RESEARCH METHODS

What are the 5 Methods of Acquiring knowledge?

• Rationalism (relying on sound premises + conclusions)

• Authority (relying on authority figures)

• Intuition (relying on guts)

• Scientific method

• Empiricism (getting knowledge thru observation + experience)

(RAISE)

Why can Intuition be wrong sometimes?

Because it is driven by biases rather than logical reasoning or scientific evidence

Why can relying on Authority be wrong sometimes?

Cuz the authority figure may:

• Be wrong

• Be using their intuition

• Have their own reasons to mislead

Why can Rationalism be wrong sometimes?

Cuz if premises are wrongs or have an error in logic, then the conclusion will also be invalid

Why can Empiricism be wrong sometimes?

• and what is empiricism the heart of?

Cuz we’re limited in what we experience and observe + our senses can deceive us

• The Scientific method

What are the 7 steps of the Scientific method?

1) Make an observation

2) Ask a question

3) Develop a hypothesis or prediction

4) Test the prediction

5) Analyze results

6) Record the results against the hypothesis

7) Make a conclusion

What is Science?

The systematic study of the structure + behavior of the physical + natural world thru observation + experience

What are the 3 Features of Science?

• Systematic empiricism

• Empirical questions

• Public knowledge

(SEP)

What is Systematic empiricism?

Learning by carefully:

• Planning,

• Recording,

• Analyzing,

• Making observations.

What are Empirical questions?

• and how can they be answered?

Questions about the way the world actually is

• by systematical observation

When do Scientists typically publish their work?

After:

• Asking empirical questions,

• Making systematic observations,

• Drawing conclusions

What are the 2 reasons Publication is an essential feature of science?

1. Science is a social process, a large scale collaboration

2. Publication allows science to be self-correcting

What are Open access journals?

Journals whose articles are freely available to all

What are the 5 Benefits of Open access?

1. More access (authors can address more w/o the readers paying)

2. Increased citations + impact

3. Increased visibility (readers know them more + institutions host them)

4. Drives Research innovation

5. Faster availability + searchability

What is the Self-correcting replication crisis in psychology?

It’s why psych is under criticism because a number of research finding don’t replicate

What is the ‘Many labs replication project’?

An effort by psychological scientists around the world to attempt to replicate findings from 13 classic + contemporary studies

What are the 3 reasons Pseudoscience matters?

• It highlights the fundamental features of science

• Because a lot of pseudoscientific beliefs are widely held in society

• Because many pseudosciences try to explain aspects of human behavior + mental processes → Pseudo psych

What are the 3 Goals of science?

• Describe → Making careful observations

• Predict → Use the observations to predict wether an event or behavior will occur in a certain situation

• Explain → Determine the causes of behavior

What does Basic research do?

it examines how the mind works

What does Applied research do?

• and is it different from basic research?

It examines how to use basic research to solve real-world problems

• yes, but the distinction isn’t always clear-cut

What is Folk psychology?

Intuitive beliefs about peoples behavior, thoughts, and feelings

What are 3 examples of Common sense myths?

• “Ppl use only 10% of their brain power”

• “Most ppl experience a midlife crisis in their 40s or 50s”

• “Students learn best when teaching style is matched to their learning style”

What are Heuristics?

Mental shortcuts in forming + maintaining our beliefs

What are the 5 steps of the Simple model of Scientfic research?

1. Researchers formulate a research question,

2. Conduct an empirical study designed to answer the question

3. Analyze the resulting data

4. Draw conclusions about the answer to the question,

5. Publish the results so that they become part of the research literature (i.e., all the published research in that field) - which is the primary source of new research questions.

What are 2 examples of Research based on the Simple model?

• Are women really more talkative than men? (Mehl et al, 2007)

• Passenger + cell-phone conversations in simulated driving/Do phones have a negative impact on driving? (Drews et al, 2004)

What must finding a Research topic start with?

A good research question (which often begin as more general research ideas)

What 3 things make a Research topic good?

• Interests author

• Creative (New topic/less covered)

• Not too broad

What are the 3 Most common sources for Finding inspiration for a research topic?

• Informal observations

• Practical problems

• Previous research (most most common)

What are Informal observations?

Direct observations of behavior + Secondhand observations from non-Scientfic sources (like books, movies, etc)

What are Practical problems?

Observations involving real situations + events

How do people find inspiration from Previous research?

