Recent research has demonstrated that very young children between the ages of 18 and 30 months are able to learn abstrac

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Recent research has demonstrated that very young childrenbetween the ages of 18 and 30 months are able to learn abstractrelationships among objects as well as cause-and-effectrelationships between events (Walker & Gopnik, 2014). In thisstudy, the toddlers watched researchers place blocks, one at atime, on top of a white box. A single block had no effect, but ifthe second block was identical to the first, then the box wouldbegin to play music. After observing for three to five trials, thechildren were tested with a set of blocks that included familiarblocks from the observation period as well as novel blocks. Theresearcher chose one block and put it on the box. The child wasthen asked to pick another block to make the toy play music. Thechildren selected the correct block significantly more often thanthe familiar blocks or the nonmatching novel blocks, indicatingthat they had learned the abstract concept “same” and inferred thecause-and-effect relationship that a pair of “same” blocks causedthe music. This task is very difficult for nonhuman primates andfor older children, who tend to concentrate on the concrete objectsand not on the relationships between them.
The ability to learn cause-and-effect relationships quicklyallows humans to predict outcomes and future consequences, whichcan be very useful and even lifesaving. However, the fact thattoddlers can learn and use causal relationships does not mean thatthis is an easy task for researchers. In this chapter, we present avariety of different, commonly used methods for conductingresearch. However, only one of these methods allows researchers tomake cause-and-effect conclusions based on their results. As youwill see, some research studies are designed simply to describeindividual variables or groups of subjects. For example, a studymay determine the average number of text messages sent and receivedby a typical American adolescent. Other research studies areintended simply to describe relationships between variables. Forexample, research has demonstrated a negative relationship betweenweight and income for women (income decreases as weight increases)but a positive relationship for men (income and weight increasetogether). However, these studies simply describe the relationship;they don’t explain why it exists. Finally, there is a specific typeof research study that not only describes the relationship betweenvariables but also provides a cause-and-effect explanation for therelationship. For example, research has demonstrated that calmingbackground music causes better academic performance in elementaryschool students.
These different approaches to research are known as researchstrategies. In this chapter, we introduce five different researchstrategies, identify the kinds of questions that each is designedto answer, and then discuss the strengths and limitations of theanswers they produce.
(Reference: Walker, C. M., & Gopnik, A. (2014). Toddlersinfer higher-order relational principles in causal learning.Psychological Science, 25, 161–169.doi:10.1177/0956797613502983)
One of the major learning objectives of this chapter is todescribe the five research strategies and recognize examples ofeach.
The descriptive strategy is intended to answer questions aboutthe current state of individual variables for a specific group ofindividuals. Can the following question be addressed with thedescriptive strategy?
What is the average income level of a recent collegegraduate?
__Yes
___No
Both the correlational and nonexperimental strategies examinethe relationship between two variables. The correlational strategysimply measures two variables for each individual. In contrast,nonexperiments compare two or more groups of scores. Consider thefollowing scenarios and decide whether each is an example of thecorrelational or the nonexperimental strategy.
A survey of 200 people showed that the more they exercised, theless they weighed.
___Nonexperimental
___Correlational
A recent study found that male college students exercise morethan females.
___Correlational
___Nonexperimental
The experimental strategy is intended to answer cause-and-effectquestions about the relationship between two variables. In order toanswer that type of question, the researcher must manipulate orchange one of the variables while maintaining rigorous control overall other variables. Is the following scenario an example of anexperiment?
A researcher measures the amount of exercise each adult in agroup gets and how much each adult weighs. The study demonstratesthat the more adults exercise, the less they weigh.
__No
__Yes