PSY 230: Introduction to Psychological Research

Created for PSY 230 at NC State

Description, prediction, explanation

The three goals of science

Description

The goal of science that involves wanting to characterize a concept

Prediction

The goal of science that involves identifying how two things are related

Explanation

The goal of science that involves identifying the cause of relationships. Typically the primary goal of psychological research.

Theory-Data Cycle

The process of gathering data based on research questions in order to strengthen or revise theories

Theory

Set of general principles about how you think variables will relate

Hypothesis

Predictions about what will happen when variables are assessed

Data

Set of observations ex. Behavioral, self-reports/surveys, physiological measurements

Falsifiable

A necessary quality of hypotheses that requires hypotheses to be based on a question that can be supported or refuted with evidence

Parsimonious

A hypothesis that makes the least number of assumptions possible would be considered ____.

Descriptive, correlational, experiment, quasi-experiment

The four main research methods

Descriptive

The research method used to do science that has the goal of description in which a concept is characterized ex. doing a public opinion poll

Correlational

The research method used to do science that has the goal of prediction in which the relationship between two variables is assessed

Experiment

A research method used to do science that has the primary goal of explanation. At least one variable is manipulated and extraneous variables are controlled

Quasi-Experiment

A research method used to do science that has the primary goal of explanation. Naturally occurring event are examined by manipulating a variable without the ability to control for extraneous variables

Systematic empiricism, public verification, solvable problems

The three ‘musts’ of reserach

Systematic Empiricism

Using systematically-obtained observations in a strong and well-designed study (has good controls, consistent observation, etc)

Public Verification

The requirement of research to be observed, replicated, and verified by others

Solvable Problems

Studies must study questions that are answerable through available techniques. Without this, psychology becomes philosophy

Psuedoscience

Claims of evidence that act like they’ve been done scientifically, but violate the scientific rules ex. Myers-Briggs. It is not testable/falsifiable and uses poorly designed studies that cannot be replicated.

Basic and Applied

The two types of research

Basic Research

The type of research that must come first, desire to expand knowledge, what/why/how questions, not trying to solve a problem

Applied Research

Reserach aiming to fix or change something specific, goal in mind, information can be taken to find a solution

Producers of Science

People who do studies in order to expand humanity’s scientific knowledge

Consumers of Science

People who use and apply scientific principles and research. Must be very cautious to ensure the research is properly done and accurately presented.

The Contagion Effect

Ability of information to spread when many people are believing and sharing it ex. misinformation on social media about Meta being able to steal personal data

Cognitive Resources

The ability to properly process and assess incoming information and think critically about it. Humans are limited in this, when people exhaust them, that can be why people fall for and spread illegitimate science

Confound

Differences among groups that are not the variable in question and therefore can falsely influence the results

Heuristics

‘Mental shortcuts’, automatic processes that happen without even knowing it

Availability Heuristic

We assume something is more correct because we think of it more easily ex. thinking plane crashes are more likely to kill you than a car accident because plane crashes are more sensationalized, even though the opposite is true

Confirmation Bias

People are more likely to believe something that is in line with what they already believe and disregard what isn’t

Backfire Effect

When you provide someone with evidence against their beliefs, but it makes them feel even stronger about those beliefs (especially for topics that trigger emotions ex. politics)

Bias Blind Spot

Just because you know what bias is, doesn’t make you immune to it. We detect bias in other people pretty well but often fail to identify it within ourselves.

Experimenter Bias

Researchers experiencing confirmation bias, possibly due to the desire to obtain certain results. Can make them design experiments or measure results in a less legitimate ways.

Abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion, references, appendix

Parts of a psychology journal article (in order)

Abstract

Paragraph in the beginning of a journal article that summarizes all parts of the study, including the design of the experiment, the outcome, and what that outcome means

Introduction

First body paragraph of a journal article that contains the background information, what is being tested (prediction/hypothesis, and why it is important). All relevant sources are cited here

Methods

Part of a journal article that details the steps of the study, including the method of sampling participants, the procedure used, how the outcomes were measured, and what materials were used

Results

The section of a journal article that provides information about findings of the experiment with little to no interpretation

Discussion

The part of a journal article that summarizes the results of an experiment and what they mean

References

A list of the academic resources used in researching and writing a journal article

Appendix

The last part of a journal article that provides the full list and detail description of the materials and procedures described in the article ex. would include the survey used to gather information from participants.

Variable

A characteristic being examined in an experiment that can take on different values called levels

Level

A possible value that a variable can take on ex. age of participants in a study

Measured Variable

Any variable being recorded as data

Manipulated Variable

Characteristics being changed/controlled by researchers

Conceptual Variable

AKA constructs, an abstract concept or idea that is being studied in research. It is not directly measurable, but it can be defined and operationalized into a measurable form in different ways (some of these ways being better than others).

Operationalize

To ___ is to assign specifications to a construct so it can be measured/manipulated appropriately for a given study ex. coming up with a question that will assess a participant’s self esteem

Frequency, association, causal

Three types of research claims

Frequency Claim

Stating the rate at which something is occurring as found through research. Typically a percentage for a single variable’s occurrence. Cannot be used to explain why this rate exists.