By Reading + Evaluating other work + Conducting new studies to build on it

What is Reviewing research literature?

Finding, reading, and summarizing the published research relevant to your topic of interest.

What is Research literature?

All the published research in that field

What are the 4 reasons Reviewing previous literature is important?

Cuz it helps:

• Identify if a research question has already been answered

• Evaluate the interestingness of a research question

• Give ideas for how to conduct a study

• Show how a study fits into the research literature

What are the 2 sources for Reviewing research literature?

• Articles in professional journals

• Scholarly books

What are Professional journals?

• and what are the 2 types of it?

Periodicals that publish original research articles

• Empirical research reports + Reviews articles

What are Empirical research reports?

Reports that describe new empirical studies conducted by authors thru introducing a research question, reviewing prev research, describing methods + results, and drawing conclusions

What are Review articles?

• and what are the 2 types of it?

Articles that summarize previously published research + present new ways to organize/explain the results

• Theoretical articles + Meta-analysis

What are Theoretical articles?

An article devoted primarily to presenting a new theory

What is a Meta-analysis?

An articles that provides a statistical summary of all of the previous results (so an analysis of an analysis)

What are the 3 Peer review methods?

• Double-blind peer review

• Single-blind peer review

• Open peer review

What is a Double-blind peer review?

When the reviewers of a research article don’t know the identity of the researcher(s) and vice versa.

+(Researchers who want to publish their work in the journal submit a manuscript to the editor—a researcher too—who then sends it to 2/3 experts on the topic. Each reviewer reads the manuscript, writes a review, and sends it back to the editor along with recommendations about whether the manuscript should be published or not. The editor then decides whether to accept the article for publication, ask the authors to make changes and resubmit it for further consideration, or reject it outright. But the editor will always forward the reviewers’ written comments to the researchers so that they can revise their manuscript accordingly.)+

What is a Single-blind peer review?

When only the reviewer’s identity is known

What is an Open peer review?

When the identities of the reviewers are published alongside the journal article.

What are Scholarly books?

• and what are the 2 types of it?

Books written by researchers + practitioners for use by other researchers/practitioners

• Monographs + Edited volumes

What is a Monograph?

An extended review article written by a single author or a small group of authors

What are Edited volumes?

Books that are collections of chapters written by different authors on different aspects of the same topic, and overseen by one or more editors

What kind of peer review process do Scholarly books undergo?

a similar one to professional journals

What does the primary method used to search the research literature involve?

Electronic databases, like:

• Academic Search Premier,

• JSTOR,

• ProQuest for all academic disciplines,

• ERIC for education,

• PubMed for medicine + related fields.

What are the 4 most common Literature search databases?

• PsycINFO

• Web of science

• Google scholar

• ResearchRabbit

What is PsycINFO?

A comprehensive electronic database covering thousands of professional journals + scholarly books produced by the American Psychological Association (APA)

When you do a literature review, you have to be…?

Selective

What are the 4 ways to be Selective when doing a Literature review?

1. Focus on recent research + Look thru the reference list

2. Look for review articles on your topic

3. Look for empirical research reports addressing your question

4. Look for sources that provide information that can help you “sell” your research question

You should focus on sources that help you do what 4 basic things?

• Refine your research question,

• Identify appropriate research methods,

• Place your research in the context of previous research,

• Write an effective research report.

What is the Average number of sources cited per article?

About 50 → (Adair + Vohra, 2003)

What are Empirically Testable Research Questions?

Questions expressed in terms of a single variable or the relationship between variables

What are the 3 ways to Generate Empirically Testable Research Questions?

• Look at Discussion sections of recent articles (The last big section of the article)

• Come up with your own research questions

• Reassess previous research questions

What 3 things do Discussion sections include?

• Summary of the results + their interpretation in the context of past research

• New directions are suggested for fixture research

• Researcher suggestions for future research (Which take the form of research questions)

How do you come up with your own Research ideas?

By conceptualize a particular behavior as a variable + ask her frequent/intense it is → if science answered that then consider a relationship between a behavior + some other variable

How can you Reassess Previous research?

By seeing if the research questions can be refined, via asking yourself more general questions about the relationship

(Like → Are there other ways to define and measure the variables? Are there types of people for whom the relationship might be stronger or weaker? Etc,)

What are the 2 Criteria for Evaluating Research questions?

• Interestingness = How attention grabbing/Engaging smthn is

• Feasibility = How likely is the research question going to be

  successfully answered

What 3 things must the Interestingness Criteria consider?

