University of Heidelberg – Institute of Psychology – Department of Psychological Ageing Research

Methodological Reflections(Primarily) From a Psychological Perspective

Hans-Werner Wahl & Frank OswaldInstitute of Psychology, Department of Psychology Aging

Research, University of Heidelberg

Presentation on Workshop at CASE in LundApril 10-11, 2008

University of Heidelberg – Institute of Psychology – Department of Psychological Ageing Research

Ambition and Goal of Presentation

Yesterday, I have made an argument for a holistic, process oriented perspective to be taken on p-e systems in a life-span perspective

Today, I will ask for some of the methodological consequences of such a view

I will do this in a highly pragmatic and workshop-like manner for the sake of our discussion, that is, I will not go into philosophy of science issues, when it comes to the question “What can we know?”, on the one hand, but I will also not address the technical level of any of the methodological avenues put forward, on the other hand

University of Heidelberg – Institute of Psychology – Department of Psychological Ageing Research

Ambition and Goal of Presentation

My major goal with this presentation is

to reflect upon environmental gerontology as a field in need of a strong methodology background and an ongoing methodology discussion

which however takes place only in a rather limited and in our opinion not strong enough manner

University of Heidelberg – Institute of Psychology – Department of Psychological Ageing Research

Ambition and Goal of Presentation

Questions such as

- What are good environmental gerontology methods?

- What is our gold standard in environmental gerontology?

- What are more or less promising mixes of methods?

are seldom treated in any systematic manner in the literature and this possibly tells us something about environmental gerontology in itself

Such reasoning is of course also related to one of the classic tensions to be felt in environmental gerontology, that is between pure research and application

University of Heidelberg – Institute of Psychology – Department of Psychological Ageing Research

Ambition and Goal of Presentation

A fundamental starting point in this context is that the use of scientific methods in any scientific area generally should be conceptually driven and research question (evidence) driven

Research methods never have a sense in themselves, no matter how simple or complex they might be

A discussion of methods should not be reduced on the common “qualitative-versus-quantitative” debate

University of Heidelberg – Institute of Psychology – Department of Psychological Ageing Research

Outline

1. Some general observations on the methodology tradition of environmental gerontology

2. Some fundamental methodology challenges of environmental gerontology

3. Wide scope of P-E methods as a potential and constraint

4. A closer look at some key areas of environmental gerontology and respective data collection strategies

5. From classic to new challenges – some examples

6. Conclusions

University of Heidelberg – Institute of Psychology – Department of Psychological Ageing Research

Some General Observations On the Methodology Tradition of Environmental Gerontology

A rigorous method tradition is lacking to a major extent in environmental gerontology (compared with other disciplines)

What does this mean?

Basically it has in our view to do with the multi-disciplinary approach of the environmental gerontology perspective

Huge method variability from research question to research question and from project to project

University of Heidelberg – Institute of Psychology – Department of Psychological Ageing Research

Some General Observations On the Methodology Tradition of Environmental Gerontology

Constructs are used in many instances side-by-side without much conceptual networking and integration

There is not much research to treat the question of construct overlap (which of course is a major methodological issue)

University of Heidelberg – Institute of Psychology – Department of Psychological Ageing Research

Some General Observations On the Methodology Tradition of Environmental Gerontology

There is not much of a tradition of p-e methodology treatment in the literature (notable exception: Laura Gitlin, for example Gitlin, L. 2006, Physical function in older adults. A comprehensive guide to its meaning and measurement. Austin: Pro-ed)

See also handbook chapters, see EDRA conference volumes, see other treatments of environmental gerontology

Most of method-related argumentation in the environmental gerontology literature typically remains on a rather general, not to say superficial level

University of Heidelberg – Institute of Psychology – Department of Psychological Ageing Research

Some General Observations On the Methodology Tradition of Environmental Gerontology

There is in many disciplines (such as cognitive aging research; functional assessment literature in geriatric medicine) a fundamental security what a certain method can …

And what its potential and limits are and how the data it generates are operating in the context of other data

This is – as far as we can see – still a rare case in environmental gerontology

There is still a rather strong methodological insecurity in the field of environmental gerontology

University of Heidelberg – Institute of Psychology – Department of Psychological Ageing Research

Some General Observations On the Methodology Tradition of Environmental Gerontology

Moreover, at least from a psychological perspective, sometimes we should be aware of past discussions on methodology, held in times long before we had modern equipment, such as rapid computer processors, huge data storage capacity, or structural equation modeling

There might be some hidden (interdisciplinary) gems in the literature, still stimulating for us today and preventing us from the reinvention of the wheel

Additional efforts of digging in the material and literature already available is possibly highly promising

University of Heidelberg – Institute of Psychology – Department of Psychological Ageing Research

Some General Observations On the Methodology Tradition of Environmental Gerontology

There are nevertheless “highlights” here and there, when it comes to some methods (e.g., objective person-environment interlinkages Housing Enabler research of Prof. Susanne Iwarsson)

Any organized p-e approach should put major emphasis on the development and refinement of methods

This applies then also to CASE…

University of Heidelberg – Institute of Psychology – Department of Psychological Ageing Research

Some Fundamental Methodology Challenges of Environmental Gerontology

Environmental Gerontology:

“The overarching aim of environmental gerontology is to describe, explain, and modify / optimize the relationship between the aging person and his/her socio-physical environment, a task accomplished within an interdisciplinary framework.”

