Experimental Psychology Exam 1

Why do psychologists conduct research?

Because it is the best way to make certain that the information about behavior is accurate

How can psychologist be certain they are getting the most accurate knowledge they can about behavior?

By conducting careful and systematic observations

What are the primary ways that we learn new facts?

Intuition, Deduction, Authority, and Observation

Definition and example of Intuition?

Relying on common sense as a means of knowing about the world; Suddenly knowing the answer to a problem

Definition and example of Deduction?

Using logical reasoning and current knowledge as a means of knowing about the world; You may know from past experience that where you live, in the month of september, days tend to still be warm but start to get cooler, especially at night

Definition and example of Authority?

Relying on a knowledgeable person or group as a means of knowing about the world; You may know there is a poverty crisis in some parts of Africa from authority figures (magazine and newspaper reporters, Bono)

Definition and example of Observation?

Relying on what one observes as a means of knowing about the world; You may have observe that the earth is round by viewing photographs taken from space of the earth

What is the foundation of the field of psychology?

Research

Why do Helping professionals need to understand the findings from research?

So that they know what types of treatments and therapies can best help their clients

How do researchers help clinicians and counselors?

By helping them understand what constitutes “normal” behavior and what behaviors might be considered “abnormal”

What is the primary aspect of the scientific method?

Observations

What are the 4 primary facets or canons (rules/principles that guide a field of study) that define the scientific method?

Empiricism, Determinism, Parsimony, and Testability

Definition of Empiricism?

Knowledge about behavior can be gained by observing- Observing behavior gives researchers a more accurate understanding of the causes of behaviors than other methods of gaining knowledge

Definition of Determinism?

Behaviors have identifiable causes- By conducting studies to observe behavior, we can understand the factors that cause those behaviors to occur

Definition of Parsimony?

Simple explanations of behavior are more likely to be correct- In psychological research, we develop explanations of behavior starting with the simplest descriptions and expanding those descriptions only when it becomes clear that the behavior is more complex than our original description of it

Definition of Testability?

Explanations of behavior can be tested and falsified through observation- The only explanations of behavior that can be tested with the scientific method are those that can be contradicted with observations of behavior

What is the goal of Basic Research?

To understand the most fundamental processes of behavior and how they operate

Definition of Applied Research?

Investigate realistic problems

What do Applied Researchers want to accomplish?

Be able to apply their results to a problem that applies to individuals who are not participants in their study

Applied researchers are often concerned with ____ of their studies?

External validity

Research questions in basic research are typically about what?

How a behavior works

Why is research important to us?

To understand how to interpret information we take in each day through media sources, and it may help decide how to evaluate claims made by others in general

What comes from research?

What we know about effective treatments and counseling techniques

What is the first step in the research process?

Developing a Research Question

Developing a research question is the researcher’s primary motivation for?

Designing and conducting a study

Where do the research questions come from?

Many sources, primarily they come from what the researcher is interested in learning about

Research questions can be?

Descriptive and Causal

What do descriptive research questions look at?

Whether a specific behavior occurs, what the nature of the behavior is, and whether behaviors occur together

What do causal research questions look at?

About causes of behavior, and many of them are designed to test a theory about the cause of a behavior

What does conducting a literature review consist of?

Searching research databases or other sources to find relevant research that has been done in an area of the field, and ensuring that a new study will add to the knowledge in an area without duplicating what is already known

What does PsycINFO include?

Records of articles, books, and book chapters written by researchers- can be searched by topic words, words that appear in the citation information for the article, author names, journal in which the article was published

What does PubMed include?

Journals that publish research in biological and medical areas can be found

What does ERIC include?

Articles in areas related to education can be found

What are examples of psychological conferences?

APA and APSC

Definition of Journal articles?

May describe a single study or it may describe multiple studies, all of which relate to the same research question, peer review, review process can be lengthy, and considered primary sources for research information

Structure of a journal article?

Abstract, Introduction, Method, Results, and Discussion

What are the primary goals of a literature review?

Determine what research has been done on a research question to avoid duplicating previous research, and review previous findings and theories to allow a hypothesis to be made about the outcome of a study

Definition of a hypothesis?

The prediction for the findings of the study

Definition of Theory-driven hypotheses?

Made from the predictions of a theory, and deductive reasoning

Definition of Data-drive hypotheses?

Made based on data from previous studies and inductive reasoning

Definition of Descriptive hypothesis?

A prediction about the results of a study that describes the behavior or the relationship between behaviors

Definition of causal hypothesis?

A prediction about the results of a study that includes the causes of a behavior

What is the Nuremberg code?

Ethical guidelines such as: Participation is voluntary, the research must contribute to scientific knowledge and be conducted by qualified researchers, researchers must avoid unnecessary harm, take precautions against risk, ensure that benefits outweigh the risk of the study, and terminate the study if unforeseen harm come to the participant, and the participants have the right to discontinue their participation in the study

Relationship between APA code and Nuremberg Code?

APA code based on Nuremberg Code, and many of the elements in the APA code overlapped with the main elements of the Nuremberg code

What are two additional elements included in guidelines for research?

The researchers must reduce harm due to deception, and the researchers must ensure the confidentiality of participant data

What is known as the obedience study?

Milgram (1963)

What is known as the prison study?

