes measurement- assignment of numbers to objects or events according to certain
rules.
The application of Psychology
• The application of knowledge to practical problems is an art; it is a skill, or a knack of
doing things
• This is acquired by study, practice and experience
What it means to say that Psychology studies Behaviour?
• Behaviour includes anything a person or animal does that can be observed in some way.
• Psychologists can and do make inferences about the feelings, attitudes, thoughts and
other mental processes, which may be behind the behaviour.
• In this way, internal mental events can be studied as they manifest themselves through
what people do- their behaviour.
• When we define Psychology as “the science of behaviour”, we are not excluding mind;
we are saying what a person does – his or her behaviour- is the avenue through which
internal mental events can be studied.

Goals of Psychology
1. Describe: One of the first goals of psychology is simply to describe behavior. Through
describing the behavior of humans and other animals, we are better able to understand it
and gain a better perspective on what is considered normal and abnormal.
Researchers might start by observing human behavior and then describing a problem. By
understanding what is happening, psychologists can then work on learning more about
why the behavior happens and even how to change it.
Imagine that researchers want to learn more about consumer behavior. They might use
market research surveys, direct observation, and other data collection methods to gather
information on what people are doing when they shop. This gives researchers greater
insight into what is really happening in a particular population.
2. Explain: As you might imagine, in addition to merely describing it, psychologists are
also interested in explaining behavior. Why do people do the things they do? What
factors contribute to development, personality, social behavior, and mental health
problems?
Throughout psychology's history, many theories have emerged to help explain various
aspects of human behavior. A few examples of such approaches including classical
conditioning and attachment theories.
Some theories focus on just a small aspect of human behavior (known as mini-theories)
while others serve as all-encompassing theories designed to explain all of human
psychology (known as grand theories).
In the previous example, researchers collected data to understand what consumers are
purchasing. Psychologists would then conduct research to understand why consumers
purchase certain items. certain things are happening. They might ask questions about why
people purchase certain items or what factors motivate them to make certain purchases.
3. Predict: Not surprisingly, another primary goal of psychology is to make predictions
about how we think and act. Once we understand more about what happens and why it
happens, we can use that information to make predictions about when, why, and how it
might happen again in the future. Successfully predicting behavior is also one of the best
ways to know if we understand the underlying causes of our actions.
For example, if researchers notice that scores on a particular aptitude test predict high
school dropout rates, they can use that information to estimate how many students might
drop out of school each year.
In the previous example looking at consumer behavior, psychologists would use the
information they collected to try to predict what consumers will purchase next.
Businesses and marketers often employ consumer psychologists to make such predictions
so that they can create products that will appeal to buyers.
4. Change: Finally, and perhaps most importantly, psychology strives to change,
influence, or control behavior to make constructive and lasting changes in people's lives.
In our previous example, researchers might take what they know about the link between
scores on an aptitude test and dropout rates and use the information to develop programs
designed to help students stay in school.
Marketers and businesses often use the understanding gained from psychological research
to try to influence and persuade buyers to behave in certain ways. For example, they
might design advertising campaigns designed to make a message appeal to a target
audience. By tailoring their messaging to specifically appeal to a certain type of buyer,
those individuals are often more likely to respond.
5. Improve: Not only do psychologists attempt to control behavior, they want to do so in
a positive manner, they want to improve a person’s life, not make it worse. This is not
always the case, but it should always be the intention
 Schools of Thought
• When psychology first emerged as a science separate from biology and philosophy, the
debate over how to describe and explain the human mind and behavior began. The
different schools of psychology represent the major theories within psychology.
• The first school of thought, structuralism, was advocated by the founder of the first
psychology lab in Leipzig in Germany in 1879, Wilhelm Wundt. Almost immediately,
other theories began to emerge and view for dominance in psychology
• There are 5 schools of thought, namely:
1. Structuralism
2. Functionalism
3. Behaviorism
4. Gestalt Psychology
5. Psycholoanalysis

1. Structuralism
• Structuralism is widely regarded as the first school of thought in psychology. This
outlook focused on breaking down mental processes into the most basic components.
Major thinkers associated with structuralism include Wilhelm Wundt and Edward
Titchener.
• The focus of structuralism was on reducing mental processes down into their most basic
elements.
• An early view of psychology suggesting that the field should focus on identifying the
basic structures of the human mind.
• The structuralists used techniques such as introspection to analyze the inner processes of
the human mind
• Introspection could not be used to study animals, children or complex problems like me
ntal disorders or personality issues.