(Wahl & Gitlin, 2007, p. 494)

University of Heidelberg – Institute of Psychology – Department of Psychological Ageing Research

Some Fundamental Methodology Challenges of Environmental Gerontology

  

Research Aim Research Question Method Application

Description Open ended Basic research

Explanation (incl. Prediction) Hypothesis driven

Modification (incl. Intervention) Comparative ?

Practice

What is a P-E method?

P-E methods are all means able to accomplish these tasks

University of Heidelberg – Institute of Psychology – Department of Psychological Ageing Research

Some Fundamental Methodology Challenges of Environmental Gerontology

P-e methods (of course) contain non-specific elements:

Relationships between theories, empirical evidence, research questions and method

Philosophy behind the methods (e.g., Probabilistic Test Theory, Grounded Theory, …)

Use of methods in the scientific processo      Impact on study design, on data assessment, on data analyseso      Impact on type of findings, on data interpretation

Proof and adaptation of methodso       Issues of reliabilityo       Issues of validityo       …

University of Heidelberg – Institute of Psychology – Department of Psychological Ageing Research

Some Fundamental Methodology Challenges of Environmental Gerontology

P-e methods contain specific elements:

Interchange dynamic between two omnibus entities, i.e., the person and the environment

This would mean in principal terms that we should have a good conceptual idea of which components of both of these omnibus entities are our target and for which conceptual reason

What is the subject of interest, P, E, or PxE? (e.g., in SenTra geographers are interested in trips, not in individuals)

University of Heidelberg – Institute of Psychology – Department of Psychological Ageing Research

Some Fundamental Methodology Challenges of Environmental Gerontology

P-e methods contain specific elements: Kind of environment we mean here is typically the physical

environment, but on a variety of levels (micro, meso, macro); this does not include linkages with other spheres, i.e. the social and cultural. However, we need to keep in mind other potential types of classification, such as man-made versus non man-made, indoors versus outdoors etc. Besides, other qualities of the physical environment might serve to classify the E: basic physical conditions (weather, lighting, temperature, altitude, air, smell, sound, …), size and extension, order, content, …

When it comes to the person, we typically are interested in those contents and measures able to link the person with the environment, that is visible behavior ( observation) and invisible cognitive / emotional representation, i.e. thinking and feeling ( introspection)

University of Heidelberg – Institute of Psychology – Department of Psychological Ageing Research

Some Fundamental Methodology Challenges of Environmental Gerontology

Are there additional specifics of p-e methods, when it comes to aging? Person:

- Functional loss (mobility, sensory), cognitive loss (dementia),

- Changed fundamental motivational tendencies also relevant to the understanding of p-e systems

- Reduced remaining time to live

- Long term adaptional and compensational efforts to come to terms with person-environment constellations

- Accumulation of environmental experiences over time (i.e. the collection of places in our head increases, at least during normal aging)

- In very old age: fears of specific environments (barriers) and basic fear of institutionalization

University of Heidelberg – Institute of Psychology – Department of Psychological Ageing Research

Some Fundamental Methodology Challenges of Environmental Gerontology

Environment: - Tends to be not completely modern in terms of what is possible on the basic standard level (home environment)

- In contrast: often we have so called “double aging”, i.e. the individual ages as the environment gets more and more outdated at the same time

- Tends to be barrier-free more often, at best in a universal design way, i.e. not to be stereotyping the aged at the same time

- Has dramatically changed over the years (such as outdoor environments in urban areas; technology), while people have aged however, there are pros and cons of this: e.g. when using a car, a phone, a tram…

- Has gained new meanings and variations (new living arrangement options while simultaneously making later life more difficult in terms of lost orientation on (ever?) existing standards of good environments for all older adults

only to show in which complexity we are imposing our methodological approaches and what potential and limitations are coming with this

University of Heidelberg – Institute of Psychology – Department of Psychological Ageing Research

Some Fundamental Methodology Challenges of Environmental Gerontology

Having said this, three basic questions are fundamental (and of course theory and research question related):

1. What is our P measurement target? Variation of behavior (observable) / perception (introspection) Body extensions (weight, size, prothetics, …) Young / old / very old (age) Mobile / immobile Independent / dependent (in daily life) Healthy / Impaired (cognitive, physical) (…)

University of Heidelberg – Institute of Psychology – Department of Psychological Ageing Research

Some Fundamental Methodology Challenges of Environmental Gerontology

2. What is our E measurement target? Micro / meso / macro (from small-scale things to large-scale cultures) Man-made / non-man-made Indoor / outdoor Stable / changing Urban / rural Low tech / high tech (…)

