PSYC232 Week 1

PSYC232 WEEK 1 (LEC 1)

SCIENTIFIC METHODS



Epistemology

What do we want to know? How do we know what we know? What do we do with what we know?

  • Creating testable theories that are able to be proven false

  • Scientists can then develop more complex questions and get more detailed answers

  • Knowing purposes and meanings in the world around us

Scientists are responsible for sharing and nurturing knowledge.















2 methodological processes






















Goals of Psychological Science

  • Describing

  • Predicting

  • Explaining

  • Controlling



Research Design

  • Questionnaire/Survey

  • Naturalistic Observation

  • Experimental Designs

  • Case Studies/”Small N”



Null hypothesis statistic testing



Null Hypothesis (H0): Aggression will be no different between people



Alternative Hypothesis (H1): Aggression will be higher in people who ruminate compared to those who will be distracted






Science never proves anything






















PSYC232 WEEK 1 (LEC 2)

DESCRIBING AND MEASURING






















Operalization

Turning abstract ideas (like anxiety, intelligence, happiness e.t.c.) into measurable things.

Categorical/Nominal

Groups or categories that have labels

  • Gender, ethnicity, marital status etc



Ordinal/Ranked

Data that increase/decrease in order without mathematically meaningful distances between each point

  • A scale from 1-5 of agree to strongly disagree.



Interval

Equally-sized distances between measurement points, there is no meaningful zero point

  • Temperature (celsius or fahrenheit), Standardized Tests (IQ Scores, etc.)



Key Distinction from Ratio Data:

The primary difference between interval and ratio data is the presence of a true zero. Ratio scales have a true zero, meaning that zero represents the complete absence of the measured variable.




Ratio

Equally-sized distances between measurement points, the zero point means “absence of X”

  • Reaction time, number of responses, age, weight, heart rate.














What is the typical spread of your samples?










Reliability and Validity (testing your operalization and measurement)