2. FUNCTIONALISM
• From the point of view of American scholar William James, structuralists were sorely
misguided. The mind is fluid, not stable; consciousness is ongoing, not static. Attempts to
study the structure of the mind would therefore be futile at worst and frustrating at best.
• A more fruitful endeavor, they argued, would be to study the function, as opposed to
the structure, of the mind. Function in this sense can mean one of two things – first, how
the mind operates – that is, how the elements of the mind work together – and second,
how mental processes promote adaptation.
• Clearly influenced by the teachings of Charles Darwin and the principle of natural
selection (survival of the fittest), James believed that mental processes serve vital
functions that enable us to adapt and survive in a changing world.
• Thus, while the structuralists asked “what happens” when we engage in mental activity,
the functionalists were more concerned with “how it happens” and “why.”
 • Nevertheless, functionalists had their share of flaws. Like structuralists, they relied
heavily on the technique of introspection with all the shortcomings previously mentioned
and were criticized for only providing a vague definition of the term “function.”
• Despite repeated verbal attacks aimed at each other, neither structuralism nor
functionalism remained at the forefront of psychology for very long. Both made
significant contributions to psychology but neglected one important influence on human
thought and behavior – the unconscious. Here is where Sigmund Freud made his
great début.

3. Behaviorism
• Despite their differences, structuralism, functionalism and psychoanalysis all shared an
emphasis on mental processes – events that are unseen to the naked eye. John B.
Watson, a staunch supporter of behaviorism, strongly objected to this approach and
prompted a revolution in psychology. Watson was an advocate of scientific scrutiny but
for him, covert behavior, including mental processes, could not be studied scientifically.
• The emphasis, from his perspective, should only be on overt or observable behavior.
Behaviorists believed that human behavior can be understood by examining the
relationship between stimuli (events in the environment) and responses (observable
behavior).
• They saw no need to employ subjective techniques such as introspection to infer mental
processes over which even trained subjects and researchers could not agree. What was
once the study of the mind thus became the study of observable behavior.
• B.F. Skinner, another famous behaviorist, supported Watson’s view by advancing the
idea that human behavior can be explained by reinforcement and punishment –
observable, environmental factors – with no need to consider inner mental processes.
• Later behaviorists adopted a more balanced view of matters, embracing the study of both
overt and covert behavior. These became known as cognitive behaviorists.

4. Gestalt Psychology
• Gestalt psychology is a school of psychology based upon the idea that we experience
things as unified wholes. This approach to psychology began in Germany and Austria
during the late 19th century in response to the molecular approach of structuralism.
• Gestalt psychology’s founding is usually credited to Max Wertheimer’s publishing a
German book discussing the ideas in 1912. The title of the book in English translates to
“Experimental Studies of the Perception of Movement.”
• Instead of breaking down thoughts and behavior to their smallest elements, the gestalt
psychologists believed that you must look at the whole of experience. According to the
Gestalt thinkers, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
• It argues that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. That means that one cannot
understand the parts of something to understand the thing as whole.

5. Psychoanalysis
 • Psychoanalysis is a school of psychology founded by Sigmund Freud. This school of
thought emphasized the influence of the unconscious mind on behavior.
• Freud believed that the human mind was composed of three elements: the id, ego,
and superego. The id consists of primal urges while the ego is the component of
personality charged with dealing with reality. The superego is the part of the
personality that holds all of the ideals and values we internalize from our parents and
culture. Freud believed that the interaction of these three elements was what led to all
of the complex human behaviors.
• Freud's school of thought was enormously influential, but also generated considerable
debate. This controversy existed not only in his time but also in modern discussions
of Freud's theories.

Modern Perspectives
There are 7 perspectives that can be explained with the two examples given below:
1. Behavioural
2. Biological
3. Cognitive
4. Socio-cultural
5. Developmental
6. Humanistic
7. Psychodynamic
Example 1: On the playground, 6 year old Sam pushes little Samantha off her tricycle and rides
away on it.
Example 2: Mr. A., a 55 year old man, finds that he is forgetting important appointments and has
trouble recalling newspaper stories he read the day before.

