Class 1b_Scientific Method

8/21/2019 Class 1b_Scientific Method

1/44

Types of Research in

Psychology


2/44

Epistemology

How does one acquire new knowledge?

How do you know what you know?


3/44

Truthiness

Truthiness is a truth that a person claims to know intuitively from the gut

without regard to evidence, logic, intellectual examination, or facts.


4/44

Distort reality to be what you prefer


5/44

Authority


6/44

Eperience


7/44

Reason and !ogic


8/44

"hat method could you use?


9/44

"hat does the scienti#c methodentail?

Asking a question $most people don%t get this far&

'ee what other people know already

(ollect data

)b*ecti+ely and logically analy,e data to answerquestion

Recogni,e !-.-TAT-)/'

'ub*ect #ndings to criticism from other smart people

0 0 0 0 Ask more questions


10/44

"hy is the scienti#c methodimportant?


11/44

To de+ise a unique research study and writean 1 2 34 page Research Proposal accordingto the format of the American Psychological

Association $APA&0

-n order to do this5 you need6


12/44

30 To understand how the scienti#c method isapplied to research in the #eld of

psychology

40 To de+elop critical thinking skills that you

can apply to78 de+eloping and #ne2tuning your researchideas

8 reading psychology literature

8 planning a research study


13/44

To DESCRIBE e0g05 Describe pre+alence of psychiatric disorders9

describe the relationship b:t stressful life e+entsand depression

To PREDICT

e0g05 Research shows early family +iolence isstrongly associated with a person%s use of +iolencein the future

To EXPLAIN e0g05 !inking depression to imbalanced

neurotransmitters in the brainTo CHANGE/CONTROL

e0g05 4 therapies are compared to test their e;ecton le+els of depressi+e symptoms


14/44

The American Psychological Association

$APA& manual di+ides articles into thefollowing categories7

30 Empirical studies

40 Re+iew articles0 (ase studies

"e will only focus on Empirical studies


15/44

EMPIRICAL STUDIES

Empirical studies are reports of originalresearch

"e will focus on two types of empiricalstudies7

True Eperiments

(orrelational 'tudies


16/44

TRUE EXPERIMENTS

This is the ONLYtype of research designthat allows us to make causal statements

True eperiments allow us to determine

whether @A $the -ndependent Bariable5 orpredictor +ariable& causes changes in @C$the Dependent Bariable5 or outcome+ariable&

IV DV True eperiments utili,e random assignment


17/44

Do in*ections of high le+els oftestosterone cause aggressi+ebeha+ior in men?

The sample of men would be randomlyassigned to a group that gets the injectionsand a group that does not

Men +Testostero

ne

Men Testostero

ne

Aggresson!

Aggresson

!


18/44

TRUE EXPERIMENTS CONTINUED

Why use an experiment?

8 "hen there is a lot of data about a speci#c

research topic that pro+ides strong preliminarysuggestions that @A inuences @C e0g05 longitudinal studies show that A precedes C

8 "hen you want to change:control a beha+ior


19/44

CORRELATIONAL STUDIES

To ask7 @"hat is the relationshipbetween 4 or more +ariables for a gi+en

set of sub*ects?

NOTE7 (orrelation (ausation

"e are /)T e+aluating the e;ect of one +ariable onanother $as in a true eperiment& and5 therefore5

cannot say that one +ariable causesthe other


20/44

Why use a correlational design?Why use a correlational design?

When you cant conduct an experiment becauseWhen you cant conduct an experiment because

you cant manipulate the predictor variable e.g.,you cant manipulate the predictor variable e.g.,gender or age or diagnostic status!gender or age or diagnostic status!

When you want to describe behaviorWhen you want to describe behavior show that "show that "

co#occurs with $ or that " precedes $!co#occurs with $ or that " precedes $!

CORRELATIONAL STUDIES CONTINUED


21/44

"hat is the relationship between gender and"hat is the relationship between gender andFPA in college?FPA in college?

This cant be a true experiment becauseThis cant be a true experiment because

you cant randomly assign people to beyou cant randomly assign people to be

either male or female, and you are justeither male or female, and you are just

interested in the relationship between theinterested in the relationship between the

two variables (Gender G!"#two variables (Gender G!"#


22/44

CORRELATIONAL STUDIESCONTINUED

Gse the Correlation Coefcient (r)toindicate the degree of relationship betweentwo +ariables

Ranges from 30 to I 30 The closer ris to J30 or 2305 the more closely

the two +ariables are related

rK 3 perfect positi+e correlation

rK no correlation $no relationship between 4

+ariables&

r K 23 perfect negati+e correlation


23/44


24/44

"pplication of the scientific method to

psychological research


25/44

Research psychologists use the scienticmethod to de+elop theories and conductstudies

8According to the scienti#c method5 F))DRE'EAR(H must be7 O"#e$t%e7 .easures and methods should be

ob*ecti+e and not sub*ect to bias:error &e''($ontro''e)7 )ther +ariables $etraneous5

nuisance& that could inuence the results ofresearch are minimi,ed

Re*'$te)7 Eperiments ought to be repeatedto con#rm the original results


26/44

.ake an obser+ation

Ask a question

Father information

Re#ne research question:form research hypothesesDesign a study

'eek re+iew board appro+al:grant submission

(onduct study:(ollect data

Analy,e data:E+aluate your hypotheses

"rite research paper

'ubmit to *ournal


27/44

STEP ,- M.e n o"ser%ton

$xample% &any college students tend

to procrastinate when studying for exams


28/44

STEP - As. 01eston

$xample% 'o students who procrastinatedo worse in school than students who donot procrastinate?)


