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Research Methods (8-10%)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFV71QPvX2I
Applied V. Basic Research• Applied Research
has clear, practical applications.
• YOU CAN USE IT!!!
• Basic Research explores questions that you may be curious about, but not intended to be immediately used.
Research on therapies for drug addicts has a clear purpose.
Studying how kissing changes when you get older is interesting…but that’s about it.
Why do we have to learn this stuff?
Psychology is first and foremost a science.
Thus it is based in research.Before we delve into how to do research, you should be aware of three hurdles that tend to skew our logic.
Hindsight Bias
• The tendency to believe, after learning the outcome, that you knew it all along.
Monday Morning Quarterbacking!!!
After the Chris Brown/Rihanna incident….lots of people said they knew Chris Brown was a violent guy… Did they really?
Overconfidence
• We tend to think we know more than we do.
• 82% of U.S. drivers consider themselves to be in the top 30% of their group in terms of safety.
• 81% of new business owners felt they had an excellent chance of their businesses succeeding. When asked about the success of their peers, the answer was only 39%. (Now that's overconfidence!!!)
The Barnum Effect
• It is the tendency for people to accept very general or vague characterizations of themselves and take them to be accurate.– Examples:
• Horoscopes • Fortunes• Year of ____ “place mat”
Terminology
Theory
• An explanation using a set of principles that organizes / predicts behaviors or events.
Hypothesis
• Expresses a relationship between two variables.
• A variable is anything that can vary among participants in a study.
• Participating in class leads to better grades than not participating.
The Need for Psychological Science
Independent Variable
• Whatever is being manipulated in the experiment.
• Hopefully the independent variable brings about change.
If there is a drug in an experiment, the drug is almost always the independent variable.
Dependent Variable
The dependent variable would be the effect of the drug.
• Whatever is being measured in the experiment.
• It is dependent on the independent variable.
Psychology’s Research Strategies
• Psychology’s research strategies include descriptive, correlational and experimental
• Pg. 40-study
Descriptive
Case Study Psychologists
study one or more individuals in great depth in the hope of revealing things true of us all
Is language uniquely human?
Case Studies
• A detailed picture of one or a few subjects.
• Tells us a great story…but is just descriptive research.
• Does not even give us correlation data.
The ideal case study is John and Kate Plus 8. Really interesting, but what does it tell us about families in general?
Descriptive
Survey technique for ascertaining the self-reported
attitudes , opinions or behaviors of people usually by questioning a representative, random
sample of people Random Sample
a sample that fairly represents a population because each member has an equal chance of participating
Ex- survey calls or individuals outside of stores
Survey Method
•Most common type of study in psychology
•Measures correlation
•Cheap and fast
•Need a good random sample
•Low-response rate
Descriptive Naturalistic Observation
observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying to manipulate and control the situation
Ex- animals, children in their home or schools
Correlation Correlation Coefficient
a statistical measure of the extent to which two factors vary together, and thus how well either factor predicts the other.
Ex-knowing how much aptitude test score correlate with school success tells us how well the scores predict school success
Correlation coefficient
Indicates directionof relationship
(positive or negative)
Indicates strengthof relationship(0.00 to 1.00)
r = +.37
Correlation
Scatterplot a graphed cluster of dots, each of which represents
the values of two variables the slope of the points suggests the direction of the
relationship p.31 the amount of scatter suggests the strength of the
correlation little scatter indicates high correlation
also called a scattergram or scatter diagram
Correlation
Perfect positivecorrelation (+1.00)
No relationship (0.00) Perfect negativecorrelation (-1.00)
Scatterplots, showing patterns of correlations
Types of Correlation
Positive Correlation• The variables go in
the SAME direction.
Negative Correlation• The variables go in
opposite directions.
Studying and grades hopefully has a positive correlation.
Heroin use and grades probably has a negative correlation.
Correlation
Three Possible Cause-Effect Relationships(1)
Low self-esteemDepression
(2)Depression
Low self-esteem
Low self-esteem
Depression
(3)Distressing events
or biologicalpredisposition
could cause
could cause
could cause
or
or
and
Experimentation
Experiment an investigator manipulates one or more
factors (independent variables) to observe their effect on some behavior or mental process (the dependent variable)
by random assignment of participants the experiment controls other relevant factors
Sampling• Identify the
population you want to study.
