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Strengths And Weaknesses Of Social Behavior

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There are 3 basic research methods that social psychologists use to describe behaviors. Each of these have both strengths and weaknesses. The observational method is done by observing and collecting data which is then used to describe the behavior. The researcher observes the events in a natural setting so none of the variables are manipulated. There must be interjudge reliability, meaning that when different researchers administer the same test to the same subject they each must obtain the same measurement. The advantages in this method is that it is the simplest method, it has greater accuracy, and it is useful for setting up hypothesis. The weaknesses are that this method is hard to observe because of privacy and secrecy. It is great for explanation but not as good for prediction and description. The observer might also be biased being that he has his own opinion on what is right and wrong. The correlation method focuses on prediction. It is a statistical measure of two or more variables and the relation between them are assessed. The Correlation coefficient assesses how well you can predict one variable from another. A positive correlation is when the value of one variable increases it is associated with the increase of the other variable. For example height and weight, the more one grows the more he will weigh. A negative correlation is when the value of one variable increases it is associated with the decrease of the other variable. An example is that the

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