PSYC100-Module 3

Is quantitative research deductive or inductive?

Deductive reasoning  (making specific conclusions from a general premise, goes from general to specific)

What are appeals to authority?

- It is a poor argument or criticism 
- An argument must be true because of the authority or reputation of the person making it 
- A doctor saying smoking is healthy, and why is it healthy? because a doctor said so 

What are appeals to popularity?

- A poor argument or criticism
- Something is true because it is popular or widely believed 
- The idea that Mandela died in prison, it was believed as true because that was what is widely believed

What are arguments directed to the person?

- Discrediting an argument by attacking the author 
- This statement cannot be true because this person hasn't gone to a prestigious university

What are electrical stimulation brain studies?

- Traditional method

Electrical stimulation: Using an electrode to electrically stimulate areas of the brain to see what happens/ the function

- Limitations 

Used mainly on animals and not people 

- Benefits 

Understand the functions of the brain, mainly in animals 

What are electroencephalogram brain studies?

- Also known as EEG
- Shows the function
- A modern method 
- Measures the electrical activity of the surface of the brain, due to the fact that every time a neuron is fired, there is electrical activity, so if a part of the brain is very active, it can be seen due to higher electrical activity because the neurons are firing

- Limitations 
Hard to pinpoint exact location 
Can be impacts by other actions not studied e.g eye blinks, muscle movements

- Benefits 
Non-invasive 
Low cost 
Shows the function

What are ethics for clinical psychology?

- Three principles 
- Respect 

• Informed consent, privacy, confidentiality

- Propriety 

• Competence and professional responsibility, do doing cases you cannot handle

- Integrity 

• Reputable behaviour, impartial, non-explotive

What are examples of poor arugments?

• Straw man

• Appeals to popularity

• Appeals to authority

• Arguments directed to the person  

What are functional magnetic resonance imaging?

- Known as fmri 
- Modern technology 
- Shows function 

Uses MRI technology to for the function, not structure of the brain by monitoring blood flow and oxygen use 

Limitations 

- Can measure indirect neural activity, such as blinking, muscle movements 

- Costly 

Benefits 

- Non-invasive 

- Clearly defined structure

What are inferential stats

- used to test hypothesis 
- Allows conlusions to be drawn 
- Calculating how big or important and impact is
- Shows signifcant correlation 
- Show statistical significance, good to be less than 5%

What are lesion studies?

- A traditional method 

Lesions: Viewing patients who had sustained damage or disease to the brain, and see how those damage areas impact brain functioning, e.g. damage to back of the head (occipital lobe) impacts vision ability.  

Limitations 

- Not controlled 

- Doesn't take into account other issues 

 Benefits 

- Understand brain dysfunctions and functions 

What are positron emission tomography?

- Known as PET 
- Shows function 

Radioactive glucose is injected into the blood stream, because neurons use glucose for energy to fire, when a part of a brain is being more active, that area is firing more neurons, meaning more glucose is being used, meaning that higher radioactivity, shows that more blood is flowing there, meaning that area of the brain is being used. Shows the function of the brain

- Limitations 

Find brain function related to a specific activity 

- Benefits 

Needing specialised equipment  

What are some research methods that are quantitative?

• Surveys

• Experimental

• Brain scans/tests

What are some ways to critical was to evaluate research in psychology?

• Does the scientific method for this research make sense and appropriate?

• Is the sample size adequate?

• Are the measuring techniques and methods appropriate?

• Is the data conclusive? Are we sure nothing else caused those results 

• Is there a different or broader conclusion?

• In the study meaningful? Lead to future questions for research

• Is the study ethical 

What are the common problems in conducting studies?

- Sampling bias
- Placebo effects 
- Distortion of self-report data
- Experimenter bias

What are the ethical guidelines?

- Informed consent
- Non-maleficent/ do not cause harm
- Voluntary participation 

• Withdrawal rights

-Confidentiality 
- Deception 
- Animal safety 

What are the features of quantitative research?

• Features of quantitative research includes:

  • Large sample size

  • High reliability- repeatably and can be replicated

  • Objective data and analysis

  • Deductive reasoning  (making specific conclusions from a general premise, goes from general to specific)

  • To describe, predict and explain behaviour and mental processes (what, when, why)

What are the strategies of inquiry for qualitative research?

• Grounded theory

• Phenomenology

• Ethnography

• Case study

• Action research

What are the ways to study the function and structure of the brain?

- Tradition

• Lesions

• Electrical stimulation

-Modern

• Electroencephalogram 

• Transcranial magnetic stimulation 

• Computerised axil tomography 

• Magnetic resonance imaging 

• Positron emission tomography 

What are transcranial magnetic stimulation?

- Shows function 
- A modern method 

• A more modern, controlled, temporary manmade version of lesions, were a magnetic coil wrapped around a participants head, stops certain areas of the brain from functioning, to help determine what behaviours or mental process that part of the brain is responsible for. If the occipital lobe is disrupted, problems with vision, so it suggests that the occipital lobe have a role in vision

  • Limitations

    • Cannot be used in parts deeper in the brain

  • Benefits

    • Non-invasive        

What are withdrawal rights?

- Being given the right to leave the study whenever and at any point throughout the study 

What is a sampling bias?

- A sampling procedure whereby the sample is not representative of the population as a whole 
- Represents a certain portion of the population

What is action reasearch?

- Research + action 
- Having a specific problem, then investigating it through planning, acting, observing and reflecting
- Teacher wants students to interact: makes a flexible seating chart, implements in the classroom, sees how it works, then reflects and works from there

What is case study?

- In-depth study of few/single cases
- Provides detailed and esriptive information on certain cases

What is computerized axil tomography?

