Psychology Research Methods

There are a variety of ways of validating truth

• Personal experience

• Intuition

• Social or cultural consensus

• Religious scripture and interpretation

• Philosophy and reasoning

• Science and the scientific method

Why study research?

Facts rather than opinions

The sky sure is a pretty

blue!

Actually, the light

frequency is 475 nm

Looks kinda

green to me.

Remember Critical Thinking ?

• thinking that does not blindly accept arguments and conclusions

• examines assumptions

• discerns hidden values

• evaluates evidence

• assesses conclusions

I Think I need some space to

think!

www.explodingdog.com

Scientific Method

Theories

Lead to

Hypotheses

Which are tested withresearch & observation

Generation or refinement of

a procedure for acquiring and testing knowledge through systematic observation or experimentation.

Having my say!

• Hypothesis - educated prediction

• Null hypothesis - prediction that the action does not cause effect

• Theory - set of facts, concepts, and principles that allow description and explanation

• Law - firmly established, thoroughly tested

Does the research really prove anything?

Reliability relates to our confidence that a given finding can be reproduced again and again — that it can be replicated — and isn’t just a ‘freak’ or chance occurrence.

Validity relates to our confidence that a given finding shows what we believe it to show.

• Internal - the extent to which an experiment allows confident statements about cause and effect

• External - the extent to which the results of an experiment can be generalized to other circumstances

Types of Research

• Descriptive

• Correlational

• Experimental

Types of ResearchDescriptive

• general term to describe a research project that does not manipulate variables and does not try to establish causal relationships between events.

• Used when we have little knowledge of phenomena and we want to describe it accurately and truthfully – Naturalistic observation

• Look listen measure record– Case Study– Survey– Psych tests

Raw Data is hard analyze

Frequency Distribution

• Central Tendency– Mean

• Calculated by adding the scores and dividing the resulting sum by the total number of scores

– Median• The score at the midpoint of the

distribution

– Mode• Most frequently obtained score in the

distribution

Frequency Distribution

Variability and Standard Deviation

Types of ResearchExperimental

Research method in which the researcher sets out to systematically manipulate one source of influence while holding others constant

Variables• Independent variable -- a variable that

researchers manipulate and modify to see its impact on children

• Dependent variable -- a variable that researchers assume under the influence of the independent variable

• Control variable -- a variable that researchers maintain unchanged throughout an experiment

• Confound -- a variable that systematically changes along with the independent variable, potentially leading to a mistaken conclusion about the independent variable.

Types of ResearchCorrelational

Quantitative method of research in which you have 2 or more quantitative variables from the same group of subjects, & you are trying to determine if there is a relationship (or covariation) between the 2 variables (Capliano College, 2004)

Whether and to what degree variables are related.

Correlation and Causation

Three possible cause-effect relations

could cause(A)

Low self-esteem(B)

Depression

(B)Depression

(A)Low self-esteem

(A)Low self-esteem

(B)Depression

(C)Distressing events

or biologicalpredisposition

could cause

could cause

or

or

and

Research Ethics

• Follow informed-consent rules• Respect confidentiality and privacy • Debrief

Group Task

• Pick one issue about which your group designs an applied study

• Your group members will present– The research question and the rationale– Hypotheses– Method

• Participants (why choose them)• Materials• Procedures

– Expected results (how results are expected to confirm or disconfirm your hypotheses)

Evaluating Media Reports

• Be skeptical of sensationalist claims

• Goal of “shock” media is ratings

• Look for original sources

• Separate opinion from data

• Consider methodology and operational definitions

• Correlation is not causality

• Skepticism is the rule is science.

Stanford Prison Research

A Simulation Study of the Psychology of ImprisonmentConducted at Stanford University Welcome to the Stanford Prison Experiment web site, which features an extensive slide show and information about this classic psychology experiment, including parallels with the recent abuse of Iraqi prisoners. What happens when you put good people in an evil place? Does humanity win over evil, or does evil triumph? These are some of the questions we posed in this dramatic simulation of prison life conducted in the summer of 1971 at Stanford University. © 1999-2005, Philip G. Zimbardo