Week 2 - Research Methods

What is Science?

Using systematic observation to acquire knowledge, often using empirical methods.

Psychology is the science of…..

the mind and behaviour

When planning an experiment always develop a ______ research question.

testable

Independent variable

The variable the researcher manipulates and controls.

Dependent variable

The variable that the researcher measures but does not manipulate

All studies should ensure:

• Safety

• Benefits outweigh risks

• Informed consent

• No coercion (the act of forcing or compelling someone to do, say, or agree to something against their free will through the use of threats, intimidation, pressure, or physical force)

• Privacy/confidentiality

Operational Definition always has to be  

measurable - variable has been defined so it can be reliably measured  

valid - measures what it intends to measure.   

Null Hypothesis

There is no relationship between two variables.

Alternative Hypothesis

There is a relationship between two variables.

statistically significant is a p-value =

.025; p < .05

Internal Validity

The degree to which a cause-effect relationship has been unambiguously established.

= How clearly we can prove that one thing causes another.

External Validity

The degree to which a finding generalizes from the specific sample and context of a study to some larger population and broader settings.

=How well the results of a study apply to other people, situations, and settings.

Face Validity

The degree to which a procedure or method measures what it intends to measure.

Ecological Validity

The degree to which a study finding has been obtained under conditions that are typical for what happens in everyday life.

=How closely the conditions of a study reflect real-life situations.

Ecological momentary assessment

An umbrella term used to describe methods that repeatedly sample real-world things (thoughts, experiences, behavior, physiology, etc; e.g. experience sampling).

Linguistic Analysis

A quantitative text analysis methodology that automatically extracts grammatical and psychological information from a text by counting word frequencies.

What are the key components to a statistical investigation?

• planning the study

• examining data

• inferring from the data

• drawing conclusions

Cause-and-effect 

Related to whether we say one variable is causing changes in the other variable, versus other variables that may be related to these two variables. 

Confidence interval

An interval of plausible values for a population parameter; the interval of values within the margin of error of a statistic. 

=A range of values that likely contains the true result for an entire population, based on a sample.

Distribution 

The pattern of variation in data. 

Generalizability 

Related to whether the results from the sample can be generalized to a larger population. 

Margin of error 

The expected amount of random variation in a statistic; often defined for 95% confidence level. 

= How much a study's result might differ from the true population value due to random chance.

Parameter 

A numerical result summarizing a population (e.g., mean, proportion). 

Population 

A larger collection of individuals that we would like to generalize our results to. 

P-value 

The probability of observing a particular outcome in a sample, or more extreme, under a conjecture about the larger population or process. 

Random assignment 

Using a probability-based method to divide a sample into treatment groups

Random sampling 

Using a probability-based method to select a subset of individuals for the sample from the population. 

Reliability 

The consistency of a measure. 

Sample 

The collection of individuals on which we collect data. 

Statistic 

A numerical result computed from a sample (e.g., mean, proportion). 

Statistical significance 

A result is statistically significant if it is unlikely to arise by chance alone. 

 Validity 

The degree to which a measure is assessing what it is intended to measure. 

Confounds

things that could undermine your ability to draw causal inferences.  

Double-blind procedure

neither the participant nor the experimenter knows which condition the participant is in.  

Correlational designs 

When scientists passively observe and measure phenomena. Here, we do not intervene and change behavior, as we do in experiments. - identifying patterns of relationships, but can't infer what causes what.

correlation coefficient

provides information about the direction and strength of the association between two variables. 

positive correlation

the two variables go up or down together. 

negative correlation

one in which the two variables move in opposite directions. 

strength of a correlation

has to do with how well the two variables align. If an association has many exceptions, it is considered a weak correlation. If an association has few or no exceptions, it is considered a strong correlation.  

weak correlation

one in which the two variables correspond some of the time, but not most of the time. 

Qualitative designs 

NON-NUMERICAL RESULTS : follows exploration of topics that are difficult or unethical to study experimentally. It includes various approaches like participant observation, case studies, and narrative analysis.  

Narrative Analysis type of quantitative

Focuses on analyzing stories and personal accounts to gain insights into psychology

Quasi-Experimental designs 

A quasi-experimental design studies the effects of a variable (e.g., marriage) without random assignment to conditions. 

Experimental Design

participants are randomly assigned to conditions (e.g., different professors in a class). 

Longitudinal studies 

Track the same people over time. (few weeks/months/ or years)  

Why are surveys useful?

can reach a larger number of participants at a much lower cost. Although surveys are typically used for correlational research, this is not always the case.  

Resource Availability 

Consideration of available resources is key in selecting a research approach. 

Ethical Considerations

Ethical issues significantly influence research design choices, especially in sensitive areas (e.g., brain injuries, neurological disorders). 

Research Consumption

As a consumer of research, it's essential to identify and appreciate the strengths and limitations of various methods. 

Correlation

Measures the association between two variables, or how they go together. 

Experimenter expectations

When the experimenter’s expectations influence the outcome of a study.

What do Operational definitions do?

They are how researchers specifically measure a concept. 

Participant demand

When participants behave in a way that they think the experimenter wants them to behave.

Placebo effect

When receiving special treatment or something new affects human behavior.

Ambulatory assessment

An overarching term to describe methodologies that assess the behavior, physiology, experience, and environments of humans in naturalistic settings. NATURAL SETTING

Daily Diary method

A methodology where participants complete a questionnaire about their thoughts, feelings, and behavior of the day at the end of the day.

Day reconstruction method (DRM)

A methodology where participants describe their experiences and behavior of a given day retrospectively upon a systematic reconstruction on the following day.

Full-cycle psychology

A scientific approach whereby researchers start with an observational field study to identify an effect in the real world, follow up with laboratory experimentation to verify the effect and isolate the causal mechanisms, and return to field research to corroborate their experimental findings. 

Generalize

Generalizing, in science, refers to the ability to arrive at broad conclusions based on a smaller sample of observations. For these conclusions to be true the sample should accurately represent the larger population from which it is drawn. 

Lived day analysis

A methodology where a research team follows an individual around with a video camera to objectively document a person’s daily life as it is lived.

White coat hypertension

A phenomenon in which patients exhibit elevated blood pressure in the hospital or doctor’s office but not in their everyday lives.