Research Methods: Psychology as a Science

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Research Methods Psychology as a Science

• Mr. Koch
• AP Psychology
• Forest Lake High School

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Critical Thinking

• Scientific attitude encourages
• critical thinking
• The process of assessing claims and
• making judgments on the basis of
• well-supported evidence
• Examples of critical thinking questions
• What am I being asked to believe or accept?
• What evidence is available to support the
  assertion?
• Are there alternative ways of interpreting the
  evidence?
• What additional evidence would help to evaluate
  the alternatives?
• What conclusions are most reasonable?

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Guidelines for Studying Behavior Scientifically

1. Behavior must be measurable
2. Methods and data must be objective
3. Procedures must be repeatable
4. Scientists must be able to communicate the
   results of the experiment to others
5. Experimenters must use an organized and
   systematic approach in gathering data

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Methods of Research

• Naturalistic Observation
• The process of watching without
• interfering as behavior occurs in
• the natural environment
• Valuable when more intrusive measures might alter
  behavior
• Ex studying exercise, hand-washing
• Can be distorted when people know theyre being
  watched and/or by observers expectations
• (Hawthorne Effect)
• Describes behavior, but doesnt answer the why

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Methods of Research

• Directed Observation
• Observing behavior under controlled conditions in
  an experimental or laboratory setting
• Unnatural environment may change behavior
• Observations might be biased

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Methods of Research

• Case Study
• Intense examinations of behavior/mental processes
  in a particular individual, group, situation
  great depth of information
• Useful when studying something new, complex, or
  rare
• Ex Oliver Sacks Dr. P
• Only includes information
• researcher finds relevant
• May not be representative
• of general population

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Methods of Research

• Survey
• Use questionnaires or interviews to ask about
  behavior, attitudes, beliefs, opinions,
  intentions
• Provides wide-angle view of large groups
• Validity depends on wording and clarity
• Who is included? Representative sample?
• Random sample is usually best
• People may be reluctant to be honest, or will say
  what they think they should
• Response biases or data collection problems

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Methods of Research

• Tests and similar measurement tools
• More objective data than interviews/questionnaires
  
• Can be evaluated statistically easy to compare
• Many different types
• Ex MCA achievement test how much you know
• SAT aptitude test predicts future
  performance
• Problems
• Validity do they measure what intend to?
  Subject influence?
• Usually only a partial picture

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Methods of Research

• Correlational Studies
• Uses data from surveys, case studies,
  observations, etc. to reveal possible
  relationships between variables

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Methods of Research

• Experiments
• Surest way to test a hypothesis and confirm
  cause/effect
• Situations in which the researcher manipulates
  one variable and then observes the effect on
  another variable, while holding all other
  variables constant