Research Methods Final

tenacity, intuition, authority, rationalism, empiricism

what are the nonscientific methods of acquiring knowledge?

method

way of knowing or finding an answer

tenacity

knowing through habit or superstition

intuition

knowing through gut instincts

authority

knowing from an expert or an expert source, needing to rely upon due to a lack of overall knowledge

empiricism

knowing through a different sensory observation, usually not a good science

rationalism (logic)

deductive and inductive reasoning, scientific methods of acquiring knowledge

deductive reasoning

drawing a conclusion intended to follow logically from a given set of premises, reasoning from general to specific

inductive reasoning

drawing a conclusion about the probability of an event/condition based on available but incomplete knowledge of the past, reasoning from specific to general

confirmation bias

the tendency to search for or use information that supports, rather than disputes, the hypothesis

science

making systematic observations, is both reliable and valid

reliability

the ability of a test to get the same result over and over again

validity

the ability of a test to measure what one thinks it is measuring

determinism

if one can figure out everything in the world that one can measure and can also measure with 100% accuracy, then one can predict everything someone else does from moment to moment

developing a hypothesis, performing a controlled test, gathering objective data, analyzing the results, publishing/criticizing/replicating

what are the parts of the scientific method?

hypothesis

statement predicting outcome of a study (Educated guess)

positive statement- must be opposite of null and have no negative words in it to avoid confusion, must be stated in a way that is able to be falsified

how must a hypothesis be worded?

operational definition

clearly defining every part of the hypothesis, words aren’t as important in this scenario (?)

independent variable

the aspect of an experiment that the experimenter manipulates

manipulation

changing, increasing, etc. by the investigator

dependent variable

a variable that is measured, counted, or recorded by the investigator (outcome of the experiment)

self-report, behavioral, or physiological

what are the different measures of a dependent variable?

self-report measures

scales in which participants respond based on what they are feeling, often a scale or interview setting

behavioral measures

measuring the response of a participant to stimuli, behaviorally. ex- number of shivers, number of sneezes

physiological measures

measuring factors participants have no way of controlling that relate to their body. ex- heart rate, BP, brain activity

write a study, send to a journal, first review before it gets sent to the peer reviewers, 2-4 people peer review it, either deny it or make corrections and send it back to you to fix, eventually it will be accepted

what are the steps of the peer review process?

description, explanation, prediction, application

what are the four goals of research?

if science is…
-based on testimonials, especially a testimonial from one person

-based on chance events

-based on a few highly-selected studies

-opposing studies are dismissed

-phenomena disappears with too many controls

-people that advocate for the controls are dismissed

-results can’t really be verified or replicated

what are some cases in which a study may be “bad science?”

peer-reviewed journals, book chapters, university data, federal data, general websites

what are some good literature sources to look for?

nominal, ordinal, interval, ratio

what are the 4 scales of measurement?

nominal

categorical data where one counts every member in a group and names said group

ordinal

putting variables/data in order in some fashion

interval

numbers with meaning- for example, 0 degrees C doesn’t mean a lack of temperature

ratio

numbers where 0 means a lack of something, for example, 0 cats

range effects

data should be nice and in the middle of a set in order to avoid floor and ceiling effects

floor effect

a test is too hard and the tail of a study is steered to the right. example- test at school is too hard so everyone gets a 50 (hit the floor)

neither validity nor reliability

what kind of measure can you establish in a floor effect situation?

ceiling effect

a test is much too easy and has an extreme left tail. for example- my students all get a 100 on a test

a source of bias or error in measurement

what will not allow us to validate our research (make sure it has validity)?

confounding variables

variables that obscure the effect of the independent variable, is related to the independent variable and therefore could be the reason for the dependent variable

random assignment

what is a solution for having confounding variables?

participant reactivity

participant’s expectations of experimental effects causes changes in behavior, made up of demand characteristics and reactivity

demand characteristics

cue that leads participant to guess the hypothesis (and answer then in terms of that hypothesis)

the use of a placebo or a single-blind experiment

what is the solution for the subject-expectancy effect?

observer-expectancy effects

observers (or person running experiment) has expectations that affect their perceptions of results or actions of the participant

double-blind experiment

what is the solution for the observer-expectancy effect?

observation/ serendipity, theory, other research

what are the 3 methods for developing ideas?

basic research and applied research

what are the types of research?

basic research

doing science for the sake of knowing things and for the sake of science, and improving people’s knowledge about behaviors

applied research

working a certain area to make improvements to a problem

laboratory and field research

what are the two places where research can take place?

