Psych Research Methods & Correlational Studies

Experiment

determine cause & effect relationships

A: causation

D: low ecological validity, variables can’t be manipulated ethically

Field Experiment

when research is done outside of a laboratory

A: can see how things happen irl

D: can’t control for extraneous/confounding variables

quasi-Experiment

participants are not randomly assigned to conditions, but are grouped based on traits/behavior

A: can show more specific relationship for things that would not be ethical to

D: implies causation

non-experimental methods:

used to observe behavior/mental processes without manipulating a variable

case study

in-depth examination of 1 particular person/small group

A: give us info we may not see otherwise, can lead to more research & theories

D: cannot be generalized or replicated

naturalistic observation

recording & collecting info from a natural environment. Researcher does not interfere

A: obtains detailed info about a behavior or irl scenario

D: no cause & effect, ethical considerations

correlational study

determine a relationship with 2 variables without manipulating either variable

A: more efficient, cost effective, easier, look at factors that may not be possible in an experiments

D: no causation, can lead to incorrect//illusory relationship

Survey

asking people questions with questionnaires or interviews, gather info about beliefs/traits/behaviors

A: easy, cheap, efficient, gets lots of info from large group of people

D: possibly inaccurate, wording can lead to wrong responses/framing, Self-report bias: ppl may change answers in questions about themselves, Social desirability bias: ppl may answer a question differently to appease the researcher

meta-analysis

researchers take data from multiple studies & analyze it

This leads to general or overall conclusions about a particular topic

What is correlational research?

gives us an idea about the relationship between 2 factors

illusory correlation

when we perceive a relationship when there isn’t (persists bc of confirmation bias & anecdotes)

directionality problem

not clear which variable is the cause of change in the other

could be bidirectional causation as well

third variable problem

an unmeasured variable (c) is impacting variable a & b

scatterplot

once all data is plotted, we can start looking for relationships/patterns/etc within & begin to draw conclusion

perfect positive

r=1

both variables increase/decrease at the same time

strong positive

r=0.8

weak positive

r=0.5

perfect negative

r=-1

strong negative

r=-0.8

weak negative

r=-0.5

No correlation

r=0