research methods

what is the scientific method

uses observations to develop a hypothesis that makes a logical prediction tests it empirically using new observations/measurements and then evaluates the conclusions

What makes something SCIENTIFIC?

empirical, public , solvable

empirical

empirical beacuse its driven by evidence from systematic observation

PUBLIC

public because findings must be avalible to others to evaluate and replicate

SOLVABLE

solvable because the question has to be objectively testable

Students who drink coffee before class seem more anxious.

observation

Caffeine may increase stress

Hypothesis

Students who consume caffeine will have higher stress levels than students who don't. and after that

testable prediction+ collecting data then conclusion

Basic research

increases our general knowledge about psychological processes

Applied research

finds solutions to practical problems

TYPES OF RESEARCH

Descriptive, Correlational, Experimental, Quasi-experimental

DESCRIPTIVE

your describing something

How aggressive are children on playgrounds?

DESCRIPTIVE

CORRELATIONAL

measure 2 variables and determine whether they are related and correlation does not cause causation

Do students who sleep more have better memory?

Variable 1: sleep

Variable 2: memory

And see whether they're related.

EXPERIMENTAL

researchers manipulates Independent variable measures dependant variable and can establish causation

QUASI-EXPERIMENTAL

independent variable is a preexisting characteristic that the researcher cannot manipulate.

Construct

A construct is a concept you care about but cannot directly observe.

Theory

A theory explains how constructs are related and the relationship between them and its a broad explanation

What makes a GOOD theory?

be parsimonious , clear predictions , based on data and is falsiable

Parsimonious

Don't make an explanation more complicated than necessary

Falsifiable

A theory must be capable of being shown wrong

Hypothesis

a testable and refutable prediction that tests a theory involving variables that can be observed and measured

priori

before collecting and seeing results

Post Hoc

after seeing the results

Conceptual

what does the concept mean theoretically

operational

tells you exactly how the construct is measured/ manipulated in the study

types of descriptive research

observational measures, phsyisiological measures, self report measures

observational measures

record visible behavior

Physiological rmeasures

record biological data

self report measures

ask people about attitudes or behaviors

types of observations

quantatative describe measured or counted amounts using numbers and qualitative is describes characteristics or qualities without numbers such as color

Naturalistic Observation

trying to observe subjects without disturbing their normal behavior

Naturalistic Observation HOW TO

hiding the participant is unaware , habituation the participant becomes use to observer

Contrived structured observation

the reseracher creates a situation likely to produce the behavior of interest

disguised vs undisguised observation

participants do not know they are being watched vs participants know they are being watched

reactivity

people change their behavior because they know they’re being watched

demand effect

participants behave according to what they think the researcher expects

physiological measures

biological responses mrs,eeg,heartrate

4 sclaes of meausrement

nominal , ordinal,interval and ratio

nominal

categories/names with no order

ordinal

order/rank where spacing isnt precise

interval

spacing between values 0 is a reference thing

ratio

equal intervals , order and a real absolute zero

central tendency

mean, median and mode tells you where the data is cnetered

variability

tells you how spread out the scores are , small variability means scores are clustered around the mean large variability means scores differ substantially from the mean

standard deviation

average distance of socres from the mean, small sd scores cluster near mean , large sd scores spread farther from mean

reliability

consistency is the measurement consistent and stable

validity

does the test actually measure what it says it going to measure

reliability and validity relationship

reliability is necessary for validity but reliability doesnt guarentee validity

three types of reliability

test-retest, inter-rater,internal reliability

test - retest

same people take the same measure at different times then you correlate scores

bench mark

r is greater than equal to .70

inter rater reliability

same behavior changing observers/judges

internal reliability

consistency among items on same scale

Cronbach's alpha (α)

this helps evaluate whether scale items go together

construct validity

does the measure actually assess the intended construct (stress)

Face Validity

does it look like it measures the construct

three ways to establish construct validity

convergent,discriminant and criterion

Convergent Validity

two measures off the same construct should corrrelate

Discriminant Validity

Your measure should not strongly correlate with an unrelated construct.

Criterion-Related Validity

does measure relate to/predict relevant behavior thier are two versions concurrent and predictive

Concurrent Validity

criterion measured NOW / same time

predictive validity

measure is used to predict future behavior

What is Self-Report?

surveys can collect information about attitudes,opinions, and personal chracteristics

open ended questions

participant answers in their own words

restricted forced choice

choose among provided response options

types of rectricted questions

likert, semanatic differential , quantataive and categorical

likert

measures level of agreement across response scales

semanatic differential

weak to strong rate between opposite adjectives

quantative restricted question

actual numerical quantity

categorical

chose category , nominal

survey structure

warm up question , middle is sensative question ending is routine demographics

social desirability

tendency to answer in a socially acceptable way because people want to avoid looking bad and anonymity can reduce self report bias

response set

people sometimes selct a response style and stick with it inlcuding acquiescence agree with everything ,nay saying disagree with everything and fence sitting chosing neutral over and over

reverse scoring

reverse oppositely worded items so all items score in same construct direction

empirical articles

reports an original study and gives details about the method and statistical tests used to test hypothesis

review article

summarizes previosuly published studies on a topic

parts of an empirical article

abstarct is concise summary of, intro why the study was done prior work and researchers prediction , method enough detial to replicate study , results quantataive statistical findings , discussion results explained and refrences places to find more sources on topic