Research in Environmental Psychology

Research is a systematic process of gathering data in order to discover or revise facts and theories.

Types of Research

  • Descriptive Research (Observational)
  • Correlational Research
  • Experimental Research

Descriptive Research

Most Basic type of research

Purpose is to observe and record behavior

Asks the question: “What is?”

Used more frequently in environmental psychology than in other areas

Descriptive Research Methods

  • Observational Methods (Systematic, participant, naturalistic, videotaping, photography)
  • Cases Studies
  • Archival methods
  • Self-report methods
  • Interview
  • Surveys
  • Polls
  • Questionnaires
  • Scales

Oskamp and Colleagues (1998)“Predicting 3 dimensions of residential curbside recycling: An observational study”

Weekly recycling of 705 households was observed for 8 consecutive weeks in 1993 in LaVerne, CA

77% recycled at least once during the period

13% recycled every week

Average of 42% per week

Self-Report Methods

Techniques in which people openly offer information about their feeling, attitudes and behaviors

ex. Interviews, surveys, time budget, polls, questionnaires, tests, draw a map

Self-report methods have frequently been used to measure recycling behavior and attitudes

Research Issues

Reliability is a measure of consistency or stability

Validity is concern with does an instrument measure what it is suppose to measure

Correlational Research - Purpose: to detect naturally occurring relationships; to assess how well one variable predicts another

There is no manipulation of variables or random assignment

The relationship is statistically measured by the correlation coefficient (r)

-1<= r <= +1

r indicated the strength and direction of the relationship

Findings from Various Studies

Positive correlations with recycling

Knowledge about recycling (+.54)

Education (+.17)

Income (+.16)

Sense of Community (+.20)

Negative correlations with recycling

Age (-.16)

Zero correlations with recycling

Political party affiliation (.04)

General Environmental concern (.004)

Most personality measures

Major Limitation with Correlation

No cause and effect relationships

Experimental Research - Purpose: to explore cause and effect

Asks the question: “What happens if?”

Involves systematic Control and Manipulation

Systematically vary or manipulate one or more variables and observe its affect on another variable

Experimental Methods

  • Independent variables (IV) - variables manipulated by the experimenter (cause)
  • Dependent variables (DV) - variables measured by the experimenter (effect)
  • Control variables – all other factors you try to control or keep constant

Random assignment: the practice of assigning subjects to treatments so each subject has an equal chance of being in any condition.

Confound - A variable that systematically changes along with the independent variable, potentially leading to a mistaken conclusion about the independent variable.

Demand characteristics - cues that make subjects aware of how the experimenter expects them to behave.

Types of Experimental Methods

  • Lab experiments
  • Field experiments
  • Quasi-experiments

McCaul and Kopp (1982)“Effects of goal setting and commitment on increasing metal recycling”

Two basic questions

1. Do people recycle more when they are given a specific goal?

2. Do people recycle more when they make a public commitment to recycle?

Some Research Conclusions

  • Rewards work but come with a cost
  • Goal setting and commitment usually helps
  • Recycling should be a habit
  • Education and prompts
  • Social norms positively influence recycling
  • Gender and Age are not good predictors