The Research Enterprise in Psychology: Chapter 2 Part 1
Goals of the Scientific Enterprise
- Measurement and description
- Understanding and prediction
- Application and control
Measurement and description
- Find a way to describe the behavior correctly.
Understanding and prediction
- Understand events when there is an explanation for it
- Hypothesis
- How two or more variables are related
- Variables
- Any measurable conditions, events, characteristics, or behaviors that are controlled or observed in a study
Application and control
- Use research to solve real-world problems
- Understanding a phenomenon allows greater control over it
- Psychology applies findings in schools, businesses, hospitals, etc.
- E.g. school psychologists use research on math anxiety to help students manage it
- Theory - a system of interrelated ideas used to explain a set of observations
Visual note (graphic on slide)
- The slide shows elements and atomic numbers (Nb, Mo, Tc, Ru, Rh, Os, Ir, Pt, Au, etc.) with a periodic-table style layout
- This graphic is not central to the psychological content but appears as a visual aid in the slide
Steps of Scientific Investigation
- Create a testable hypothesis
- If-then statement
- Operational definition: describing how the variable will be measured or controlled
Steps of Scientific Investigation (continued)
- Choose how you will study
- How will you test your hypothesis?
- Participants (subjects): the persons (or animals) whose behavior is systematically observed in a study
Steps of Scientific Investigation (continued 2)
- Formulate a testable hypothesis
- Choose how you will do your study
- Collect the data
- Data collection techniques: procedures for making empirical observations and measurements
- Can take weeks or months or years
- Vary in complexity
Data collection techniques
- Direct observation
- Questionnaires
- Interviews
- Psychological tests
- Physiological recordings
- Examination of archival records
Data collection techniques (repeat emphasis)
- Direct observation
- Questionnaires
- Interviews
- Psychological tests
- Physiological recordings
- Examination of archival records
Data collection techniques (continued)
- Direct observation
- Questionnaires
- Interviews
- Psychological tests
- Physiological recordings
- Examination of archival records
Data collection techniques (continued)
- Direct observation
- Questionnaires
- Interviews
- Psychological tests
- Physiological recordings
- Examination of archival records
Data collection techniques (continued)
- Direct observation
- Questionnaires
- Interviews
- Psychological tests
- Physiological recordings
- Examination of archival records
Steps of Scientific Investigation (continued 3)
- Formulate a testable hypothesis
- Select a research method and design
- Collect the data
- Analyze the data and draw conclusions
- Usually change data into numbers
- Statistics
- Did your results match your hypothesis?
Steps of Scientific Investigation (flow)
- Formulate a Hypothesis
- Design the Study
- Collect the Data
- Analyze the Data and Draw Conclusions
- Report the Findings
- [Sequence diagram representation of research workflow as shown in slides]
What are some advantages to the scientific approach?
- (Prompt in slide) What are some advantages to the scientific approach?
Advantages of the Scientific Approach
- Why use the scientific method? it involves more effort, but offers key advantages:
- Clarity & precision
- Intolerance of error
- Variety of research methods
Key takeaways
- Science isn’t the only way to know truth, but it is more accurate and dependable than casual observation
- Scientific methods = general strategies to observe, measure, manipulate, and control variables
- Multiple different kinds of methods to answering your question