Research Methods Experimental

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Research Methods Experimental Non-Experimental

• Higher Psychology

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What is psychology?
the scientific study of thought, feeling and
behavior
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What do psychologists do?

• Help people with problems
• Measure and test
• Teach
• SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

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Where do psychologists work?

• Clinics
• Schools
• Colleges
• Businesses
• Laboratories
• Government agencies

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Schooling in Psychology
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Some psychological research topics

• origins of stereotypes
• development of language
• causes of Alzheimers disease
• accuracy of eyewitness testimony
• personality musical preference
• treatment of eating disorders
• causes of romantic love

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Sampling Psychology Examples of Psychological
Research Findings

• visual perception optical illusions
• information processing judgment
• human memory
• self-evaluation

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Which center circle is larger?
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Here are the same circles again.
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Do you see the flashing dots?
The flashing is all in your head.
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GREEN BLUE YELLOWREDBLUE YELLOW REDBLUEGREEN
RED
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ORANGE BLUE GREEN YELLOW ORANGE GREEN
PURPLEGREEN BLACK YELLOW
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The effect you experienced is the STROOP
INTERFERENCE EFFECT. TO THINK ABOUT OR
DISCUSS

• Some behavior is AUTOMATIC. Its impossible NOT
  to read color words.
• Would a person who cannot read experience the
  effect?
• Could this test be used to measure language
  fluency?

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A memory test 1. Please listen carefully to
the following list of words. 2. Please DO NOT
write the words down. Just listen carefully.3.
In a little while, Ill ask you to remember the
words.
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Now count backwards with me slowly, by threes,
from 45 to 3
45, 42 3
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• Write down each word below ghost cake
  blanket sweet rabbit candy2. Circle
  only the words you heard on the list. 3. If you
  VIVIDLY remember hearing a word, circle it twice.

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Now examine the list carefully

• sour
• candy
• sugar
• bitter
• good
• taste
• tooth
• nice
• honey
• soda
• chocolate

• heart
• cake
• tart
• pie

TO THINK ABOUT OR DISCUSS Should this make us
worry about eyewitness testimony?
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• Now we are going to do a simple activity
  involving letters of the alphabet.
• Based on your gut feelings, quickly write down
  
• Your six FAVORITE letters
• Your six LEAST FAVORITE letters

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Look over each list and circle all of the letters
that occur in your own first name. Count the
number of circled letters in each list.
Which list included more of the letters
from your own first name??
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The preference for the letters in ones own name
is the name letter effect. TO
THINK ABOUT Would people be more likely to
purchase a product if the product resembled his
or her name?
Should the musician depicted here like MMs more
than the average person does?
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Psychological Science

• addresses important questions
• can improve peoples
• lives
• is a lot of fun!

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Basic Concepts of Research
Research Methods In Psychology

• Basis of scientific method
• Making observations in systematic way (empirical
  studies)
• Follow strict rules of evidence
• Critical thinking about evidence

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Theories and Hypotheses
Research Methods In Psychology

• Theories tentative explanations of facts and
  relationships in science
• Hypothesis a prediction based on a theory
• Tested to confirm or refute
• Can be revised or abandoned

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Representativeness of Samples
Research Methods In Psychology

• Sample
• Representative of larger group or population of
  interest
• Small group of humans or animals
• Unrepresentative sample misleading or biased
  test of hypothesis
• Replication of research removes most doubt

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Research Methods
Research Methods In Psychology

• Descriptive or Qualitative studies
• Simplest method of scientific inquiry
• Describe behavior and mental processes
• Most widely used
• Survey method ask peoples opinions
• Naturalistic observation watch, describe
• Clinical method observe in clinic setting
• All have advantages and disadvantages

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Research Methods
Research Methods In Psychology

• Correlational Studies
• Correlational method measure two variables for
  statistical relationship
• Variable anything that can be assigned a
  numerical value
• Uses quantitative measures

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Research Methods
Research Methods In Psychology