Methods of Data Collection

OBSERVATION
• Observation as a fundamental technique of Data Collection refers to watching and
listening to the behavior of other person or time without manipulating and controlling it
and record the finding in ways that allows some degree of analytical interpretation and
discussion.
• Thus observation involves selecting recording and encoding behavior for empirical
aims of description or development of theory.
• In fact observation when properly and scientifically conducted is characterized by the
following features:
1. In observation there is a natural social context in which person's behavior is studied. Thus
observation usually occurs in natural setting although it can also be used in such contrived
settings such as laboratory experiments and simulation.
2. It captures all the significant events or occurrences that affect the relation among the persons
being studied.
3. It identifies important regularities and occurrences in social life by comparing and
contrasting the data in a particular study with those data in the study of natural setting

PURPOSE OF OBSERVATION
• One major purpose of observation is to capture and study human behavior as it actually
happens. It helps in snapshot comprehension of the activities of the person in real life or
social life.
• Another purpose of observation is to provide a graphic description of real . There are so
many areas of lies about which we have few thorough description and much is taken granted
about those areas by Social Sciences. For example: how does a delinquent steal a
motorcycle? How does a person actually go about learning to be engineer or doctor or a
politician of Professor? The descriptive base for all such life events is often provided only
by observation
• Another purpose of observation is exploration. When the investigator observe human
behavior in real life settings, he gets a good chance to explore those variables, which was
important but overlooked. He also develop the tendency to look beyond what is already
known about the subject and to examine the probability of some alternative directions of for
research. Not only that, observation also aims at correcting some methodological errors
which otherwise might have been overlooked

TYPES OF OBSERVATION

• On the basis of the ability of the observational data to generate useful and
researchable information:
1. Systematic Observation: Systematic observation is one in which is done according to
some explicit procedures as well as in accordance with the logic of scientific inquiry. A
psychologist studying the aggressive behavior of children in their play group with some
objective and exclusive principles described before hand, is an example of systematic
observation
2. Unsystematic Observation: It is a type of observation casual observation made by the
investigator without specifying any explicit and objective inferences. A psychologist
observing the behavior of people on a railway station without any explicit principles and
procedures, is an example of an unsystematic observation

• On the basis of settings:

1. Naturalistic observation or unstructured observation is a method of study that
psychologists and other social sciences use regularly. This approach includes studying
participants' spontaneous behavior in a natural environment. The researcher records only
what they see in every way.
2. Controlled observations/structured observation are usually carried out in a "psychology
laboratory. The researcher determines at what point, under what conditions and using a
prescribed protocol, the observation should take place. Participants are randomly
allocated to each "independent variable group". The researcher categorizes the behavior
 which they observe in various groups systematically. Coding can include letters and
numbers to define or to use a parameter to measure the intensity of the behavior.

• On the basis of Participation by the Observer

1. Participant Observation: The participant observation means watching the events or
situation or activities from inside by taking part in the group to be observed. He freely
interacts with the other group members, participates in various activities of the group,
acquires the way of life of the observed group or his own, and studies their behavior or
other activities not as an outsider but by becoming a member of that group.
Goode and Hatt define participant observation as “the procedure used when the
investigator can go disguise himself as to be accepted as a member of the group”. So in
this kind of observation the observer has to stay as a member in the group he wants to
study.
Strengths: Recording of behaviour in realistic manner, collects broad and meaningful
information
Weakness: Unstructured, Time Consuming, Over involvement of observer
2. Non Participant Observation: When the observer observes the group passively from a
distance without participating in the group activities, it is known as non-participant
observation. Here he does not try to influence them or take part in the group activities.
However, purely non-participant observation is extremely difficult. One cannot penetrate
into the heart of a matter without proper participation in it. One really cannot imagine a
kind of relationship, when the researcher is always present but never participates. This
situation is hardly conducive for both the observer and the group. A combination of both
participant and non-participant method is sometimes selected.
Strength: Structured, Observer can concentrate upon specific topic
Weakness: Fails to capture the natural context, persons being observed do not show their
natural behaviour

CASE STUDY
• It is an in-depth study of the individual in terms of her/his psychological attributes,
psychological history in the context of her/his psychosocial and physical environment.
• Case studies are widely used by clinical psychologists. Case analyses of the lives of great
people can also be highly illuminating for those willing to learn from their life
experiences.
• Case studies are based on data generated by different methods, e.g. interview,
observation, questionnaire, psychological tests, etc.
• Case studies are widely used in psychology and amongst the best known were the ones
carried out by Sigmund Freud, including Anna O and Little Hans.
• Freud (1909a, 1909b) conducted very detailed investigations into the private lives of his
patients in an attempt to both understand and help them overcome their illnesses. Even
today case histories are one of the main methods of investigation in abnormal
psychology and psychiatry.
• This makes it clear that the case study is a method that should only be used by a
psychologist, therapist or psychiatrist, i.e. someone with a professional qualification.
• There is an ethical issue of competence. Only someone qualified to diagnose and treat a
person can conduct a formal case study relating to atypical (i.e. abnormal) behavior or
atypical development.