3. What types of P x E can be addressed and need to be measured? (…) (…)

University of Heidelberg – Institute of Psychology – Department of Psychological Ageing Research

Wide Scope of P-E Methods as a Potential and Constraint

Some basics There is no logical link of the fundamental tasks of description,

explanation and modification to any p-e method, that is, an argument has be build in any single case, why a method or a set of methods is chosen

Consider the bandwidth of areas involved in environmental gerontology and in CASE: role of home environment, the issue of outdoor mobility, issues of gerontechnology / assistive devices research

Make a case for a multimethod / multidiscipline approach ( but nevertheless do this with scientific coherence and a straightforward concept of method combination) “controlled pluralism”, not in the sense of “anything goes”, but in the sense of a diversity of methods to be considered to address the many dimensions of the person-environment system as people age

University of Heidelberg – Institute of Psychology – Department of Psychological Ageing Research

Some basics

Make the disciplinary step before you make the interdisciplinary step (e.g., psychologists have a tradition to measuring introspection, geographers are good in outdoor mapping, OT’s are good in assessing activity)

CASE really is in a position to exert and further such meta-method argumentation and to substantially serve the field with this

Wide Scope of P-E Methods as a Potential and Constraint

University of Heidelberg – Institute of Psychology – Department of Psychological Ageing Research

Bandwidth of Assessment of Person-environment Relations

Quantitative – structured (to measure P as well as E, as well as PxE!)

Qualitative – semi-structured (to mainly measure perceived PxE, i.e. to measure P!)

Controlled data / experiment / manipulation of p-e- system (behavioral observation)

Non-reactive / naturally occurring data (behavioral observation)

Secondary data analysis and meta-analysis

Wide Scope of P-E Methods as a Potential and Constraint

University of Heidelberg – Institute of Psychology – Department of Psychological Ageing Research

A Closer Look at Some Key Areas of Environmental Gerontology and Respective Data Collection Strategies

Assessment of Objective P-E Relations

Example 1: Home environment- Checklists and the Housing Enabler ENABLE-AGE

- Additional thoughts (observation, catching the dynamics etc.)

- Multi-level approach needed

Example 2: Out-of-home environment- Tracking methodology – our approach in SenTra- Geo-mapping- Additional thoughts (again: observation, catching the dynamics

etc.) - Multi-level approach needed

University of Heidelberg – Institute of Psychology – Department of Psychological Ageing Research

A Closer Look at Some Key Areas of Environmental Gerontology and Respective Data Collection Strategies

Assessment of Subjective P-E Relations

Evaluation (introspection)- Goals / aims (questionnaires, semi-structured, focus groups, …)- Preferences (questionnaires, semi-structured, …)- Habits, routines (diaries, …)- Fears, feelings (questionnaire, …)- Cognitive representation (insideness, embodiment, exploration)

Some of the challenges (variability, bias toward positive)

Learning more about the interaction / overlap of constructs see Oswald et al. (2006), Journal of Environmental Psychology

The importance of going qualitative

University of Heidelberg – Institute of Psychology – Department of Psychological Ageing Research

A Closer Look at Some Key Areas of Environmental Gerontology and Respective Data Collection Strategies

Environmental Change and Optimization

Needs assessment

Controlled intervention research

Other options: action research and user involvement

University of Heidelberg – Institute of Psychology – Department of Psychological Ageing Research

From Classic to New Challenges – Some Examples

Research Design Issues (some examples)

Process: short versus long-term designs

Why not more experiments / natural and by design?

Future workshops, expert workshops, etc.

Cross-country / -cultural issues

Cross setting variation (e.g. institutions)

Development of new measures

Validation of measures (important!!! e.g. tracking, see SenTra)

University of Heidelberg – Institute of Psychology – Department of Psychological Ageing Research

From Classic to New Challenges – Some Examples

Combination of Methods

What are generally good rules here?

The quantitative / qualitative combination argument

Different levels of analysis (micro, meso, macro) need different methods

Statistical and publication-related implications

University of Heidelberg – Institute of Psychology – Department of Psychological Ageing Research

From Classic to New Challenges – Some Examples

New Potential in Bridge-building with Cutting-edge Areas of Future Aging Research and Application

Three examples (fancy but nevertheless promising):

Building bridges to neuroscience (e.g., the issue of environmental stimulation) and respective methods

Building bridges to technology and methods which built on technology (e.g., tracking methodology; direct vital parameter check related to various environments)

Building bridges to health economics and respective methods

University of Heidelberg – Institute of Psychology – Department of Psychological Ageing Research

Conclusions

There is a need to nurture more strongly a culture of methodology discussion in environmental gerontology

There is a need to invest more into a systematic attempt in this direction, i.e., a rationale to organize the field in a coherent way

There is a need to go for new and (possibly) risky and unknown areas and interlinkages

There is a particularly strong role of involving young scholars in such processes

CASE (research center + graduate school) can make a strong case here!!!

University of Heidelberg – Institute of Psychology – Department of Psychological Ageing Research

Foto: © Reinhard Kemmether

Thank you very much for your attention!