Research Methods:

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Research Methods

• Psychology as a Science

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How do you know

• That George Washington was the first U.S.
  President?

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How do you know

• That you have a stomach?

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How do you know

• That the sun will rise tomorrow?

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How do you know

• That there arent little creatures inside
  computers that are responsible for the things
  computers do?

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How do you know

• That you dont have a hole in the back of your
  pants today?

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How do we know what we know?

• 1) Authority
• (Dogmatism)
• 2) Reason
• (Rationalism)
• 3) Observation
• (Empiricism)
• Science uses Reason AND Observation

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Four Goals of Psychology

• Description
• Prediction
• Explanation
• Control

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The Scientific Method

• Hypothesis
• educated guess about how two variables are
  related
• Must be testable
• Theories
• general principles that attempt to explain why
  two or more variables are related.
• broad, simple, generative

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The Scientific Method
Ask a question
Find and Report Results
Form a Hypothesis
Test your Hypothesis
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Descriptive Research

• Case Study
• Survey
• Observation
• natural settings
• laboratory settings

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Correlational Research

• A correlation is a relationship between variables
• 1. Positive correlation (var A ?, var B ?)
• 2. Negative correlation (var A ?, var B ?)
• 3. No correlation no relationship
• Three Reasons for any correlation
• X causes Y, Y causes X, or Z causes X and Y

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Remember...

• CORRELATION DOES NOT INFER CAUSATION!

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Observation 1

• Observation A physiological psychologist
  observes that people with higher levels of the
  neurotransmitter dopamine exhibit more behaviors
  associated with schizophrenia than those with
  lower levels of dopamine.
• Type of Correlation?
• Explanations?

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Observation 2

• Observation A college professor found that the
  more class absences students have, the lower
  their grade in the course tends to be.
• Type of Correlation?
• Explanations?

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Observation 3

• Observation A politician running against a
  candidate who had been in office for eight years
  pointed out that violent crime had increased
  steadily during those eight years even though the
  administration had put more funding towards
  fighting crime.
• Type of correlation?
• Explanations?

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Observation 4

• Observation An industrial/organizational
  psychologist observes that people who are most
  satisfied with their jobs perform at higher
  levels than people who are dissatisfied.
• Type of correlation?
• Explanations?

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Experimental Research

• Can determine causation
• Independent variable
• Dependent variable
• random assignment
• control group
• placebo

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Blinding

• Single-blind study
• Double-blind study

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Since experiments tell us cause and effect, why
do correlational research?
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Ethical Issues in Psychological Research

• Right to privacy
• Informed consent
• use of deception
• right to withdraw
• Animal rights
• Is there justification for discomfort or harm a
  research procedure may produce?

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