Health Psychology Research Methods Lecture

Intervention

Attempts to facilitate improvements for health. Experiments can be used to evaluate their success.

Between Groups Experiment

An experiment where there are multiple experimental groups and each group receives a different treatment.

Within groups Design

An experimental design where the participants in the experimental group each receive all the treatments and are measured after each treatment.

Independent

In health psychology we usually have only one or two ____________ variables because statistically two way interactions are much more manageable.

Dependent

In health psychology it is common to have multiple ___________ variables. It can be helpful to have as much data as possible to analyze.

Experiments

______________ are the best way to test research questions because they can show causation.

Difficult

Experiments can be _______ to perform in health psychology because it is hard to manipulate biological factors, you can’t randomly assign people to disease, and sometimes there are ethical concerns with treatment or random assignment.

Causation

Experiments are controlled and definitive and can prove a relationship between the independent and dependent variables. They can show _________________.

Independent Variable

The variable that the experimenter manipulates, the variable that is controlled and changed.

Dependent Variable

The variable that is measured. The “effect”

Control Group

The group that is the “standard” or baseline. They don’t receive any treatment

Experimental Group

The group that receives the treatment

Known

Usually the effects of the control group are __________ and the effects of the treatment on the experimental group is what is being explored.

How they think about regret

If I did an experiment and had group A anticipate regret and Group B think about past regret then measured their attitudes towards food and eating behavior what would the independent variable be?

Attitudes towards food and eating behavior

If I did an experiment and had group A anticipate regret and Group B think about past regret then measured their attitudes towards food and eating behavior what would the dependent variable be?

Random Assignment

When participants have an equal chance of being in the experimental or control group.

Random Assignment

This is crucial for effective experiments because it ensures that incoming differences among participants will be equally distributed. This allows us to conclude that any measured differences are due to the manipulation and find a causal relationship.

Cause and Effect

Random Assignment ensures that incoming differences among participants will be equally distributed allowing us to establish a __________________ relationship between the independent and dependent variables.

Confounding Variables

Random Assignment eliminates ______________ that could occur if the experimental groups had incoming differences.

Quasi-experiment

A research design that shares similarities with experiments and randomized controlled trials, but specifically lack random assignment to intervention and control conditions. Instead they typically compare groups that are either preexisting (e.g., whether someone was exposed to COVID-19) or groups that were created without random assignment. May be used when random assignment is unethical

Operationalization

Taking a concept and designing a way to make it into a measurable form for an experiment. Ex: Eating Behavior —> we will measure if they eat more M and Ms or more raisins.

Mood

Lab experiment: Does mood influence eating behavior? What was the independent variable?

Eating Behavior

Lab experiment: Does mood influence eating behavior? What was the dependent variable?

Experimenter Demand

When participants do what they think the experimenter is looking for. Can skew results and accuracy.

Within-group design

In the first mood experiment the same group of participants watched both the happy and sad films and were measured each time. Is this the within-group or between groups design?

Between Groups Design

In the second mood experiment one experimental group wrote about sad prompts and the other wrote about happy prompts and each were measured. Is this the within-group or between groups design?

Yes

Did the two experiments show that mood influences eating behavior?

Replicated

The first mood/eating behavior experiment showed people ate more when sad and the second study ___________ these findings by showing that sad people ate the more unhealthy option.

No, that would be too much of an extension

Could the findings from these mood/eating behavior experiments prove that depression causes obesity?

Inductive

To go from the findings that mood influence eating behavior in the lab to assuming that depression caused obesity would be an example of __________ reasoning.

Bi-directional

The relationship between depression and obesity is _________________ meaning that depression can cause obesity and obesity can cause depression.

Bidirectionality

Mutual influence between variables or behaviors. Both can be causative of the other.

Mood Management Hypothesis

A theoretical explanation for why mood affects eating habits that says that we try to regulate our moods and we attempt to hold on to positive states and escape negative states.

Moods and Temporal Focus

A theoretical explanation for why mood affects eating habits which states that mood influences our focus and whether we consider the future or the present more.

Positive

According to the mood management theory when we are in a ___________ mood we will eat healthier because we want to maintain our happiness and will eat healthy so we aren’t guilty or don’t feel sick.

Negative

According to the mood management theory when we are in a __________ mood we will eat less healthy because we are looking for anything that will help us feel good and escape those negative emotions.

Future

According to the mood and temporal focus theory when we are in a positive mood we tend to think more about the______ and are more planful which can explain better eating habits.

Present

According to the mood and temporal focus theory when we are in a negative mood we will think more about the __________ and what feels good in the moment.

Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT)

What is the gold standard when it comes to experimental research?

Independent Variable, Dependent Variable, and Random Assignment

What do randomized controlled trials and lab experiments have in common?

Behavioral

A randomized controlled trial can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of ______ treatments in health psychology and is also used in medicine to evaluate the effectiveness of treatments.

Extensive Baseline Assesment

In a randomized controlled trial participants receive an ______________________ which usually involves some sort of assessment before they receive treatment so the results can be compared to their baseline and researchers can also see if there are variables that could affect data collection.

Prospective

Randomized controlled trials also include _________ measures where people are measured more than once or they engage with the independent variable over a longer period of time.

Both

Randomized controlled trials often test ___________ within-subjects and between-subjects differences.

Prospective Measures

When researchers follow the same subjects closely over time, usually a lengthy period.

Longitudinal Study

A type of study that involves monitoring a population over an extended period of time. It allows researchers to track changes and developments in the subjects over time. It follows the same people over time, measuring them repeatedly to see how they change.

Random

Randomized controlled trials always involve ________ assignment to control and treatment groups.

Identical

In randomized controlled trials, the ideal is that all of the participants are _________ in what they receive/experience except for the independent variable (treatment). Sometimes this involves blinding of the participants.

