Intro Experiemntal Ex

Intuition

when people rely upon their own personal judgement

authority

when people rely upon anything they learn from the internet, news, media, etc

skepticism

ideas must be evaluated on the basis of careful logic and results from scientific investigations

empiricism

ideas that knowledge is based on observation/experience

rationalism

there is innate knowledge

goodsteins evolved theory of science

• data plays a central role

• scientists are not alone: they report their observations to other scientists and the public

• science is adversarial: it is a way of thinking in which ideas battle to come closer to the truth

falsifiability

testable scientific ideas that can be disproved, or falsified by data

4 goals of research

• describe behavior

• predict behavior

• determine the causes of behavior

• explain behavior

3 things to infer causation

• temporal precedence: temporal order of events in which the cause comes before the effect

• covariation of cause and effect: effect occurs only in the presence of cause

• elimination of alternative explanations: nothing other than casual variable could be responsible for the observed effect

basic research

• attempts to answer fundamental questions about the nature of behavior

• advances psychological theory

applied research

• conducted to address issues in which there are practical problems and potential solutions

basic vs applied research

basic research lays down the foundation for the applied science that follows but neither is considered superior to the other

research questions

used to identify and describe the topic they are investigating

hypothesis

tentative answer to a research question waiting for evidence to support or refute it; narrow in scope

prediction

a guess at the outcome of a hypothesis

theories

systematic body of ideas about a particular topic or phenomenon

3 basic types of research reports

• literature reviews

• theory articles

• experimental articles

journals

where researchers publish the results of their investigations

published results

referred to as articles or journal articles

psychological abstracts

brief summaries of articles in psychology and other disciplines indeed by topic area

PsycINFO

computer database that maintains psychological abstracts

evaluating web information

• site sponsor: who is the site associated with?

• credentials of the webmaster

• has a controversial viewpoint? highly political? left/right leaning?

• information accuracy: is the information current and have legitimate sources to back up their claim?

• links: do links from the site lead to legitimate organizations?

• who funds them and who are these individuals associated with

• non-profit: who donates to them?

abstract

summary of the entire research report in 250 words or less

introduction

outlines the investigated problems/subjects and contains the literature review

method section

• participants: describes the characteristics of participants

• measures: explains the equipment or testing materials being used

• procedure: describes the procedure used in the study

statistics/results selection

• statistics: the research proposal includes a statistics section that describes the statistics you PLAN to use

• results: in the final research paper, the statistics section turns into the results section which gives the final outcomes for the data you collected

discussion sections

• explains how the results of your study compare with past results

• presents methodological weaknesses and/or strengths

• include suggestions for practical applications of the research if your study sas applied research

references section

• source citations

• follows APA format

Tuskegee syphilis study

• it was exposed that medical workers working with the U.S. Public Health Service , were withholding treatment from non-consenting and unsuspecting black men infected with syphilis

The Belmont Report

the Belmont Report was written by the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral research

• Created because of the National Research Act

• Developed a Code of Federal Regulations: ethical principles and guidelines for the protection of human subjects of research

Beneficence

minimizing potential harms and maximizing benefits of participation

risk-benefit analysis

to examine the potential problems and benefits of psychological research

Respect for Persons (Autonomy)

• treating people as autonomous agents (independent, self-ruling, free) and protecting those with diminished autonomy

• allows for informed consent

confidentiality

right to privacy and details of participation must be kept confidential

voluntary participation

participants consent to be involved is voluntarily and they must not be pressured or suffer negative consequences if they don’t participate

right to withdraw

participants must be told what to expect

justice

ensuring reasonable, non-exploitative, and well-considered procedures are administered fairly

assent

agreement by a minor in which a written consent form signed by a parent or guardian is required

deception

occurs when there is active misrepresentation of information about the nature of a study

debriefing

opportunity for the researchers to deal with issues of withholding information, deception, and harmful effects of participation

exempt research

risk free; no review required

minimal risk

risk of harm is no greater than risk encountered in daily life

greater than minimal risk

thorough review by IRB

external validity

the extent to which results from a study can be generalized to other populations and settings

straightforward manipulations

Independent variable is manipulated through written, verbal, or visual materials

staged manipulation

• rigging something in the real world and making it appear real

• used to conceal purpose of the experiment in order to manipulate the IV successfully

• have to supply participants with enough information necessary for them to provide informed consent to participate

confederate

accomplice who appears to be another participant in an experiment but is part of the manipulation

strong manipulation

maximizes the differences between the two groups to increase the chances the IV will have a significant effect on the DV

Milgram experiment

A series of social psychology experiments conducted by Stanley Milgram in the 1960s to measure the willingness of participants to obey authority figures, even when asked to perform actions conflicting with their personal conscience. These experiments demonstrated that a significant number of participants were willing to administer what they believed to be painful electric shocks to others when instructed by an authority figure.

2 issues of misrepresentation of research findings

• fraud: fabrication of data

• plagiarism: misrepresenting another’s work as your own either word for word or paraphrasing

self-report measures

participants responses to interviews and questionnaires

behavioral measures

• direct observations of behavior

• often observed behaviors must be quantified-in terms of rate, reaction time, and duration

physiological measures

• recordings of responses of the body

• MRI, EEG, fMRI, etc

• more expensive

ceiling effect

when IV appears to have no effect on the DV because the participants quickly reach the maximum performance level on the measure

• Ex: every student aced the final exam

floor effect

when the task is so difficult that hardly anyone can perform well

• Ex: every student failed the exam

sensitivity of the DV

DV should be sensitive enough to detect differences between groups

demand characteristic

any feature of an experiment that might inform participants of the purpose of the study

• participants may do what is necessary to confirm the hypothesis

control group

• group that does not receive the treatment

• helps to eliminate alternative explanations for IV’s effects

• improve internal validity

placebo group

• used to assure external validity

• group that believes they received the treatment, but didn’t

single blind experiment

participant is unaware of whether a placebo or the actual drug is being administered

double blind experiment

participant AND experimenter are unaware of who receives the placebo or actual drug

• can help reduce expectancy effects

pilot studies

researcher does a trial run with a small number of participants

manipulation checks

an attempt to measure whether the IV manipulation has the intended effect on the participants

• provide evidence for the construct validity of the manipulation

• construct validity: the degree to which a test or other measure assesses the underlying theoretical construct it is supposed to measure

peer review

two or more reviewers read the paper and recommend acceptance or rejection

internal validity

the degree to which the results of a study can be attributed to the manipulations of the independent variable, rather than to other factors or variables.

weak experimental manipulations

manipulations that do not maximize the differences between the conditions in an experiment, potentially leading to less reliable or inconclusive results.