Question

Dr. Lang is conducting a study of when and why adults eat candy. She studied Annette Laureau's Unequal Childhoods and sees that her study will have similar methodological challenges. Accordingly, Dr. Lang decides to use observation instead of interviews because

a. habits are so ingrained that it is difficult for people to describe or explain them.
b. people knowingly lie about topics like parenting or eating, so their bad habits won't be known.
c. people want to please the researcher, so they say what they think the researcher wants them to hear.
d. social media is so pervasive, people tend to repeat what they see and hear in the media, rather than reporting their actual experiences.

Answer 1

Dr. Lang opts for observation over interviews to study adult candy consumption because actual behaviors observed can offer more reliable data, avoiding biases present in self-reported survey responses.

Step-by-step explanation:

Dr. Lang decides to use observation instead of interviews for her study on adult candy consumption because of the ingrained nature of habits, which are difficult for people to accurately describe or explain. She understands that observation can yield more reliable data regarding actual behaviors, compared to self-report methods like interviews and surveys, which may be influenced by respondents' desire to present themselves in a more favorable light (social desirability bias) or their inability to accurately recall or assess their habits.

Surveys and interviews have their value in social science research, especially for collecting self-reported data on beliefs, attitudes, and opinions, as they allow for data to be collected from a larger and more diverse pool of subjects. However, for studies involving everyday habits or practices, such as eating candy, direct observation grants researchers insight into actual behaviors, bypassing potential biases that can arise in survey responses. Therefore, observational studies are particularly useful when researching practices that are culturally embedded and resistant to change.