laboratory research

more likely to be basic research, offers high levels of control

field research

more likely to be applied research, much less control so less able to be generalized

quantitative research

research with numbers that can be analyzed

qualitative research

non-number research, usually survey/interview based

serendipity

finding something good without looking for it, must be acknowledged in research as a conclusion

harking

“hypothesis after research knowledge”- the changing of a hypothesis after getting results to make your results look significant

bystander effect

observers are aware of other observers around and therefore may be less likely to act

theory

a set of logically consistent statements, data-driven, can be falsified, are parsimonious, not a “guess”

nuremberg code of ethics

the first time people saw a need for a code of ethics, primary for physiological and medicinal usage, laid down the first levels of consent

belmont report

foundational document defining ethics in the terms of justice, respect, and consent in terms of human participants

mostly dealt with clinical psychologists, put out a call to psychologists to write in and report anything they thought was unethical for review

what did the first code of ethics do?

beneficence and non-malfeasance, fidelity and responsibility, integrity, justice, respect for people’s rights and dignity

what are the 5 general principles in the original APA code of ethics?

beneficence and non-malfeasance

experiments must benefit people and not harm then

fidelity and responsibility

psychologists have to act in a trustworthy and responsible manner because the way they act translates to all of psychology

integrity

honesty, especially in results, to both participants and the IRB

justice

deals with both who is put in studies and how they’re treated, we can’t force protected groups to do things

poor people, prisoners, minors, and those with disabilities

what are the protected groups in psychology?

respect for people’s rights and dignity

everyone in the study must be treated well and fairly before, during, and after our study, deals with videoing and consent

89 standards with 10 categories

how many standards were set forth in the APA code of ethics?

no harm, privacy and confidentiality, institutional approval from IRB, competence, record keeping, informed consent to research, dispensing with informed consent, offering inducements, deception, debriefing

what are the 10 categories mentioned in the APA code of ethics?

no harm

don’t do harm to clients or participants

privacy and confidentiality

psychologists will not go out and tell everyone what their clients said and did, psychologists will not make films of people in their studies and distribute them

competence

the accurate training must be completed in order for any researcher to conduct the study

record keeping

details what needs to be kept, for how long, and where

informed consent to research

details what exactly must be on an informed consent, also details when an informed consent must be used and when an informed consent doesn’t need to be used (which is almost never)

dispensing with informed consent

when we don’t have to get informed consent

deception

when is it okay to deceive people and how to do it

debriefing

at the end of the study, psychologists must always tell participants why they did the study, what happened, and what info was recorded

IRB

a group of 5 or more people put together by a university and required in order to do research

a nonscientist, a non-affiliate with the university, and a prison representative if one is working with the imprisoned

who must all be part of an IRB?

exempt, expedited review, formal review

what are the 3 levels of an IRB?

exempt IRB

lowest level of review, exempt from overall rules of reporting and consent, used for minimal risk studies on non-protected groups

expedited review IRB

level of IRB above exempt, used when collecting blood and other biological matter or doing research using drugs that are approved and/or have been in use for many years, or if you are recording people

formal review IRB

entire IRB board meets to discuss this, needed when there is middle risk (risk you could experience in everyday life), or when someone is in a protected population

informed consent

letting the participants know what is going to happen during the study

information, understanding, and voluntary participation

what are the components of informed consent?

voluntary participation

the understanding that participants are willingly participating in a study and are able to leave at any given time

active and passive

what are the 2 kinds of deception?

active deception

lying to participants

passive deception

withholding information from people purposefully without lying to them

dehoaxing

explaining to a participant if and why we had to use deception during the study during the debriefing period

desensitizing

a type of “unconditioning” where an individual is exposed to a stimulus repeatedly over a period of time to take away any emotional reaction to it, should be done after more rigorous and emotionally difficult studies

sample statistics accurately estimate population parameters because we don’t have all the time and the money in the world to sample the whole population

what are the aims of sampling?

sampling frame (accessible population)

the amount of population available and accessible

blank foreign elements

people that are listed as being in one population but are no longer

incomplete frames

people that SHOULD be listed in a population are not

law of large numbers

the bigger out sample is, the more likely it is to look very similar to our population (does not automatically mean it is a good sample)

probability sampling and nonprobability sampling

what are the 2 types of sample designs?

probability sampling

for any participant in a study, you can assign a percentage to the population of the likelihood. the entire population is known and each individual in the population has a specific probability, so we can random sample based on the probability