Evaluate the use of one or more animal research methods in the

study of brain and behaviour.

Animal research is not a research methodology this means that when we talk about animal
research we are talking about identifying the sample that is used in the study. So all the
research methods used to study humans can be used to study animals, therefore just like in
human study there two type research methods in Animal research, quantitative and
qualitative research.

One quantitative research method is an experiment. Quantitative research methods

(experiments) involve manipulating some variables and measuring the change in others but
the specific way in which these can be organized differs depending on the aims of the
research. The advantage of animal research is that it puts no human lives at risk.
Experiments can take place to determine if a product or idea will work as intended. If it
does, then it can be tested on humans with a lower risk of a negative outcome. Despite this
there are many disadvantages of animal research, the disadvantage of animal research is
that it lessens the value of life. Most animals, once the testing process has been completed,
are euthanized. Many of those animals are purposely bred for the experiments being
performed as well, which means millions of animals are at a higher risk of suffering from
abuse or neglect in a field that is often poorly regulated.

One such example is a study conducted by Rosenzweig, Bennet and Diamond’s (1972) study
on the role of environmental stimuli on brain plasticity. Because this study was highly
controlled, the researchers argued that there was a cause and effect relation between
stimuli and brain development. However in order to actually measure the effect, the
researchers had to kill the animals and measure the destiny of the brains. As it can be seen
in this example even tough the researchers were able to find results that would benefit
humans they killed the rats which can be considered extremely unethical.

The other research methodology is qualitative research. One qualitative research method in
animal research is a case study. Qualitative research strategies include the use of case
studies, among others. These will often involve face-to-face interactions between
researcher and participant where the researcher needs to be flexible and sensitive to the
needs of the social context within which the data is obtained. The data is subsequently
analysed and interpreted. The advantages of case studies is that case studies offer verifiable
data from direct observations of the animal involved. These observations can show specific
actions taken which led to specific results. These observations make it possible for other
researchers, to potentially replicate the results discovered by the case study. Despite the
various advantages case studies also have disadvantages it can influence factors within the
data because consent is required to acquire to record someone this can lead to a social
desirability bias which can sometimes effect the credibility of the study. Many case studies
cannot be replicated because these case studies contain unethical processes against the
animals.

One example of a case study is Shively & Day (2015) carried out a longitudinal case study on
the health of female macaque monkeys.  They found that those lower in the hierarchy
suffered from twice the level of atherosclerosis – a plaque that builds up on the walls of the
arteries – than higher-ranking monkeys. Atherosclerosis is the usual cause of heart attacks,
strokes and cardiovascular disease. As these studies were naturalistic and the animals were
not manipulated in any way, the research is not only ecologically valid but also ethical. This
research has helped us to understand the role of stress on human health without causing
undue stress or harm to the animals that were being studied.