The test phase: how do you develop and test the process model? - Chapter 4

When social psychologists choose a set of explanations, they create a process model. This model serves as a template for developing interventions.

How do you formulate a process model?

A process model is a pictorial/illustrated representation of the explanatory variables and their relationships with each other and with the outcome variable. Each variable is represented as a box. The boxes (variables) in the model are connected by arrows. The valence of an arrow indicates whether there is a positive (+) or negative (-) relationship between two variables. Formulating a process model helps social psychologists to paint a structured picture of the problem with the underlying causes. It should also provide guidance on which interventions to use.

How do you develop a process model?

First, there must be a clear outcome variable. Ideally, this has already been done in the previous phase of the PATH method, but there may be doubts as to whether the outcome variable is concrete enough or not. Subsequently, a diagram must be made of the preparatory process model. The outcome variable is placed in the right box and the possible explanations in the left box. Example of a preliminary process model:

Psychological needs of students + student's attitudes towards learning and school = intrinsic academic motivation

• Outcome variable: intrinsic academic motivation
• Possible explanations: students’ attitudes towards learning and school due to the traditional way of teaching, the psychological needs of students are therefore not met.

This is a plausible first model, but there are several problems. First, the explanatory variable is not described as a continuous and quantitative variable. It is unclear how this variable could vary from less to more, and therefore how exactly it is related to the outcome variable. Secondly, variables should be formulated more specifically. For example, what is it about the psychological needs of students that affects intrinsic academic motivation? And what psychological need is exactly referred to or is most important? An improved model would use more concrete terms to describe the variables. See the figure below as an example of more concrete variables and specified relationships:

Degree to which student's need for autonomy is fulfilled at school + belief than one can improve oneself when putting in effort + perceived purposefulness school activities = intrinsic academic motivation

This model is already a great improvement over the first, although there are still details lacking. It is not yet clear whether the variables on the left have a direct or indirect influence on the problem. Additionally, the variables introduced in the second figure can be caused by other factors. These would need to be added into the model, therefore adding many more boxes (variables) to the model.

This is one possible way to develop a process model, but it is by no means the only way. In general, it takes a lot of time and adjustment to come up with a process model that describes the relationships between the variables as precisely and completely as possible. It is worth it because a good process model should give a clear recommendation regarding the nature of interventions necessary to tackle the problem.

What heuristics are there for developing a process model?

While there is not one particular blueprint for creating a process model, there are various heuristics that could be helpful in organizing a process model. The following 11 rules of thumb may help develop a process model:

1. Make a list of the possible explanations and variables involved.
2. Ensure that all these variables are social psychological, specific (rather than general), concrete (rather than abstract) and continuous rather than binary.
3. Ensure that these variables concern primarily behaviours, behavioural intentions, attitudes, cognitions, or emotions and feelings.
4. Draw up the outcome variable on the right-hand side of the process model.
5. Move from the right to the left-hand side of the model by asking yourself which variable influences the outcome variable.
6. Draw arrows between these variables to depict the direction of the relationship (+ = positive, - = negative, ? = don’t know yet).
7. Make sure that the relationship between the variables is not too remote. Otherwise consider putting in a mediating variable (for instance, in the example of academic motivation, other students’ academic motivation is likely to affect a student’s academic motivation via emotional contagion.
8. When coming up with new variables think about whether they have direct effects, indirect effects, reinforcing or undermining effects on the other variables in the model.
9. When here are several variables influencing the outcome variable, work each of them out in detail and then consider whether they are related to each other. Draw an arrow between them if you think they are.
10. In practice, a process model should contain no more than about ten variables (excluding the outcome variable) to make it workable. One should make sure the model is parsimonious, while at the same time providing sufficient detail about each of the explanations.
11. To develop a practical model there should not be too many steps between the outcome variable and the most distal variables. Aim for about four different steps to make it manageable.

How do you test the process model?

When choosing the right theory or set of theories, the practitioner will often have already looked at the empirical literature or evidence. Particularly in the issue-related approach, it is often clear from research what the strength and direction of the relationships are between the variables in the model. So, there may already be a solid empirical basis for the model. This isn’t always the case, however. To make sure that the relations in the process model are adequately supported by evidence, we advise to (again) look carefully in this stage at every relationship (arrow) in the process model and to check whether there is enough evidence to support it. A practitioner finds evidence from multiple sources or methods to support each line in the process model:

• Social psychological literature. especially meta-analytic papers and review papers are useful because they summarize results of various studies on a topic. Correlations between variables can be established in the process model.
  • Finding relevant literature can be hard so it is advisable to search for research directly relevant to the problem definition, thus the issue-related approach.
• Why-interviews. Insights from these interviews can help support the relations in the process model. But interviews merely reflect the interviewee’s perception of causes, perceptions aren’t facts.
• Checking with representatives of different groups involved.
• Doing your own research. Sometimes not all relationships in the process model have been documented in research literature or been confirmed by members of relevant groups, so it can be effective to do your own research if you have training in research methods or ask an experienced researcher for help if you have limited experience.