PSYC110-Module 1

What is the scientific method?

• A systematic study (fixed organised)

• Via observation and experimentations (empirical, can be used as evidence)

Is psychology a science?

• Yes, it is a science because it follows the scientific method

• We do these things to human behaviour and process

  • Describe

  • Explain

  • Predict

What are 5 key principles of psychological science?

• 1. Empiricism

• 2. Scepticism

• 3. Tentativeness

• 4. Openness

• 5. Anti-authoritarianism

What is empiricism

What is scepticism?

• Evidence needs to be checked and questioned

What is tentativeness?

• Evidence can change

What is openess?

• Scientific research is available to the community

What is anti-authoritarianism?

• Theory not accepted on faith alone

• Make sure theory is based on scientific evidence

What is the cycle of science?

• Theory or observation

• Prediction/hypothesis

• Research design

• Data description and analysis

• Lead to report writing

What is theory and observation?

• A step in the cycle of science

• We have a theory or observe something that we want to explore further and understand further

• Eg. music will benefit development

What is prediction/hypothesis?

• A step in the cycle of science

• Make a predication about the relationship between variables in theory/observation

• E.g.. The more hours listen to music will increase IQ as shown on higher scores on IQ test

What is falsifiability?

• The idea that a theory or hypothesis should have the potential to be proven wrong

• Evidence can prove a hypothesis wrong

What is research design?

• A step in the cycle of science

• Deciding how and when we will manipulate the variables

• We use different research designs

  • Descriptive

  • Quantitative

  • Survey

What is data- description and analysis

• A step in the scientific cycle

• Collect data, organise and describe it

• Two types of stats

  • Descriptive

    • Organise

    • Summaries

  • Inferential

    • Make inferential statistics

What is report writing?

• A step in the scientific cycle

• Sharing findings with the rest of the world

What are the types of research design?

• There are three

  • Quantitative research

  • Qualitative research

  • Mixed methods research

What is quantitative research?

• Numbers are assigned to variables

• Findings, observations and what is found are numerical

• Deductive

What is qualitative research?

• Data are words

• Evidence, results that are collected are descriptive, characteristics

What is mixed methods research?

• Combines quantitative and qualitative methods in the same study

What are the different types of quantitative research?

• Descriptive

• Correlational research

• Experimental research

What is descriptive research?

• A type of quantitative research

• Describe something that is happening

What is correlational research?

• Looking at the variables as they occur naturally

  • Not actively manipulating variables

• There are different types of relationships variables can have

  • Positive: changes in the IV are met with the same directional change in the DV (bottom left to top right)

  • Negative: Changes in the IV are met with the opposite direction change in the DV (top left, bottom right)

  • No relationship: No directional change

What is experimental research?

What is the process of quantitative research?

• 1. Define the question

• 2. Design a method

What is variable?

• Characteristics or condition that changes or has different values

• It varies

• There are relationships between variables

What are the types of variables?

• Independent variable

• Dependent variable

What is the independent variable?

• Have the potential cause in the relationship

• Independent on other variables

• Can be selected or manipulated

• What changes or is the focus

What is the dependent variable

• What is being measured

• What changes potentially due to the independent variable