Strengths and limits of methods
IB Psychology· Research methodology· 14 min read
1. Core concept
Every method trades strengths against weaknesses, and evaluating one means weighing them against the aim. Controlled experiments buy internal validity and causal inference at the cost of artificiality and lower ecological validity; naturalistic observations and field studies buy realism at the cost of control and replicability; case studies buy depth at the cost of generalizability. There is no single 'best' method — only one better or worse suited to a given question.
2. Key studies
IB Psychology answers must be supported by named studies. Learn these to cite as evidence:
Tversky & Kahneman (1981)
People reversed their risk choices depending on whether identical outcomes were framed as gains or losses. — An EXPERIMENT's trade-off: tight control isolates the framing cause cleanly, but the artificial hypothetical scenarios lower ecological validity.
Odden & Rochat (2004)
Observation in a Samoan village showed children acquiring complex skills and social knowledge largely by watching adults, without direct instruction. — A NATURALISTIC OBSERVATION's trade-off: high ecological validity in a real setting, but little control and no way to manipulate variables for cause.
3. Evaluation (AO3)
Strength — guides design and critique — Knowing each method's characteristic trade-off lets you both design better studies and evaluate existing ones precisely.
Limitation — trade-offs are context-dependent — Whether a weakness matters depends on the aim — artificiality is fatal for a real-world claim but acceptable for isolating a mechanism — so strengths and limits cannot be judged in the abstract.
4. Scope
5. Common Pitfalls
Wrong move:
Evaluating a method means evaluating the famous study that used it.
Why:
A frequently penalised misconception in IB Psychology exams.
Correct move:
Assess the METHOD's generic strengths and limitations (control, ecological validity, replicability, depth), not just the details of one study. A research-methods question wants the method, not a study summary.
Going deeper
- Types of research methodthe method families being compared are RM_11.
- Choosing the right methodtrade-offs feed the choice of method for an aim (RM_12).