How it is conducted?
• The procedure used in a case study means that the researcher provides a description of the
behavior. This comes from interviews and other sources, such as observation.
• The client also reports detail of events from his or her point of view. The researcher then
writes up the information from both sources above as the case study, and interprets the
information.
• The research may also continue for an extended period of time, so processes and
developments can be studied as they happen
• Most of this information is likely to be qualitative (i.e. verbal description rather than
measurement) but the psychologist might collect numerical data as well.
Strengths
• Provides detailed (rich qualitative) information.
• Provides insight for further research.
• Permitting investigation of otherwise impractical (or unethical) situations.

Limitations
• Lacking scientific rigor and providing little basis for generalization of results to the wider
population.
• Researchers' own subjective feeling may influence the case study (researcher bias).
• Difficult to replicate.
• Time-consuming and expensive.
• The volume of data, together with the time restrictions in place, impacted on the depth of
analysis that was possible within the available resources.

SURVEY METHOD- INTERVIEW AND QUESTIONNAIRE

INTERVIEW
• Direct Conversation: Interview is a face-to-face situation between the interviewer and
the respondent, which intent to elicit some desired information from the latter. Thus an
interview is a social process involving at least two persons: the interviewer and the
respondent. For the success of the interview one must take care of the interaction between
the interviewer and the respondent. The respondents answer the questions raised by the
interviewer and his behavior serve as important clues to the interviewer and are unlikely
to affect the behavior of the latter.
Four necessary conditions for personal interview:
1. Accessibility
2. Cognition (on the part of respondent)
3. Respondent’s Motivation
4. Interviewer’s Personality

Major Functions Of Interview

• Description: Interview has been found to be particularly useful in providing the insight
into the interactive quality of social life. In an interview people spend most of the time
with one another in some form of verbal interaction. The verbal interaction enables the
interviewer in understanding how people view the subject under investigation. This
understanding help him know his social life which is otherwise abstract and a merely a
statistical phenomenon .
• Exploration: Another purpose of the interview is to provide insight into the unexplored
dimension or subject. A review of the work done in this area reveals that an interview
helps a lot in exploring some new variable for study as it also helps sharpen the
conceptual clarity. Talking with the interviewees and thereby gaining insight into their
conduct from inquiries about this behavioral dimension provide adequate information for
development of various hypothesis for subsequent testing and research.

Types of Interview
1. Formal/Structured Interview: A formal interview may be defined as one in which
already prepared questions are in a set order by the interviewer and the answers are
recorded in a standardized form. The investigator in that having interview conducted in a
uniform way. The formal interview is a systematic procedure for collecting information
regarding the . As the interview situation is highly structured, that is, the questions to be
asked, the sequence and scoring methods are all pre-determined , relatively less trained
interviewers can also conduct such interview smoothly. There are two limitations for a
formal interview. First the procedure for conducting a formal interview are expensive
and time consuming. Second the validity of formal interview are usually less than those
obtained by the common methods of bio data analysis and standardized Psychology test

2. Informal/Unstructured Interview: An informal interview is one where there is no

pre-determined questions not there is any preset order of the question and it is left to the
interviewer to ask some questions in a way he likes regarding a number of key points
around which the interview is to be built up. An informal interview is more commonly
used then formal interview and is a flexible method of collecting data.
The primary advantage of the informal interview over the formal interview is that in the
former interviewer gets a deeper understanding of respondents behavior. Despite these the
informal interview has three important limitations. First in an informal interview there is a
greater scope for personal influence and bias of the interviewer as compared to formal
interview. Second an informal interview requireS with greater skill on the part of the
interviewer on. Third the data obtained from an informal interview is difficult to quantify
and analyze because of 3 inherent difficulties.
One is that since interviewers are left free to ask the questions from the respondents,
different questions are likely to be asked from different respondents . In such a situation it is
difficult to aggregate and summarize the results and draw any meaningful conclusion.
Second, even if the interviewer ask more or less the same questions to each respondent,
difference in the language used by the interviewer are likely to make responses not
comparable statistically. Third the results obtained from the informal interview are not
amenable to statistical analysis. This for the complicated the matter and puts the informal
interview at the disadvantage

