chapter 3-how to get an experimental idea

8/16/2019 Chapter 3-How to Get an Experimental Idea

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How to get anExperimental Idea


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• Fears about experimental ideasare usually irrational, stemmingfrom a misunderstanding ofpsychological experiments.

• Psychologists call irrational fearsas phobias.

Fearing experimental Ideas


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List of phobias in scientic research

Geniephobia !Fear of geniuses"

#elie$e that those who conducted research

are genius and they are afraid to contradictother writers argument.

Parsimoniophobia !Fear of simplicity"

%hey thin& that their research is too simpleand short, that a good research must becomprehensi$e.



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List of phobias in scientic research

Culculatophobia !Fear of statistics"

%hey are afraid to use statistical analysis in

analy'ing ndings.

Imperfectophobia !Fear of beingimperfect"

(fraid that their research is not perfect, they&eep on trying to impro$e their study to thepoint of not completing it.



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%here are many other types of phobia

• Imitatophobia

• Paraphernaliophobia

• )anuphobia• Pseudononphonoscientiaphobia

Please refer to page 43 to 46 for these

phobias.

%hese phobias hinder us to de$elop ideas andlimit the exploration of ideas in experiments.



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OBSER!"IO#• *etting experimental ideas is simply a

matter of noticing what goes on around you.

• Indeed, some of the classic research inexperimental psychology started with asimple obser$ation.

• Example I$an Pa$lo$ + classical conditioning

• Example ean Piaget + cogniti$e

de$elopment theory

-hat is the best way to start


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• /bser$ation can be done – Public obser$ation

– /bser$ing yourself

– /bser$ing your friends

– /bser$ing pets

– icarious obser$ation

*etting the experimental ideas by readingother people0s research.


Please rea% in page 46 to &'.


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• 1icarious obser$ation is important because – 2our idea has a lin& with pre$ious researchers.

It shows you are in the right trac& of research.

– 3omebody else has already t theexperimental result into the existing body of&nowledge. It sa$es you time and e4ort instructuring area of research.

– *i$es you extra ideas in modifying thepre$ious research and use it in your research.



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• -hen you search for an idea, you should rstidentify an area of research that interests you.

• 2ou will then &now what types of 5ournals you

should read.

• (s you read past articles, try to disco$er whatimportant 6uestions the research has leftanswered.

• Example reading research done by (lbert

#andura, the #obo 7oll Experiment !89:8".



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• Example reading research done by (lbert #andura, the#obo 7oll Experiment !89:8".

• #ased on this classical experiment, what can youimpro$e or add to re;do this experiment in today0ssituation


The presence of adult Aggression

Adult with aggressive behavior

Adult with non-aggressive behavior


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• In the most typical case the purpose of an experimentis to test a theory.

-hat is theory

• %heory is a statement about the probable relationships

among a set of abstract $ariables.

• %he theoretical statement is only probable because it isstill sub5ect to testing.

• %heory is still sub5ected to testing and it is not x.

• It ser$es as a guideline to the researcher inunderstanding a phenomena or relationships of$ariables.


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-hy we need theories• %he results that comes from experiments

and other types of research are facts, butthese facts need to be organi'ed andstructured.


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(unctions of "heories• )n%erstan%ing

( good theory gi$es us a deeper sense of understanding. It tells us=why,= as opposed to 5ust =what.=

• Organi*ation( good theory helps us to organi'e, remember, and thin& about a

$ariety of phenomena.

• Pre%iction

( good theory allows us to predict what will li&ely happen in newsituations.

• Generation of #e+ Research

( good theory suggests new and interesting hypotheses to test, which

may lead to the disco$ery of new phenomena and the renement ofthe theory.


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• >efer bac& to (lbert #andura0s experiment.

• %hrough obser$ation and se$eral experiments, it leadsus to propose a theory based on this hypothesis

?the more that children obser$e $iolent acts, the moreli&ely they are to display aggressi$e beha$ior.@

• He came up with this theory through In%uction.

• In%uction method is used in research when we try toreasoning from specic cases to more generalprinciples.

%he role of induction and deductionin lin&ing theory to experiment

%heory of imitation !3ocial

Learning %heory"


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Please rea% In%uction process in page&&.

/bser$ation

In%uction

Theory

%he role of induction and deduction in lin&ing theory to

experiment


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• If you found a good theory, it should allowyou to ma&e a number of predictions.

