دانلود رایگان مقاله انگلیسی تحقیقات بایگانی: گسترش ابزارهای روش شناختی در روانشناسی اجتماعی - الزویر 2018

ABSTRACT

Laboratory experiments have many benefits and serve as a powerful tool for social psychology research. However, relying too heavily on laboratory experiments leaves the entire discipline of social psychology vulnerable to the inherent limitations of laboratory research. We discuss the benefits of integrating archival research into the portfolio of tools for conducting social psychological research. Using four published examples, we discuss the benefits and limitations of conducting archival research. We also provide suggestions on how social psychological researchers can take advantage of the benefits while overcoming the weaknesses of archival research. Finally, we provide useful resources and directions for utilizing archival data. We encourage social psychologists to increase the robustness of this scientific literature by supplementing laboratory experiments with archival research.

4. Conclusion

There are two basic purposes of research design: first, to provide answers to research questions, and second, to control variance (Kerlinger, 1986). Although laboratory experiments are key to achieving the latter, utilizing laboratory experiments as the only research paradigm may obscure the accuracy of the former due to its inevitable limitations. In this paper, we advocate that as social psychologists we should increase our usage of archival research while still retaining laboratory experiments and field studies as extremely valuable research paradigms. We do not advocate that every paper in social psychology use archival research designs. This is an unrealistic expectation. A more reasonable expectation is that across a given program of research, social psychology researchers would include a healthy mix of laboratory, field, and archival research. Convergence in findings across the use of various research methodologies provides stronger support for the hypothesized relationships as compared to the use of only one research method.

With the recent data explosion and vast technological advancements, archival research as a methodological approach has never been more promising. In this paper, we have provided a balanced discussion of the pros and the cons of archival research. We highlight the benefits of archival research that are not achievable with traditional research methods, such as ethically studying socially sensitive phenomena, and the utilization of larger and more diverse samples, but also acknowledge its weaknesses, including pre-existing biases from the initial collection and construction of the archival dataset, other forms of biases, and data validity and reliability concerns. Taken together, we strongly urge social psychologists to capitalize on the many benefits of archival research—a research approach that has been underappreciated in the field of social psychology. By adding archival research to our methodological toolkit, social psychologists can utilize archival research together with traditional research methods, thereby increasing the rigor of our research and fortifying the body of knowledge in the field.