Double-Blind

When both the participants and experimenters don’t know who is in the experimental or control group.

Blinding

When the participants don’t know if they are in the control or experimental group. This is important to balance expectations.

Blinding

This is important because it helps to ensure that all of the conditions are the same and that the effects of the placebo effect are distributed. It balances expectations.

Placebo Effect

When the person thinks they are receiving a treatment that will help them get better and they show improvement because of their mental expectations rather than the treatment itself.

Placebo

A _____________ treatment can be strikingly effective showing similar results to the treatment at first. However, it is hard to predict and usually the effects fade with time.

Expectations

Blinding is important because if people have preexisting ________ it can reduce the placebo effect.

Possible

Blinding isn’t always __________ especially in behavioral treatments like listening to music vs mindful meditation.

Nocebo effect

When people perceive that they are experiencing side effects and then physically experience them even if they wouldn’t have without the warnings/labels.

Nocebo

The _________ was especially strong when people were told they were taking a high dose or if the physician mentioned possible side effects.

Flow Diagram

Often in randomized clinical trials they are required to publish a _____________ which shows their experiment design/process. It also shows how many people were enrolled and how many were lost (attrition)

70%

What is the ideal percentage of originally enrolled participants left at the end of your experiment?

Attrition

When participants quit or are no longer enrolled in the experiment. People lost from the experiment.

Attrition

______ can harm the validity of the data because the sample becomes less representative and it biases the results.

Lab Experiment

If I did a mood/eating habit study and had 2 random groups watch different movies, one happy, one sad then tested to see if they ate m and ms or raisins would that be more of a lab experiment or more of a randomized controlled trial?

Randomized controlled trial

If I gathered a group of participants, researched their history and other pertinent factors, randomly assigned them to listen to happy music, sad music, or neutral brown noise for 3 months then studied their eating habit diary would that be a randomized controlled trial or a lab experiment?

Chronic Illnesses

One of the main focuses of health psychology (_______________) can make experimental design very difficult because you can’t randomly assign someone to a disease.

Correlation

The association or relationship between two variables.

Correlational Research

Research that tries to discern if variables are related in a systematic way.

No

Can correlational research prove causation?

Correlation coefficient

A numerical value that expresses the strength and direction of the association between two variables.

Perfect negative correlation

What relationship is defined by a r= -1 value?

Perfect Positive correlation

What relationship is defined by a r= 1 value?

No correlation

What relationship is defined by a r= 0 value?

Rare

It is very ______ to ever achieve a perfect correlation in psychology or in the real world in general.

Operationalization

The process of turning an abstract concept into something you can actually measure. Taking a concept like “mood” and devising a way to actually manipulate or measure it —> have someone watch a happy or sad movie.

Taking what is perceived to be a higher dose or having doctors emphasize possible side effects.

What can enhance a nocebo effect?

Three

When a correlation between two variables is established there are __________ possible causal pathways.

Three Casual Pathways

A → B

B→ A

C→ A + B

Third Variable

In addition to the bidirectional ambiguity of correlational research, there could be a possible _______ __________ that influences both the variables being analyzed.

Age, personality

In the correlation “People with more social support are less likely to have a chronic illness.” what were some of the possible third variables?

Experiment

Often times in health psychology a direct test with a true _______ is not feasible because you can’t randomly assign someone to a chronic illness or social support level.

Chronic Illness

When dealing with variables like ______________ a true experiment is not possible because you can’t randomly assign someone to that condition.

Indirect

Laboratory experiments can be done to test correlational relationships but it is _______. Ex: have someone remember a time they recieved social support and another person remember a time they didn’t have support and measure their heart rate and BP. Tie that into health/chronic illness risk.

Cross-sectional Design

A design that collects data from many individuals at a single point in time.

Prospective Studies

Studies that measure participants multiple times over a span of time. They follow people over time and see how the variables change in response to each other which can provide stronger evidence that just correlating variables from a one time measurement.

Prospective Study

In a ________ study you can see how the variables change in response to each other and correlate the change in variables.

Prospective Studies

This type of research design doesn’t have manipulated variables or random assignment rather it measures both variables and how they change over time.

Longitudinal Research

Studies that measure variables over time, groups are tested at 2+ time points, usually refers to longer period of time (may be decades long)

Retrospective Studies

An observational research design that examines events that have already occurred before the study. Often uses existing records, databases, medical charts, and participant recollections as data collection methods.

Retrospective Study

A correlational study that seeks to correlate a variable with something in a participant’s history. Looking back at someone’s past.

Etiology

These studies are helpful in understanding the _______ of a disease or its risk factors.

Case Studies

Elaborate, detailed histories of individuals, events, or groups. Often used with novel or unique cases. May be important when a new disease is identified. Often generalizations and insights are made from the findings.

Case Study

Detailed description/assessment of a specific situation in the real world created for the purpose of deriving generalizations and insights.

HIV

Correlational research was done to find out about the origin and progression of a new disease _____.

1981

When was the first report on HIV done by the CDC?

Retrospective

Researchers used _______ methods to identify risk factors for HIV early in progression. They surveyed the people who originally contracted the disease.

Retrospective

Through ____________ investigation, it was found that 30 of the 60 original cases of HIV were linked to patient zero - Gaetan Dugas

Gaetan Dugas

The man identified as patient zero and believed to be the origin of HIV and AIDS in the US.

Medical

Researchers interviewed HIV positive participants and looked at their history and ___________ records to identify risk factors.

Gay men

What was the main demographic of people who originally contracted HIV in the US

Prospective

_____________ studies of HIV positive males helped to establish how HIV progressed.

Prospective

_____________ studies of HIV positive patients showed that some who continued the risk behaviors had genetic immunity to this virus