• %he logical process by which we ma&ethese predictions is %e%uction.

• ,e%uction method is used when we try toreasoning from general principles and toma&e prediction using specic cases.

• Example %heory of Proximity



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Please rea% ,e%uction process in page&& - &6.

Predicted obser$ation

,e%uction

Theory



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How we lin& theory andexperiment

/bser$ation

In%uction

Theory

,e%uction

Predicted obser$ation

Experimentation

3earching for ideas

before conducting

experiment

%est the idea that you

ha$e before conducting

experiment


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%here were A form of theories• ,escripti$e "heories

( descripti$e theory simply attaches names to e$entswithout necessarily explaining why or how the e$ents

ha$e occurred.

Example 3igmund Freud in his Psychoanalytic theorysaid that repression occurs when we are unconsciously

refuse to admit painful ideas to conscious thought.

%his theory only can describe but can not be tested orexperimented. In what conditions repression occursHow to test unconscious thought

%ypes of %heories


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• !nalogical "heories(nalogical theories explain how relationshipswor& by drawing an analogy between apsychological relationship and a physicalmodel so that the physical analog becomes apsychological model of beha$ior.

Example (ttempting to explain how humanprocesses information in their brain by ma&inganalogy to computer processing.

%ypes of %heories


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Example of analogy between aggressionand physical properties of momentum

%he amount of aggression expressed by

the obser$er

%he force exerted by a mo$ing ob5ects

B %he degree of aggression expressed bythe obser$er

%he mass of the ob5ects

(fter exposure to aggression, the aggressi$e tendencies will be high but decrease o$er time in the same way

that friction o$ercomes momentum.


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• uantitati$e "heoriesCuantitati$e theories do attempt to staterelationships in mathematical terms.

Few of psychological theories ha$e reached thisform because psychologists ha$e more diDcultywith $ariability than do physical scientists.

Psychologists can ma&e prediction of probabilityof certain beha$iors to occur but not to statedenite based on mathematical calculations.

Please read types of theories in page to :8.

%ypes of %heories


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• In induction and deduction processes,researchers need to ma&e a prediction what &indof beha$iors that will occur in certain situations.

• %his prediction is what we call hypothesis.

• /0pothesis is a statement about a predictedrelationship between G or more $ariables.

• ( hypothesis is a specic statement ofprediction. It describes in concrete terms what

you expect will happen in your study.

7e$eloping Hypotheses


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Important features of hypothesis• %here are A forms of de$eloping

hypothesis

a. ull + (lternate formsb. Experimental + on;experimental

forms

c. 7irectional + on;directional forms



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#ull 1 !lternati$e (ormsIt is generally stated in two forms, alternati$ehypothesis !H8" and null hypothesis !HI".

Example

HI B %here is no e4ect in eating $itamin

towards antibody systems.

H8 B %here is an e4ect in eating $itamins

towards antibody systems.



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E2perimental 1 #on-e2perimental (ormsIn scientic study or experiment, the hypothesis is statedmore formally, also &nown as Experimental Hypothesisand must be stated in *eneral Implication Form

!If Jthen".

Example

• #on-E2perimental /0pothesis

Eating $itamin K would a4ect on antibody systems.

• E2perimental /0pothesis

If $itamin K is ta&en e$eryday, then it a4ect on antibodysystems.



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,irectional 1 #on-%irectional (orms-hether you are gi$ing direction in yourprediction by stating the direction ofrelationships of G $ariables.

7irectional hypothesis has the same criteria inexperimental form of hypothesis. 2ou arepredicting by stating the direction of your

expected outcome result.

If $itamin K is ta&en e$eryday, then it ha$epositi$e e4ect on antibody systems.



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• ( common complaintPsychological $ariables cannot be measured,for example honesty. Howe$er, if it can benumerically counted, it can be measured.

/ne goal of psychological measurement is tond standard and useful ways to systematically

measure psychological constructs.

%herefore, researcher must pro$ide operationdenition in dening these type of $ariables

/perational 7enitions


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/perational denition is a denition of the$ariable in terms of how, specically, it is tobe measured.

Example Honesty

(n operational denition would specify howresearcher come up with a the score.

For example, respondents0 score based onHonesty 3cale.

/perational 7enitions

chapter 3-how to get an experimental idea

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