Factors affecting interview

• Subjective and Objective Characteristics of Interviewers
• Characteristics of Interviewees: Ability to verbalize, willingness
• Nature of the problem under study:

Advantages of Interview
• Interview allows greater flexibility in the process of questioning, as such many type of
probe questions can be put and analyzed
• It facilitates the investigator in obtaining the desired information
• It facilitates the investigator in being sure that the interviewee have themselves
interpreted and answer the question, this increases the validity of the conclusion arrived.
• In an interview a desired level of control can be exercised over the situation or contexts
within which questions are asked and answered.
• The validity of the verbal interview given by the interviewees can easily be checked on
the basis of their nonverbal cues

Disadvantages of interview
• Interviewer’s Variability
• Inter-interviewer variability
• Validity and dependability of verbal responses
• Time
• Variations inherent to the interviewing context
• Recording Information

Important Sources Of Error

• Attitude of the Interviewer
• Incomprehensibility of the questions being asked
• Lack of warmth in the interview situation
• Lack of motivation in respondents
• Duration of the interview

Selection and Training of interviewers

• Honesty
• Accuracy
 • Adaptability
• Interest
• Temperament

QUESTIONNAIRE
• Direct means for obtaining information from the respondents.
• It consists of several items designed to elicit the required information that is given or
mailed to the respondents with the request to return it after answering all the items.
• The questionnaire is the most common, simple, versatile, and low-cost self-report method
of collecting information. It consists of a predetermined set of questions. The respondent
has to read the questions and mark the answers on paper rather than respond verbally to
the interviewer.
• They are in some ways like highly structured interviews. Questionnaires can be
distributed to a group of persons at a time who write down their answers to the questions
and return to the researcher or can be sent through mail.
• Generally, two types of questions are used in the questionnaire: open-ended and closed
ended. With open-ended questions, the respondent is free to write whatever answer s/he
considers appropriate. In the closed ended type, the questions and their probableanswers
are given and the respondent is required to select the correct answer. Examples of
closed-ended questions require responses like: Yes/No, True/False, Multiple choice, or
using a rating scale.
• In case of rating scale, a statement is given and the respondent is asked to give her/his
views on a 3-point (Agree, Undecided, Disagree), or 5-point (Strongly Agree, Agree,
Undecided, Disagree, Strongly Disagree) or 7-point, 9-point, 11- point or 13-point scale.
In some cases, the participants are asked to rank a number of things in a preferential
order.

Advantages Of Questionnaire
• Less costly than interview
• Can be used with widely scattered population
• Avoids problems related to interviewer- personal bias

Disadvantages of Questionnaire
• Non response
• Ineffective when the objective and purpose needs sufficient explanation
• Useless in case of difficult questions
• Serves little purpose when it is required to probe the respondent for additional
information
• Inflexible- No way to check validity, clarify the vague answers or to know the reason
behind unwillingness
• Responses are not fully independent
• Cannot be sure that the right person has answered
• Useless when spontaneous data is required
 • No way to supplement the answers with background data

EXPERIMENTAL METHOD

• Experiments are generally conducted to establish cause-effect relationship between two

sets of events or variables in a controlled setting. It is a carefully regulated procedure in
which changes are made in one factor and its effect is studied on another factor, while
keeping other related factors constant.
• In the experiment, cause is the event being changed or manipulated (IV) and Effect is the
behavior that changes because of the manipulation (DV)

The Concept of Variable:

• Anything which varies, that is, it takes on different values (or changes) and can be
measured is a variable.
• An object by itself is not a variable. But its attributes are. For example, the pen that you
use for writing is NOT a variable. But there are varieties of pens available in different
shapes, sizes, and color. All of these are variables. The room in which you are sitting is
NOT a variable but its size is as there are rooms of different sizes. The height of the
individuals (5' to 6') is another variable. Similarly, people of different races have different
colors. Young people have started dyeing their hair in different colours. Thus, colour of
hair becomes a variable. Intelligence is a variable (there are people with varying levels of
intelligence — high, moderate, low).
• Variables are of many types. We will however focus on independent and dependent
variables.
• Independent variable (CAUSE) is that variable which is manipulated or altered or its
strength varied by the researcher in the experiment. It is the effect of this change in the
variable which the researcher wants to observe or note in the study.
• Dependent variable (EFFECT) represents the phenomenon the researcher desires to
explain. It is expected that change in the dependent variable will follow from changes in
the independent variable.

