PSYCH week 2 : research methods

key components of statistical investigation

planning the study, examining the data, inferring from data, drawing conclusions

cause and effect

whether one variable changes another vs other variables

distributions

the pattern of variation in data

statistical significance

pattern does not mean certainty in the data

generalizability

how much the conclusions / correlations we found in the study apply to the general population

p-value

probability of observing a particular outcome in a sample

significance

a result is unlikely to have arose by chance alone

sample

collection of people that we collect data from

population

larger collection of people that we would generalize our results to

random sample

using a probability-based method to select a subset of individuals for the sample from the population

margin of error

expected amount of random variation in a statistic

random assignment

randomly assigning participants to sample groups (ex. control, test 1, test 2)

operational definitions

how research specially defines / measures a concept

independent variable

variable researcher manipulates / controls

dependent variable

variable researcher measures but does not manipulate

confounds

things that could undermine the experiment

correlational design

when a phenomena is passively observed and measured, only 2 variables, looks at patterns and cannot infer what the causes what

correlation

measures association between 2 variables

problems with correlation

shows an association does not equal causation

qualitative design

observational - often relies of participant observation / testimonials of some sort

quasi experimental design

an experiment that DOES NOT require rand assignment - relies on existing group membership (ex. married vs single or boy vs girl)

longitudinal studies

a study that follows the same group of participants over the course of months or years

surveys

usually questionnaire, that is used to gather mass amounts of data with large amounts of participants (usually for correlational studies)

internal validity

the degree to which cause and effect between 2 variables has un-ambiguously established

external validity

the degree which a study’s findings generalize from a specific sample to the context of a broader / larger setting

ecological validity

the degree to which a study’s findings pertain to daily life / everyday conditions

studying daily life methods

sampling behaviour, physiology, online behaviour, collect data usage, daily experiences

experience-sampling method

participant reports on momentary thoughts/emotions/behaviour at different times over the course of a day

ecological momentary assessment

methodology that repeatedly samples partakers real-world experience/behaviour/physiology in real time

diary method

participants complete a questionnaire about their thoughts/feelings/behaviours at the end of the day

day reconstruction method (DRM)

participant describes experiences / behaviour of a given day

studying daily behaviour

interest in understanding daily actions, best with real life observation

EAR - electronically activated recorder

method where patient wears a small portable audio recorder - records intermittently snippets of sounds around them

studying physiology

interest in understanding the response to everyday variables

white coat hypertension

a phenomenon where patients experience elevated blood pressure in the hospital/doctor’s office but not in everyday life

ambulatory assessment

assessment of behaviour / physiology / experiences / environment of humans in natural settings

linguistic analysis

text analysis - extracts grammatical and psychological info

“smart phone” psychology

using cellphones as a method of data collection - storing information of texts/calls/searchs