• The sample must be representative of the population you want to study.
• GET A RANDOM SAMPLE
Experimentation
Placebo an inert substance or condition that may be
administered instead of a presumed active agent, such as a drug, to see if it triggers the effects believed to characterize the active agent
Double-blind Procedure both the research participants and the research staff
are ignorant (blind) about whether the research participants have received the treatment or a placebo
commonly used in drug-evaluation studies
Random Assignment
• Once you have a random sample, randomly assigning them into two groups helps control for confounding variables.
• Experimental Group v. Control Group.
Beware ofConfounding Variables
If I wanted to prove that smoking causes heart issues, what are some confounding variables?
• The object of an experiment is to prove that A causes B.
• A confounding variable is anything that could cause change in B, that is not A.
Lifestyle and family medical history may also effect the heart.
Operational Definitions• A statement of procedures
used to define research variables.
• Explain what you mean in your hypothesis.
• How will the variables be measured in “real life” terms.
• How you operationalize the variables will tell us if the study is valid and reliable.
Let’s say your hypothesis is that chocolate causes violent behavior.
• What do you mean by chocolate?
• What do you mean by violent behavior?
Hawthorne Effect
• But even the control group may experience changes.
• Just the fact that you know you are in an experiment can cause change.
• http://psychology.about.com/od/hindex/g/def_hawthorn.htm
Whether the lights were brighter or dimmer, production went up in the Hawthorne electric plant.
Experimentation
Statistics• Once data is gathered
we must organize, summarize and make inferences from it using statistics.
• Recording the results from our studies.
• Must use a common language so we all know what we are talking about.
Statistical Reasoning
Mode the most frequently occurring score in a distribution
Mean the arithmetic average of a distribution obtained by adding the scores and then dividing by the
number of scores Median
the middle score in a distribution half the scores are above it and half are below it
Normal Distribution
• In a normal distribution, the mean, median and mode are all the same.
Distributions
• Outliers skew distributions.
• If group has one high score, the curve has a positive skew (contains more low scores)
• If a group has a low outlier, the curve has a negative skew (contains more high scores)
Statistical Reasoning
Range the difference between the highest and lowest scores
in a distribution Standard Deviation
a computed measure of how much scores vary around the mean
Statistical Significance a statistical statement of how likely it is that an
obtained result occurred by chance
Other measures of variability
• Range: distance from highest to lowest scores.
• Standard Deviation: the variance of scores around the mean.
• The higher the variance or SD, the more spread out the distribution is.
Lebron and Wade may both score 30 ppg (same mean).But their SDs are very different.
Ethics in Research
Animal Research• Clear purpose
– b/c human physiology resembles various animals (esp. mammals)
– Some experiments are not permitted on humans
• Treated in a humane way
• Acquire animals legally
• Least amount of suffering possible.
Rats, mice, rabbits and birds are the types of animals often used in psych researech
Ethics Human Research
• No Coercion- must be voluntary
• Allow them to withdraw @ any time
• Informed consent
• Protect from harm & discomfort
• Must debrief • Protect confidentially
MILGRAM OBEDIENCE ExperimentEthical or unethical? pg. 706
• Stanley Milgram –Social psychologist.
• Studies about social interaction and obedience
• Discussion about obedience?
• 1. Now that you know about ethical guidelines for conducting human research, while watching the video, describe 3 ethical guidelines that would be violated if this experiment was conducted today.
• 2. Discuss and explain how you would have responded as a subject in the experiment? (giving the “electrical shocks” and as the individual that “received” the electrical shocks
Zimbardo Prison experiment
• Page 700Read
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jdOoxnr7AI
• Also Milgram obedience experiment pg. 706
Normal Distribution
Scores
• A unit that measures the distance of one score from the mean.
• A positive z score means a number above the mean.
• A negative z score means a number below the mean.
Statistical Reasoning
A Skewed Distribution
15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 90 475 710
70
Mode Median Mean
One Family Income per family in thousands of dollars