29/44

8Try to #nd the answer to your question byre+iewing pre+ious research in theliteratureHas anyone researched this question before?

-f yes5 what did they #nd? "ere the #ndingsreplicated? -f so5 were they consistent?-f no5 are there any similar studies $e0g05 studies

of procrastination among high school students5studies assessing the association ofprocrastination with something other thangrades&?

* +n this example, there are several studiesshowing that academic procrastination isassociated with lower G!"


30/44

Cased on your re+iew of #ndings frompre+ious studies5 modify your researchquestion so that it7

Addresses a new question that will make acontribution to the general area of research

$xample% o students who li-e their professorsprocrastinate less than those who do not rate

their professors highly?


31/44

STEP 2 Contn1e)

.esearch /ypothesis%The researcher%sprediction about the relationship betweenthe +ariables being studied $in this case5professor ratings and procrastination&

$xample% 0tudents who rate their professors highlyshow lower rates of procrastination in thoseclasses1


32/44

8>a0 Lirst5 determine the type of research

design you will use7

Eperiment

(orrelational


33/44

8>b0 /et5 identify the rele+ant +ariables inyour study7

Vr"'e7 Any e+ent5 situation5 beha+ior5 orindi+idual characteristic that +aries $i0e05 has atleast two +alues&

$xamples%Bariable /ame !e+els $+alues&

Fender .ale:Lemale

Procrastination rating M days from duedate

Professor rating M on 32pt scale


34/44

>c0 Ligure out which +ariable$s& is the-ndependent Bariable and which +ariable$s& isthe Dependent Bariable0

-ndependent Bariable $-B&7 A +ariable theresearcher directly manipulates to determineits inuence on beha+ior

Dependent Bariable $DB&7 A response or

beha+ior that the researcher measures33T4e IV n) DV re on'5 re'e%nt n

e6*er7ent' reser$4 )esgns33

$xample% "n experimenter wants to 2nd out whetherlowering the room temperature in a restaurant results incustomers consuming more food1 What is the IV? Whatis the DV?


35/44

$xample% "n experimenter wants to 2nd outwhether lowering the room temperature ina restaurant results in customersconsuming more food1 What is the +3? "ndwhat is the 3?

+3 4 ?

3 4 ?


36/44

$xample%

An eperimenter wants to determine the e;ectof ca;eine on performance on a math eam0

%& ' ( )& ' (

Example: "n experimenter wants to determine if people

who received *$+ will have lower depression

scores on the $eck )epression %nventory $)%!than people received psychoanalytic therapy.

%& ' ( )& ' (


37/44

>d0 -dentify your sample0

8"H) will your sub*ects be?

8H)" will you recruit them?.emember7 -n order for your results to begenerali,able5 you want to get arepresentati+e sample7

Representative sample% " subset of thepopulation that closely matches the overallcharacteristics of the population with respect todistribution of males5females, racial and ethnicgroups, etc1


38/44

8>e0 "HE/ will you assess your sub*ects?

Cross(se$ton'7 All assessment occurs duringthesame limited time period

$xample% 6ou assess students one time 7 at theend of their freshman year

Longt1)n'7 Research data is obtained fromthesame group of indi+iduals at multiple points

o+er an etended period of time$xample% 6ou assess students multiple times 7once during their freshman year, then again atthe end of their sophomore, junior, and senioryears for a total of 8 assessment points


39/44

8>f0 H)" will you assess your sub*ects?

8 -nter+iew

8 Nuestionnaire

8 Performance tests

8 (hart re+iew8 (ollect physical samples $e0g05sali+a5 urine&

8 (ollect physiological data$e0g05 heart rate5 blood pressure&


40/44

8>g0 Lor eperiments5 how will you ()/TR)!your study?

8 -n real life5 one thing does not act on another in isolation9 there are

many things going on at one time thatmay inuence beha+ior

*9ontrol procedures% (onsistent proceduresfor gi+ing instructions5 scoring responses5and holding all other +ariables constant

ecept those being systematically +aried bythe eperimenter


41/44

8 -n the real world5 all research studies must be appro+ed

by a re+iew board to ensure the protection ofparticipants who may be enrolled into the study I calledthe @-RC I -nstitutional Re+iew Coard

Cefore any participant is recruited into the study5 it

must ha+e appro+al

How do psychologists pay for this research?

Psychologists who conduct research need money to

pay for their studies9 therefore5 they write grants$detailed research proposals& and submit them to a+ariety of institutions with the hope of obtainingfunding0


42/44

)nce you ha+e recei+ed appro+al by the-RC5 you are ready to conduct your studyand collect your data


43/44

8)nce your data are collected5 you maybegin e+aluating your hypotheses todetermine if your ideas about the outcomewere correct

8Oou should ha+e a series of speci#chypotheses to eplore in your data to a+oidgoing on @#shing epeditions in the hopesof #nding signi#cant results in your data


44/44

Research articles are written in the shape of an

hourglass I they mo+e from broad generalstatements $introduction& to progressi+ely narrowerspeci#cs about the study $method and results&5 andthen broaden again to more general issues andconsiderations $discussion&

%+-)/*+%

01+2)

-13/4+3

)%3*/33%

STEP 10: Subit to !ourna"

Documents

Class 1b_Scientific Method