• Is the answer in doubt?

• Does it fill a gap in research literature?

• Does it have important practical implications?

What 3 things must the Feasibility Criteria consider?

• Time

• Money

• Equipment + materials

• Technical knowledge + skill

• Access to research participants

What’s a Theory?

An explanation or interpretation of one or more phenomena

Whats a thing that all Theories have in common?

They go beyond the phenomena, explain by including → Variables, structures, processes, functions, or organizing principles that have not been observed directly

What’s a Hypothesis?

A specific prediction about a new phenomenon that should be observed if a particular theory is accurate + relies on a few key concepts

What are the 2 types of Hypothesis?

• Null

• Alternative

What’s a Null hypothesis?

A hypothesis that always predicts no effect/relationship between variables

What’s an Alternative hypothesis?

Your research prediction of an effect/relationship between variables

Whats the Primary way that Scientfic researchers test Theories?

the Hypothetico-Deductive method

Whats the Hypothetico-Deductive method?

the method where based on the conclusion of a theory we reassess it + see if it lines up

What does the Hypothetico-Deductive method combined with the General model of Scientfic research in psychology form?

A model of theoretically motivated research

What are the 3 characteristics of a Good Hypothesis?

• Testable + Falsifiable

• Logical

• Positive

What does a Testable + Falsifiable hypotheses mean?

That the hypotheses must be testable using the methods of science + it must be possible to gather evidence that will disconfirm the hypothesis if it is false

What does it mean for a Hypothesis to be Logical?

That it should be informed by previous theories/observations + logical reasoning

What are the 2 kinds of Logical Reasoning?

• Deductive

• Inductive

What does Deductive Reasoning begin with?

A broad + general theory to generate a more specific hypothesis

What does Inductive Reasoning use?

Specific observations to form a general hypothesis

What does it mean for a Hypothesis to be Positive?

That it should make a positive statement about the existence of

a relationship/effect, rather than one that doesnt

What is the File drawer effect (Rosenthal,1979)?

In science many results remain unpublished, especially negative ones → which produces a publication bias.

(So there so much unpublished ones proving a none relationship but we just cant see it)

What’s a Variable?

a Quantity or Quality that varies across people or situations

What are the 2 types of Variables?

• Quantitative variable

• Categorical variable

What’s a Quantitative variable?

A quantity that is typically measured by assigning a number to each individual

(Eg,??)

What’s a Categorical variable?

A variable that represents a characteristic + is measured by assigning each response to one of several categories (they don’t have to have a number associated)

What’s an Operational definition?

A definition of the variable in terms of precisely how it is to be measured + what the variable is

(No right or wrong answer)

What’s a Population?

• and what’s a part of a population?

A large group of people that researchers are interested in drawing conclusions about

• Sample

What’s a Sample?

• And what are the 2 parts of it?

A smaller portion of the population of interest

• Simple random sampling + Convenience sampling

What’s Simple random sampling?

A type of sampling where every member of the population has an equal chance of being selected

What’s Convenience sampling?

A type of sampling that consists of individuals who happen to be nearby + willing to participate — but is unequal in who gets picked

What are the 2 types of Validity?

• Internal validity

• External validity

What’s Internal validity?

The degree to which we can confidently infer a causal relationship between variables

(So the extent in which we’re measuring what we intend to measure, often associated with high levels of control within our experiment)

What’s External validity?

The degree to which we can generalize the findings to other circumstances, like the real-world

Whats the relationship between Internal + External validity?

A give and take one

What 4 things does Experimental research include?

• Independent variables (IV)

• Dependent variables (DV)

• Extraneous variables

• Confounds

Whats an Independent variable (IV)?

the Variable the experimenter manipulates (the cause)

(Eg, whether someone takes a drug or not)

Whats a Dependent variable (DV)?

The variable the experimenter measures (the effect)

(Eg, the test scores of the drug used)

What are Extraneous variables?

• are they a problem?

Any variable other than the dependent + independent variable

• No, not automatically if theyre held constant/don’t change during an experiment

What is the result of Extraneous variables becoming a problem?

Confounds

What are Confounds?

A type of Extraneous variable that systematically varies along with the variables under investigation, so provides an alternative explanation for the results.

Why are Confounds a problem?

Because they confuse the data cuz they intertwine with any effect of the independent variables, so we cant tell if the change we’re seeing is due to manipulation or the confound itself