Experimental versus Control Group

Experiments generally involve one or more experimental groups and one or more control groups.
An experimental group is a group in which members of the group are exposed to independent
variable manipulation. The control group is a comparison group that is treated in every way like
the experimental group except that the manipulated variable is absent in it.

• The distribution of participants to experimental and control groups was done randomly, a
method that ensures that each person has an equal chance of being included in any of the
groups. If in one group the experimenter had included only males and in the other group
females, the results obtained in the study, could be due to the differences in gender rather
than due to experimental manipulation.
• All relevant variables in experimental studies that might influence the dependent
variable need to be controlled.
• These are of three major types: organismic variables (such as anxiety, intelligence,
personality, etc.), situational or environmental variables operating at the time of
conducting the experiment (such as noise, temperature, humidity), and sequential
variables. The sequence related variables assume significance when the participants in
experiments are required to be tested in several conditions. Exposure to many conditions
may result in experimental fatigue, or practice effects, which may influence the results of
the study and make the interpretation of the findings difficult.

In order to control relevant variables, experimenters use several control techniques.

Some illustrations are given below.
• Since the goal of an experiment is to minimise extraneous variables, the best way to
handle this problem is to eliminate them from the experimental setting. For example,
the experiment may be conducted in a sound-proof and airconditioned room to
eliminate the effect of noise and temperature.
• Elimination is not always possible. In such cases, effort should be made to hold them
constant so that their effect remains the same throughout the experiment.
• For controlling organismic (e.g., fear, motivation) and background variables (such as
rural/urban, caste, socioeconomic status) matching is also used. In this procedure the
relevant variables in the two groups are equated or are held constant by taking
matched pairs across conditions of the experiment.
• Counter-balancing technique is used to minimise the sequence effect. Suppose there
are two tasks to be given in an experiment. Rather than giving the two tasks in the
same sequence the experimenter may interchange the order of the tasks. Thus, half of
the group may receive the tasks in the order of A and B while the other half in order
of B and A or the same individual may be given the task in A, B, B, A order
• Random assignment of participants to different groups eliminates any potential
systematic differences between groups.

The strength of a well-designed experiment is that it can provide, relatively speaking, a

convincing evidence of a cause-effect relationship between two or more variables.
However, experiments are often conducted in a highly controlled laboratory situation. In
this sense, they only simulate situations that exist in the outside world. They are
frequently criticised for this reason. The experiments may produce results that do not
generalise well, or apply to real situations. In other words, they have low external
validity. Another limitation of the laboratory experiment is that it is not always feasible to
study a particular problem experimentally. For example, an experiment to study the effect
of nutritional deficiency on intelligence level of children cannot be conducted as it would
be ethically wrong to starve anyone. The third problem is that it is difficult to know and
control all the relevant variables.
Field Experiments
• If a researcher wants to have high generalisability or to conduct studies which are
not possible in laboratory settings, s/he may go to the field or the natural setting
where the particular phenomenon actually exists.
• In other words, s/he may conduct a field experiment. For example, a researcher
may want to know which method would lead to better learning among
students—lecture or demonstration method. For this, a researcher may prefer to
conduct an experiment in the school. The researcher may select two groups of
participants; teach one group by demonstration method and another group by the
normal teaching method for sometime. S/ he may compare their performance at
the end of the learning session.
• In such types of experiments, the control over relevant variables is less than what
we find in laboratory experiments. Also, it is more time consuming and
expensive.

Quasi Experiments
• Many variables cannot be manipulated in the laboratory settings. For example, if
you want to study the effect of an earthquake on children who lost their parents,
you cannot create this condition artificially in the laboratory. In such situations,
the researcher adopts the method of quasi (the Latin word meaning “as if”)
experimentation.
• In such types of experiments, the independent variable is selected rather than
varied or manipulated by the experimenter. For example, in the experimental
group we can have children who lost their parents in the earthquake and in the
control group children who experienced the earthquake but did not lose their
parents.
• Thus, a quasi-experiment attempts to manipulate an independent variable in a
natural setting using naturally occurring groups to form experimental and control
groups.