Zimbardo (1973)

3 key elements of the Belmont Report?

Respect for persons, Beneficence, and Justice

Definition of Respect for persons?

Provide information about the study before it begins, obtain voluntary conscientious from participants after they are informed, and inform participants of right to withdraw

Definition of Beneficence?

Reduce risk of harm to participants, potential benefits of the study must outweigh risks, and inhumane treatment of participants is never justified

Definition of Justice?

Selection of participants must be fair, No participant groups may be unfairly selected for harmful research, and all participant groups must have opportunity to receive benefits of research

Responsibilities of the Institutional Review Board?

Oversees human research done at an institution-applies to all institutions that are subject to federal regulations, reviews all research proposed at the institution to provide a more objective evaluation of the ethics of a study, and made up of at least five members with background sufficient to ensure qualified review of research proposals

The Institutional Review Boards look at 3 cases?

Exempt studies, Expedited Studies, and Full-review studies

Definition of Exempt studies?

Studies that pose least risk to participants still require IRB to look over

Definition of Expedited studies?

Minimal risk and requires review at least from one board member

Definition of Full-review studies?

Involves greater than minimal risk and requires full IRB committee review

What happens if a study makes use of deception?

The researchers must reduce must justify why the deception is necessary and why alternative procedures that do not use deception cannot be employed

What happens if the study uses deception?

A debriefing process must explain the nature of the study and the deception used, including the purpose of the deception in the study

What is the IACUC?

Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee; Oversees research with non-human animals at an institution

Definition of Operational definition?

The definition of an abstract concept used by a researcher to measure or manipulate the concept in a research study

Why do researchers choose an operational definition for behavior?

Because they expect the behavior will provide the best (most valid) method of learning about the behavior they are interested in

Definition of External validity?

The degree to which the results of a study apply to individuals and realistic behaviors outside the study

Why is how much external validity a study has important?

Because the goal of research is to gain knowledge about behavior that applies to a large group of individuals in their everyday lives, not just the individuals who participated in the study with the restrictions on the situation the study included

Definition of Internal Validity ?

The degree to which a study provides causal information about behavior

What does a study with high internal validity provide?

Causal information about behavior

What happens when there is more control over the factors in a study?

Internal validity increases, but behavior may become more artificial and lower the external validity of that study

Definition of reliability?

The degree to which the results of a study can be replicated under similar conditions

Reliability is important to consider when you?

Design a study and choose an observation technique

How you increase reliability will depend on?

The observation technique you are using

What are the data collection techniques?

Naturalistic observation, surveys/questionnaires, systematic observation, and archival data

Definition of Naturalistic observation?

Unobtrusively observing individuals in their natural environment

Example of naturalistic observation technique?

Meerkat Manor

Definition of Surverys/Questionnaires?

Conducted to measure mood, attitudes about a topic, or frequency of certain behaviors through self-reports from the participants

Example of Surveys/Questionnaires?

Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II)

Definition of systematic observation?

Observing behavior under controlled conditions

Example of Systematic observation?

Accuracy or speed of completion on a computer presented task (memory task, problem solving task)

Definition of Archival Data?

Analysis of pre-existing data

Example of archival data?

Consumer confidence index, consumer spending, and opinion polls

Definition of archival data-content analysis?

A specific type of archival data observation technique that involves analysis of what someone has said (as in a speech or interview) or written (as in a book or articles)

What happens in Content analysis?

A researcher is analyzing a record of what someone has said or written in the past, and no interaction takes place between the researcher participant and the researcher

What are the types of research designs?

Case studies, correlational studies, experiments, and quasi-experiments

What is the goal of a case study?

To gain insight into and understanding of a single individual’s (or just a couple of individuals’) behavior

A case study can be conducted for?

A group of individuals, such as an agency or institution

In terms of Case studies, what do researchers use to learn about the individual’s behavior?

Naturalistic observations, interviews, or archival data (especially in the case of a famous individual)

Definition of correlational studies?

Examine relationships between variables and, if a relationship is found, predict values for one variable from values on the other variable(s)

Definition of predictor variable?

The variable that is used to make the prediction

Definition of the outcome variable?

The variable that is being predicted

Definition of Experiments?

A type of research design that involves manipulation of an independent variable, allowing control of extraneous variables that could affect the results

Definition of Independent variable?

A variable in an experiment that is manipulated by the researcher

Definition of experimental group?

The group of participants in an experiment that experience the treatment level of the independent variable

Definition of control group?

The group of participants in an experiment that do not experience the treatment level of the independent variable

Definition of Quasi-experiments?

A type of research design where a comparison is made, as in an experiment, but no random assignment of participants to groups occurs

Definition of Ex post facto design?

A quasi-experiment where subjects are grouped based on a characteristic they already possess (age or gender)

Pre-test-post-test design?

A type of research design (often a quasi-experiment) where behavior is measured both before and after a treatment or condition is implemented

What are the scales of measurement?

Nominal, Ordinal, Interval and Ratio

Definition of Nominal?

Non-ordered category responses

Definition of Ordinal?

Ordered category responses

Definition of Interval?

Equally space, numerical responses, no absolute zero

Definition of Ratio?

Equally spaced, numerical responses, absolute zero

Definition of Construct validity?

Indicates that a survey measures the behavior it is designed to measure