• Correlational Studies
• Correlation coefficient
• Measures each variable
• Indicates strength ( 0 to ?1) and direction
  (negative or positive) of relationship
• Correlation does not mean causation

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Fig. 2.2
Hypothetical data illustrating a correlation
coefficient of 1.00
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Fig. 2.3
Hypothetical data illustrating a correlation
coefficient of -1.00
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Fig. 2.4
Hypothetical data illustrating a correlation
coefficient of zero
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Formal Experiments
Research Methods In Psychology

• Tests relationship of two or more variables
• Allows conclusions about cause-and-effect
• Quantitative measures of behavior compared in
  different conditions created by researchers
• Evidence supports or rejects hypothesis

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Formal Experiments
Research Methods In Psychology

• Elements
• Independent variable gets manipulated
• Dependent variable amount of change
• Experimental group exposed to independent
  variable or conditions expected to create change
• Control group presents normal behavior used for
  comparison
• Random assignment
• Experimental control

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Fig. 2.6
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Fig. 2.7
Full population of interest
Randomly assign into control and experimental
groups
Experimental group exposed to independent
variable view violent film
Control group View nonviolent film
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Formal Experiments
Research Methods In Psychology

• Placebo control
• Placebo effect provides no active effect
• Use in identical conditions for control and
  experimental groups
• Blind experiment
• Researchers blind to group membership of
  participants to rule out experimenter bias
• Strongest experiments double blind
• Researchers and participants kept blind

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Describing and Interpreting Data
Research Methods In Psychology

• Descriptive statistics summarized data for
  large groups of participants
• Mean average
• Median midpoint in rank-ordered data
• Mode score appearing most often
• Normal distribution bell-shaped curve
• Standard deviation degree to which scores in
  ordered distribution are spread out

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Describing and Interpreting Data
Research Methods In Psychology

• Reaching conclusions from data
• Statistical significance
• Size of correlation
• Difference of means are greater than chance
• Two issues for significance
• Larger sample size is better
• Statistical difference does not equal practical
  significance

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Ethical Principles of Research
Research Methods In Psychology

• Ethics in research with human participants
• Freedom from coercion
• Informed consent
• Limited deception
• Adequate debriefing
• Confidentiality

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Ethical Principles of Research
Research Methods In Psychology

• Ethics of research with nonhuman animals
• Necessity
• Health
• Humane treatment

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Experiments a recap

• Key features
• High degree of researcher/experimenter control
• The only method which establishes cause effect
• Can have problems with ecological validity,
  artificial
• Provides quantitatve data

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Quantitative versus Qualitative

• Quantitative data can be quantified and counted
• Qualitative describes
• Which is which of the following?
• Scores in a memory task
• Participants childhood memories of Christmas
• Case study written up by therapist about a
  clients repressed memories
• Number of errors made in a memory task

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Observation

• Watching what is going on easy peasy?
• Monty Python argument sketch
• Different observers might disagree on criteria?
• Should those being observed know (overt) or
  should it be done without their knowledge
  (covert)?
• Should the researcher take part (participant) or
  not (non-participant)?
• Can generate quantitative or qualitative data
  how?

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Surveys and Questionnaires

• Easy to do?
• Usually highly structured, i.e. fixed questions
  with limited responses
• May use Likert scale to measure attitudes
• What type of data does this generate?
• Can we trust the answers

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Interviews

• Related to surveys questionnaires, but usually
  face to face
• Can use different types of questions, from highly
  structured (surveys) to unstructured,
  participant-led (e.g. therapy sessions)
• Most are semi-structured, i.e. some questions are
  prepared in advance, but these are flexible and
  can be adapted to follow areas of interest
• What type of data does this generate?

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Case Studies

• These are a less common method, usually used in
  clinical or therapeutic situations, e.g. studying
  memory loss in individuals with brain injuries
• Gather a wide range of information about one
  individual or event (e.g. 9/11)
• Why would this method be used? What type of data
  would it generate?