Research Methods Exam 1: Chapters 1 & 2

Why is it important to learn be a producer of research

to succeed in undergrad and understand the reasoning behind what you are learning and practicing

Why is it important to learn to be a consumer of research

for fact-checking and interpretation of research findings

Empiricism

the use of verifiable evidence as the basis for conclusions, collecting data systematically and using it to develop, challenge, or support a theory

Reflexivity

researchers reflect on how their own values, biases, and experiences might shape the topics they study & the reflections they make

Facilitated Communication example: is it an evidence-based treatment or unconscious cuing?

Most likely unconscious cuing, provider is guiding person’s hand to what they think the answer would be

Main benefits in qualitative vs quantitative approaches

more comprehensive and individualized vs rigorous statistical methods

Theory-Data Cycle

process used to collect data to test, change, or update theories

What does the theory-data cycle begin with

literature, theory comes from literature

Steps of the theory-data cycle

theory → research questions → hypothesis tested through methodology → data

Theory

a statement that describes how variables relate to one another

Hypothesis

predicting the answers to the questions based on theory and specific to the research design

Data

can be consistent or inconsistent with hypothesis and theory

Harlow’s wired mother example of the theory-data cycle

contact comfort theory → babies will spend more time on the cloth mother than the wired mother → amount of time the monkeys spent on each mother

Replication

study is conducted again to test whether the result is consistent

Why are good theories falsifiable

a theory should laed to a hypothesis that, when tested, could fail to support the theory

Four norms scientists are expected to follow

universalism, community, disinterestedness, organized skepticism

Applied research

research is conducted with a practical problem in mind

Basic research

research is conducted to enhance the general body of knowledge

Basic research example: meditation

what parts of the brain are active when experienced meditators are meditating?

Applied research

Has our school’s new meditation program helped students focus longer on their math lessons?

Sources of evidence for people’s beliefs #1: experience

no comparison group, experience is confounded, research results are probabilistic

Confounds

alternate explanations other than the variable of interest that effected the outcome

What is meant by “reasearch results are probabilistic”

the conclusions are meant to explain a certain proportion of cases, not all cases

Source of evidence for people’s belief #2: Intuition

accepting a conclusion just because it makes sense or feels natural

Availability heuristic

overestimating frequency due to how easily something comes to mind

Bias blind spot

belief we are unlikely to engage in biased reasoning compared to others

Source of evidence for people’s belief #3: trusting authorities

need to discover what they are basing their information on and if that source is reliable

Empirical vs review article

results of an empirical research study vs summary and integration of all the published studies that have been done in one research area

What can you find in the “abstract” section of an empirical article

summary of what the paper is going to look like (hypothesis, methods, and main results)

What can you find in the “introduction” section of an empirical article

literature review

What can you find in the “methods” section of an empirical article

research methods used (measurements, sample size, etc)

What can you find in the “results” section of an empirical article

statistics

What can you find in the “discussions” section of an empirical article

loop back to introduction & discussing possible next step

Meta-analysis

combines the results of many studies and gives a number (effect size) that summarizes the magnitude

What sections to find the argument of an empirical argument

abstract and end of introduction

What sections to find the evidence that supports the argument of an empirical argument

methods and results

Edited books

a collection of chapters on a common topic, each chapter written by a different team of contributors

Are edited books peer-reviewed?

no, but the editor is careful to only invite experts to write

Where can you find legitimate scholarly sources

PsychINFO and Google Scholar

What is a predatory journal

those that publish almost any submission they secure, existing only to make money

Disinformation

the deliberate creating/sharing of info known to be false

Click restraint

deliberately pausing before accepting, sharing, or following an online link, especially when in provokes an emotional response

Lateral reading

checking a suspicious website’s claims on alternative legitimate news sources