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Tips & Advice for Psychology Research in the Classroom?

• The research is focused on whether the behaviourism theory of learning affects motivation in the classroom
• Assumption: The theory of behaviourism will change the level of motivation in the classroom
• Observing lessons without taking part
• Focused on males
• Will be drawing their class plan of where they're all sitting

I have no idea where to start with my coding system to take notes. I was thinking about setting up a table with Praise and Punishment using O (positive affect) and X (negative affect) and then by the side how it effects their self-esteem (with arrows showing increase or decrease or nothing at all to show no change). But it doesn't really measure the motivation levels?

Example:
Praise | Punishment
O - SE (increase) | X - SE (-)


Also I will need to focus on:
• Vicarious Reinforcement
• Positive Reinforcement
• Negative Reinforcement
• Negative Punishment
But I'm not sure how to measure/note the effect..

Any advice/tips on how to include motivation in this research? Will answer any questions if I haven't explained it clearly! :smile:
(edited 8 years ago)
A few things to note:

- I think you need to break down 'behaviourism' and focus on exactly what you mean by that.

- you can also have positive punishment. Are you definitely sure that you understand those terms? (Just checking cos many people misunderstand them).

- how would you measure motivation? It's a very internal thing and not always observable easily

- what about gaining ethical approval? It is very difficult to get it for any research involving children
Reply 2
Avatar for Ceriidwen
Ceriidwen
OP
1
Original post by *Interrobang*
A few things to note:

- I think you need to break down 'behaviourism' and focus on exactly what you mean by that.

- you can also have positive punishment. Are you definitely sure that you understand those terms? (Just checking cos many people misunderstand them).

- how would you measure motivation? It's a very internal thing and not always observable easily

- what about gaining ethical approval? It is very difficult to get it for any research involving children


It's more like a research we're doing to revise for PY4 so it's not a proper experiment.
By "positive punishment" I mean, if a teacher was to give back a test where the pupil had a low grade/mark hopefully he'd reflect on it and learn not to make the same mistakes in the future. The punishment being the low grade/mark or the feeling of disappointment, and the positive side, learning from the mistakes and achieving a higher grade/mark in the next test.
I guess when measuring motivation I'd start by observing their facing expressions when they're being praised, whether they keep contributing to the lesson or not, I understand measuring motivation is very hard!
Considering if I had told the children what I was doing, and why I'm observing their lesson it will definitely effect the results so I would have to cheat them, although the teachers know exactly what I'm doing. I'll also be giving a debrief to the children at the end.
Original post by Ceriidwen
It's more like a research we're doing to revise for PY4 so it's not a proper experiment.
By "positive punishment" I mean, if a teacher was to give back a test where the pupil had a low grade/mark hopefully he'd reflect on it and learn not to make the same mistakes in the future. The punishment being the low grade/mark or the feeling of disappointment, and the positive side, learning from the mistakes and achieving a higher grade/mark in the next test.
I guess when measuring motivation I'd start by observing their facing expressions when they're being praised, whether they keep contributing to the lesson or not, I understand measuring motivation is very hard!
Considering if I had told the children what I was doing, and why I'm observing their lesson it will definitely effect the results so I would have to cheat them, although the teachers know exactly what I'm doing. I'll also be giving a debrief to the children at the end.
I mentioned positive punishment cos it wasn't on your list. It is very difficult to measure motivation and you might find it difficult to get any idea - you would need a baseline for example. Maybe they are always happy/sad? It might not change their behaviour, even if their behaviour suggestion increased or decreased motivation. And I'm not saying that you need permission from the pupils to observe - but you would still need consent from school. I guess this is A Level? Cos if it was a uni you would have to submit a proposal to the ethics board. Still best to check with tutors though
Reply 4
Avatar for Ceriidwen
Ceriidwen
OP
1
Original post by *Interrobang*
I mentioned positive punishment cos it wasn't on your list. It is very difficult to measure motivation and you might find it difficult to get any idea - you would need a baseline for example. Maybe they are always happy/sad? It might not change their behaviour, even if their behaviour suggestion increased or decreased motivation. And I'm not saying that you need permission from the pupils to observe - but you would still need consent from school. I guess this is A Level? Cos if it was a uni you would have to submit a proposal to the ethics board. Still best to check with tutors though


I had positive punishment under "positive reinforcement" on my plan. Yeah, it's for A level, our teacher has sorted that all out for us :smile: Thanks!
Original post by Ceriidwen
I had positive punishment under "positive reinforcement" on my plan. Yeah, it's for A level, our teacher has sorted that all out for us :smile: Thanks!


Positive punishment and positive reinforcement are completely different things. Make sure you are 100% certain on the terminology if you are coding

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