- A modern method 
- Known also as CT 
- Shows the structure 

• Uses x-rays, radiation to create a an image showing the structure of the brain that allows the location of structural abnormalities such as neuronal degeneration or tumors. Shows where a structure ends or begins, but does not show difference in composition. Better for bones and not soft tissue

  • Limitations

    • Only looks at the structure

    • Not very good for soft tissue damage

  • Benefits

    • Quick

    • Inexpensive        

What is confidentiality?

- Keeping data and information anayonmous and safegaurded and not disclosed 

What is constructionsim?

- A field of epistemology
- A theoretical approach that contends there is not one objective knowledge and that meaning is not universal but rather the result of social and intellectual constructions
- Built on society and understanding

What is critical thinking?

-A skill that involves carefully examining and analysing information to judge its value, assessing both its strengths and its weaknesses, and considering alternative explanation
- looking at both for an against
- Has three aspects 
- Scepticisms 
- Objectivity 
- Open mindedness 

What is deception?

- Not revealing the true purpose of an experiment to a participant before the study commences 
- Sometimes needed if knowing the purpose of the study can impact the results. 

What is demand characteristics?

-The way participants’ perceptions of the researcher’s goals influence their responses.
- Seen in experimenter biases

What is epistemology?

-A branch of philosophy that is concerned with the nature, origin and scope of human knowledge.
- Has three subsections/ideas 
- Objectivism 
- Constructionism 
- Subjectivism 

What is ethnography?

- Description and interpretation of a cultural/social group
- Studying cultural rituals, dynamic of workplace

What is experimenter bias?

- Where the presnce of the experimenter impacts the results 
- Might cause particiapnts to reposnd a certian way based on what they think what the exerpimenter wants 
- Experimenter might react in ways to get certain results

What is informed consent?

- Ability to agree to participant in a study with being provided as much information about the study as possible

What is included is descriptive stats?

- Centre measures 
- Spread measures
- Stats allows sense to be made of data 

What is magnetic resonance imaging?

- Known as MRI 
- Shows sturcutre 

Uses magnetic fields instead of x-rays, to show the structure of the brain, and is better at showing the difference in structure of tissue, e.g cancerous tissue is structurally different than normal tissue. Has a high resolution. 

Limitation 

- Cannot have metal implants

- Expensive 

- Time consuming 

Benefits 

- Good for soft tissue 

- Non-invasive 

What is non-maleficent/do not cause harm?

- Experienments that participants are in do not cause unessary and extreme harm
- Avoid emotional and physical harm 
- Avoid support when there is harm and try to minimise it and its impact

What is objectivism?

- a section of epistemology
- A theoretical approach that asserts the validity of objective, external phenomena as existing independently from subjective phenomena.
- Knowledge and facts exist regardless on what people think, knowledge is based on fact and evidence and not on feeling and opinions

What is objectivity?

- Involves making an impartial judgement about something
- Doesn't involve bias, or at least very little bias

What is open mindedness?

- An aspect to critical thinking 
- Considering all sides of an issue, including any alternative explanations that differ from your personal point of view

What is Phenomenology?

- Investigating lived experiences
- Studying the experiences of cancer patients with a long prognosis

What is qualitative research?

- Qualiative research involves in depth and descriptive evidence and data 
- It is subjects and inductive (from something specific to something general, create a theory)
- Technqiues used 

• Interviews 

• Case studies 

• Naturalistics observation

What is quantitative research?

• Quantitative research: Involves using experiments and surveys to gather data/ numerical evidence that can be analysed statistically to test a hypothesis. Allows conclusions to be drawn from the data

What is skepticism?

- An aspect that makes up critical thinking
- Not accepting an assertion as true until you have examined the evidence
- Not believeing until you have seen 

What is subjectivism?

- A approach to understanding knowledge 
- A theoretical approach that purports knowledge and meaning are subjective and individual and that there is no external or objective truth
- Knowledge is based on personal experience and views

What is the grounded theory?

- Doing experiments to find a new theory just in general

What is the mixed method?

- A study designed that uses both qualitative technquies (creates subjective and descriptive data) and quantitative (creates objective, and numerical data)

What is the placebo effect 

Placebo effect: Intervention produces and effect because the participant believes it will? 

A phenomenon in which an experimental intervention produces an effect because participants believe it will produce an effect.

What is the straw man argument?

- Discrediting an argument for the sake of brining up or empowering your own argument

What is the theoretical perspective positivism?

- Theoretical perspective is your stance behind something, and how you can make sense of the world
- A theoretical approach that assumes a universal truth can be measured via objective research, experiments

What is the theoretical perspective critical theory?

- Theoretical perspective is your stance behind something, and how you can make sense of the world
- A philosophical approach to culture that involves taking a moral–political approach to examining how power is expressed in society.

What is the theoretical perspective interpretivism?

- Theoretical perspective is your stance behind something, and how you can make sense of the world
- A theoretical perspective concerned with how we gain knowledge of the world by observing people in their natural settings and understanding the meanings that people attach to their actions, feelings, values and experiences

What measures centre?

- Median: score in the middle
- Mean: average 

• Impacted by extreme scores 

- Mode: most frequent number

What measures spread?

- Range: Difference between largest and smallest value
- Standard deviation 
- Variance

- Shows the variety or spread out the data is

What to consider when testing on animals?

- Harmful procedures should not be used unless the end resutls justify the means 
- Must be kept in good living conditions

What’s are distortions in self-report data?

- Mainly during surveys, when reponses are biased to social standards, or are due to a lack of insight

What are therorectical perspective?

- Theoretical perspective is your stance behind something, and how you can make sense of the world

- there are 3 main perspectives 

• Positivism 

• Critical theory 

• interpretivism?