Association Claim

A statement about the relationship between two variables as found through correlational research

Causal Claim

A statement made about why something is occurring the way it does, as found through properly designed experiments

Validity

How well a study was designed. High ____ = good study

Construct Validity

How well a test measures what it’s supposed to

Congruent and discriminant

Two types of construct validity

Congruent/Convergent Validity

How well scores on certain measures correlate with one another when they are supposed to (either positively or negatively). If there is heavy variation, consider redesigning scale

Discriminant Validity

How much variables do not correlate when they’re not supposed to have a relationship. Unrelated variables should have high ___.

Predictive Validity

How well a test or scale is able to predict something ex. SAT scores and college performance have low ____.

Face Validity

How well an assessment appears to measure what it is supposed to. Not about the researcher, but about how the participants perceive things (subjective). Mainly required for studies involving deception.

Statistical Validity

How well research is supported by data

Type I Error

A study obtaining a false positive. The study found something to be true when it is actually false.

Type II Error

A study obtaining a false negative. The study found something to be false when it is actually true.

Internal Validity

How well the study keeps confounding variables controlled

External Validity

How well do study results translate to the real world. Higher in studies done in more natural settings with a representative sample

Generalization

The extent to which the findings of a study can be applied to the real world. Sometimes studies are looking at something for a specific group, so understand the intention of _____.

Margin of Error

A window in which researchers are confident in their statistical results

Standard Error

How far off your sample mean is from the actual population mean

Standard Deviation

How spread out the data is from the mean

APA Format

The structure that psychological research articles must follow for the formatting and references, per the American Psychological Assocation

American Psychological Assocation

The full name of the organization that dictates psychological research in the US

Last name, First Initial. (YEAR). Title of the article. Title of the Journal Where it is Published, Volume # (Issue #), Page #’s.

Structure of an APA citation

Tuskegee Syphilis Study

A study with major ethical violations in which primarily poor Black men were given experimental and harmful syphilis treatments

Monster Study

A study with major ethical violations in which orphan children were either praised or belittled, and some were provided speech therapy, while some continued to be mocked. Led to long-term psychological impacts on the unprotected children

Milgram Obedience Study

A study with major ethical violations in which people were told they were pressing a button to shock somebody on the other end. Participants were deceived into thinking they actually were shocking people with deadly voltages, leading to psychological distress and simultaneously a diffusion of responsibility

Belmont Report

Council that created guiding principles for research that were later evolved by the APA

Beneficence/nonmaleficence, fidelity and responsibility, integrity, respect for persons, and justice

The five APA guiding principles

Beneficence

The APA guiding principle that states to conduct research that will benefit society

Nonmaleficence

The APA guiding principle that states not to cause harm to the participants

Fidelity and Responsibility

The APA guiding principle that states to behave professionally to properly represent your field to the public, peers, and your participants

Integrity

The APA guiding principle that states to be accurate, truthful and honest. Whatever you present should be up to date and of quality

Respect for Persons

The APA guiding principle that includes informed consent, adult representation for children, and the outlaw of coercion and targeting of specific groups

Justice

The APA guiding principle that states to treat all groups fairly and to be aware of your own biases

Deception

Misleading participants about the true purpose of a study, ‘cover stories’. Acceptable… within guidelines. Participants must be informed of this after the study

Institutional Review Board (IRB)

Board that reviews experimental designs for ethical violations before they are conducted. All universities have one, but not all private companies do.

Exempt

Status assigned by the IRB where it is straightforward that there are no violations

Expidited

Status assigned by the IRB when there might be possible small violations, requiring some further review

Full Board

Status assigned by the IRB for complex or controversial studies that requires much further review

Plagiarism

Passing someone else’s work off as your own

Data Falsification

Ethical guideline violation involving misrepresenting data/results in order to get results more in line with the hypothesis

Data Fabrication

Ethical guideline violation involving making up data in a way that demonstrates the desired result

Confederate

Someone in on the staging of an experiment

Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUC)

A special review board committee that focuses on animal research

Self-Report

People’s answers about themselves act as the outcome measure ex. asking people about their childhood experiences. Not always reliable, most appropriate measure when there is no other way to assess something

Observed/Behavioral Measure

Examining an outcome by observing and recording behaviors

Voodoo Doll Study

A observed/behavioral study in which sticking a voodoo doll with more pins was associated with more aggressive/violent behavior

Physiological Measure

Assessing data from the body ex. skin conductance, brain activity, heart rate. Not always accessible, should only be used with previous supporting evidence of its necessity

Nominal

Measurement scale of labels and categories with no specific ranking or order to them ex. Political affiliation, race, religion

Ordinal

Measurement scale of categories organized in order or rank ex. Beginner, intermediate, expert. Don’t know the degree of separation, just that some are better than others

Interval

Measurement scale that uses equal intervals with numerically equal distances. Reveals the magnitude or degree of difference ex. Degrees, time

Ratio

Rank order using equal intervals with a true zero-point ex. yearly income, height, weight