If I wanted to study deception, I would choose the research method that had the most to do with behavior. That would be Ethnography again. My research question would be "What are the most common uses for deception?" Since people use deception for such a wide range of things, I think that I could come up with some pretty interesting research. I would definitely have to have a large sample pool though. If the sample pool wasn't large enough, the observations and evidence collected would be inconclusive. However, that is the case with most research. All of the research methods are interesting, however, the method with the least amount of reliability would be surveys. People's opinions can change in a second and some people are not always truthful on the survey. Actually, thinking about it, since some people lie on surveys, the findings could be used as part of the research on deception :)
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
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Yes, I agree I liked the Ethnography as well. It is interesting to observe others and try to understand their behavoirs. Great question, "What are the most common uses for deception?"- I've never thought about it that way. Yes, its important to narrow down the sample pool and pick a certain group and/or community. It seems you have experience with doing surverys, as do I. Sounds like you speaking from experience when you said, "People's opinions can change in a second and some people are not always truthful on the survey." It can happen, though thats why I've been taught to filter them out by repeating a question later in the survery. To see if the persons answer changed. Another then that, we can't control people with their answers, but we can be wise with who to survery and go up to someone that looks like they have time. And not to someone that seems in a rush then they may lie and rush through the survey.
ReplyDeleteI also wrote about ethnography as being the most interesting research methodology. It has many aspects that make it intriguing such as going into the research and becoming one with the reserach question at hand. I think it is the most intersting because it can be seen as an detective method i like to think of it as.
ReplyDeleteYour research question about "what are the commmon uses for deception" is one i would love to read the results of. Perhaps we could understand others more and conflicts can be easier to find a solution while dealing with deception. Deception is a very tricky concept to divide and conquer.