Methodology: How Social Psychologists Do Research

Chapter 2Chapter 2Methodology: Methodology:

How Social Psychologists How Social Psychologists Do ResearchDo Research

Chapter OutlineChapter Outline

Methodology: How Social Psychologists Do Research

Methodology: Methodology: How Social Psychologists Do How Social Psychologists Do Research Research

• Empirical research allows us to test the validity of personal observations and folk wisdom.


• Findings from social psychological research may appear obvious because of the hindsight bias.


• Social psychology relies on three types of methods -- observational, correlational, and experimental -- to provide empirical answers to questions about social behavior.


I. Formulating Hypotheses and Theories

Formulating Hypotheses and TheoriesFormulating Hypotheses and Theories

• Inspiration from Previous Theories and Research

Science is cumulative and people often generate hypotheses based on previous theories and research.

Formulating Hypotheses and TheoriesFormulating Hypotheses and Theories

• Hypotheses based on Personal Observations

Personal experience, current events, and literature can provide a source of hypotheses to test.


II. The Observational Method: Describing Social Behavior

The Observational MethodThe Observational Method

• The observational method involves systematic observation and measurement of behavior.


• Ethnography

A type of observational method used by cultural anthropologists and social psychologists to study and understand a group or culture.


• Participant Observation

A form of systematic observation whereby the observer interacts with the people being observed, but tries not to change the situation in any way.


• Archival Analysis

A form of the observational whereby the researcher examines the accumulated documents of a culture.


• Limits of the Observational Method

Certain kinds of behavior are difficult to observe, because they occur rarely or in private.

It is confined to one particular group of people, one setting, and one type of activity.

It describes patterns of behavior but is not conducive to understanding relationships between variables or why a behavior occurs


III. The Correlational Method: Predicting Social Behavior

The Correlational MethodThe Correlational Method

• The correlational method involves systematically measuring the relationship between two or more variables (e.g., how much one can be predicted from the other).


• Surveys

The correlational method often relies on surveys, as well as on observational data. Surveys are used when the variable of interest is not easily observable.


• Correlation CoefficientThe correlation coefficient provides a metric for calculating the degree of association between two variables.

Positive correlations indicate that an increase in one variable is associated with an increase in the other.Negative correlations indicate that an increase in one variable is associated with a decrease in the other.


• SurveysThe validity of survey data depends on using samples that are representative of the population being studied.

Random selection can ensure that a sample is representative.


• SurveysProblems with survey data

Sampling errors

Survey questions that ask people to explain their own behavior are likely to be inaccurate.

Answers to survey questions can be influenced by the way the question is phrased.


• Correlation does not equal causation

The correlational method identifies only whether two variables are associated, and not why they are related.



Confusion of correlation and causality may appear in media reports.



Only the experimental method, which systematically controls and manipulates events, can determine causality.


IV. The Experimental Method: Answering Causal Questions

The Experimental MethodThe Experimental Method

• Independent and Dependent Variables

The independent variable is manipulated by the researcher. It is the variable presumed to cause the change in the other variable.

The dependent variable is the one measured by the researcher to see if changes depend on the level of the independent variable.


• Establishing Internal Validity in Experiments

Internal Validity refers to making sure that nothing else besides the independent variable can affect the dependent variable; this is accomplished by controlling all extraneous variables and by randomly assigning people to different experimental conditions.



Internal validity is established by controlling all extraneous variables and by using random assignment to conditions.



Even with random assignment, there is a small probability that different characteristics of people are distributed differently across conditions. To guard against misinterpreting results, scientists calculate the probability level (p-value) that their results would occur by chance.


• Establishing External Validity in Experiments

External validity is the extent to which the results of a study can be generalized to other situations and other people.


• Establishing External Validity in Experiments

Generalizability across situations

Generalizability across peopleReplication

Cross-cultural research


• The Basic Dilemma of the Social Psychologist

When deciding between conducting field experiments and laboratory experiments, social psychologists must face a trade-off between internal and external validity, between having enough control over the situation to ensure that no extraneous variables are influencing the results, and making sure the results can be generalized to everyday life.


• The Basic Dilemma of the Social Psychologist

The way to resolve this dilemma is to conduct both laboratory experiments and field experiments that study the same phenomenon.


V. Ethical Issues in Social Psychology

Ethical Issues in Social PsychologyEthical Issues in Social Psychology

• Social psychologists face the tension between wanting experiments to be realistic and wanting to avoid causing participants unnecessary stress and unpleasantness

• The dilemma is less problematic when researchers can obtain informed consent.


VI. Basic Versus Applied Research

Basic Versus Applied ResearchBasic Versus Applied Research

• Basic research tries to find the best answer to the question of why people behave the way they do, purely to satisfy intellectual curiosity.• Applied research tries to solve a specific

social problem.

Study QuestionsStudy Questions

Why do some conclusions about social behavior seem obvious?


How are theories and hypotheses formulated?


Why is interjudge reliability necessary in observational studies?


What are the strengths and limitations of the observational method?


In addition to describing a relationship between two variables, what do correlations allow us to do?


If you were informed that a positive correlation exists between variable A and variable B, what does it mean? What does it NOT mean?


What are some criteria for survey data collection in order to help insure that the data are accurate?


What are the necessary components of an experiment?


Regarding an experiment, what does high internal validity imply?


If a researcher used random assignment to conditions and found differences in the dependent variable across conditions, what may account for these differences?


Why might lab experiments lack external validity?


How do replications and cross-cultural research help to increase the external validity of research findings?


What is a trade-off between lab and field experiments? Why are lab experiments conducted in social psychology?


What role do the APA and an Institutional Review Board play in governing research in psychology?


Why is informed consent necessary but sometimes not feasible in social psychological research? What must be done when deception is used in an experiment?


What are the goals of basic research and how do they differ from those ofapplied research?

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Methodology: How Social Psychologists Do Research