RESEARCH METHODS IN PSYCHOLOGY

psychology

the study of the mind and behaviour

mind

subjective experiences (ex. sensations, perceptions, memories)

behaviour

observable actions of people or non-human animals

folk psychology

common-sense understanding of the mental states and behaviours

limitations of personal experience + intuition

1. experience has no control group

2. cannot generalize from single case

3. illusion of attention: we notice less of our world than we think we do

4. inattentional blindness: failure to percieve events outside the focus of one’s attention

5. confirmation bias: the human tendency to pay attention to and believe in evidenced that supports what we already think we know

6. we are unaware of subtle but powerful influences on behaviour

scientific approach

can formulate hypothesises on the basis of prior observation

theory

framework that explains and generates predictions about phenomena in the world

hypothesis

testable prediction about what will happen if theory is correct

data-set

set of observations used to generate hypothesis

replication study

repition of a study with new elements

direct replication

complete recreation of original experiment

conceptual replication

different methods and measures used to recapture original findings

open-science movement

initiative to make scientific research, data, and methods openly accessible and transparent with the goal of increasing reproducibility

meta-anaylsis

combination of results of multiple studies

variable

something that takes on different values (can be a person or condition)

manipulated variable

intentionally changed by researchers (y intercept)

measured variable

variable whose values are recorded by researchers (x intercept)

operational definition

specific description of how variable is measured/manipulated (turned from abstract to concrete)

open-ended questions

participant gives any answer that comes to mind

advantages of self-report

get inside participant heads, easy + inexpensive

disadvantages of self-report

difficulty identifying and verbalizing experiences, social desirability bias, not always aware of why we do what we do

social desirability bias

tendency to answer questions in a way that is viewed favourably

direct behavioural observation

researchers observe + record occurrences of behaviour

advantages of direct behavioural observation

more objective, observes real-world behaviour

disadvantages of direct behavioural observation

more time + resource intensive, can raise ethical issues, reactivity

reactivity

a change in behaviour caused by observation

reaction time

time to respond to a stimulus

advantages of indirect behavioural measures

avoids social desirability + reactivity

disadvantages of indirect behavioural measures

big gap between construct of interest and operationalization

advantages of physiological behavioural observation

outside participant control, displays link between relationships and health

disadvantages of physiological behavioural observation

expensive, invasive, and ambiguous

population of interest

set of cases a researcher has interest in

sample

group who participates in research that belongs to a population of interest

random sample

every person in a population has an equal chance to participate in research

WEIRD

white, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic

descriptive research

scopes out research problem to generate hypothesis, typically the first step in scientific research

case study

study of few individuals with unique conditions in depth

correlational research

measures 2+ variables in the same population sample to observe the relationship between them

scatterplot

figure used to represent correlation (closer together = stronger relationship, direction of slope = type of relationship)

correlational coefficient (aka R)

direction and strength of the relationship, ranges from negative to positive 1

3 key components of causality

1. 2 variables must be correlated

2. 1 variable must precede the other

3. no reasonable alternative explanation must exist (needs an experiment)

experimental research

a study in which one variable is manipulated and the other is measure

random assignment

participants are as likely to be assigned to one condition as to another

independent variable

manipulated variable in an experiment

dependent variable

measured variable in an experiment

control group

a condition comparable to the experimental condition in every way except that it lacks the thing hypothesized to produce the expected effect on the dependent variable

moderater variable

the effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable that is conditional on the value of the moderator (eg. social media could be detrimental for younger adults)

mediator variable

the independent variable exerts its effect on dependent variable through another variable (eg. social media use increases social comparisons, leading to depression)

measurement/construct validity

are you measuring what you think you’re measuring

reliability

do you get the same results every time you administer the measure

internal validity

can we rule out alternative explanations in an experiment

confounds

alternate explanation for a relationship between 2 variables

placebo effect

when improvement happens after recieving inert substances

double-blind procedures

experiments and participants are unaware of who is in experiment group or control group

observer expectancy effect

expectations of an observer can influence the subject

demand characteristics

subtle cues from experimenter may give the participant a sense of whaqt is expected of them

external validity

can results be generalized to other samples/situations

statistic

numerical value derived from data set that helps describe the set/evaluate hypothesis

descriptive statistics

summarize sets of data (eg. mean, medium)

effect size

values describing strength of association or magnitude of effect

inferential statistics

helps assess if there is sufficient evidence to support hypothesis

Cohen’s d

different between groups expressed in terms of standard deviation

null hypothesis

hypothesis which a study disconfirms

p-value

the probability of getting a result as extreme as results of null hypothesis, goes from 0 to 1, if p value < 0.05 reject null

institutional review board (irb)

panel that evaluates if standards (autonomy, beneficience, justice) are met

autonomy

each participant has the right to decide without coercion to participate in study

informed consent

researcher must fully explain study procedures, risks + benefits before participating

beneficience

obligation to promote well-being and minimize harm

justice

fairness in distribution of benefits and burden of research

inattentional blindness

failure to percieve events outside the focus of one’s attention

illusion of attention

the human tendnecy to notice less of our world than we think we do

confirmation bias

the human tendency to seek out, pay attention to and believe in evidenced that supports what we already think we know

belief perseverance

maintaining a belief despite new information that firmly contradicts it

misattribution of arousal

when one mistakes what is making them aroused

confound

influences that interfere with an accurate measurement between the independent and dependent variable

internal validity factors

confounds affect internal validity, can be things such as

differential attrition

when dropout rate between the control group differs from the other groups involved, making it so that the participants who drop out have differing characteristics of those who stay in the study

average vs variability

average: where most of the points lie (central tendency)

variability: how far apart the points are (aids w external validity)

frequency distribution

representation of the number of observations within a given interval

mean

the average or center of a data set

median

the middle value in a set of data

mode

value that appears most frequently in a data set

standard deviation

a measure of how dispersed the data is in relation to the mean