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Unit 0 Notes

  • Research

    • Types of Research Methods

      • experimental

      • non-experimental → natural observation, case study, meta-analysis, correlational study

    • Ways to do Research

      • Longitudinal

      • Cross-sectional

  • Naturalistic Observation

    • NO interaction between researcher and participants; “Hands-Off” approach

    • Jane Goodall

    • Strengths → authentic data, realism, avoids participant bias, avoids changes in personality

    • Weaknesses → no informed consent, lack of control

  • Case Study

    • gather a lot of “deep data” about 1 person

    • Strengths → ask follow up questions, more detailed information

    • Weaknesses → time consuming, cannot generalize one person’s experience to a larger population

  • Meta-Analysis

    • combines conclusions from many different studies

    • Strengths → not doing unique studies, lots of data, not time consuming to do experiments

    • Weaknesses → gaps in data, time consuming everywhere else

  • Correlational Study

    • see how one variable relates to another

    • Strengths → able to plot out relationships between two things

    • Weaknesses → does not prove cause and effect

    • illusory correlation (perceive relationships that don’t exist)

  • CORRELATION DOES NOT MEAN CAUSATION

    • for example, just because there is an increase in ice cream sales and an increase in violent crimes during summer, it does not mean that there is a correlation

    • common to use the technique of surveys

    • Strengths → easy, cheap, lots of data

    • Weaknesses → no follow-up questions, self-reporting bias*, social desirability bias

  • *hard to quantify feelings and emotions

    • Correlational coefficient

      • Positive coefficient - between 0 → +1.00

      • Negative coefficient - between -1.00 → 0

      • No correlation → 0

    • Perfect Positive: Positive linear graph

    • Zero/None: Scattered, no pattern

    • Perfect Negative: Negative linear graph

  • Experiments

    • correlation between variables

    • types of variables (independent, dependent)

    • experimental group vs. control group

      • (placebo effect, random assignment, double-blind)

    • confounding variables

    • placebo

    • placebo effect

    • single vs double-blind procedure

  • Ethics in Psychological Research

    • Humans:

      • informed consent

      • debriefing

    • Animals:

      • minimize discomfort

      • humane care, healthy conditions

  • Based on guidelines by the APA

    1. Beneficial

    2. Trust, accountability, ethics

    3. Transparency (MUST be debriefed at the end)

    4. Prevent unjust practices

    5. Dignity, rights (MUST have informed consent)

  • Statistics

    • organize, summarize, analyze data

    • some may skew data to serve their own purposes

  • Qualitative vs Quantitative

  • Descriptive vs Inferential

  • Measures of Central Tendency

    • Mean → Average

    • Mode → Most occuring

    • Median → Middle

  • Variation

    • Range → difference between highest and lowest

    • Standard deviation → variation from mean

      • smaller number → closer

      • larger number → farther

AP

Unit 0 Notes

  • Research

    • Types of Research Methods

      • experimental

      • non-experimental → natural observation, case study, meta-analysis, correlational study

    • Ways to do Research

      • Longitudinal

      • Cross-sectional

  • Naturalistic Observation

    • NO interaction between researcher and participants; “Hands-Off” approach

    • Jane Goodall

    • Strengths → authentic data, realism, avoids participant bias, avoids changes in personality

    • Weaknesses → no informed consent, lack of control

  • Case Study

    • gather a lot of “deep data” about 1 person

    • Strengths → ask follow up questions, more detailed information

    • Weaknesses → time consuming, cannot generalize one person’s experience to a larger population

  • Meta-Analysis

    • combines conclusions from many different studies

    • Strengths → not doing unique studies, lots of data, not time consuming to do experiments

    • Weaknesses → gaps in data, time consuming everywhere else

  • Correlational Study

    • see how one variable relates to another

    • Strengths → able to plot out relationships between two things

    • Weaknesses → does not prove cause and effect

    • illusory correlation (perceive relationships that don’t exist)

  • CORRELATION DOES NOT MEAN CAUSATION

    • for example, just because there is an increase in ice cream sales and an increase in violent crimes during summer, it does not mean that there is a correlation

    • common to use the technique of surveys

    • Strengths → easy, cheap, lots of data

    • Weaknesses → no follow-up questions, self-reporting bias*, social desirability bias

  • *hard to quantify feelings and emotions

    • Correlational coefficient

      • Positive coefficient - between 0 → +1.00

      • Negative coefficient - between -1.00 → 0

      • No correlation → 0

    • Perfect Positive: Positive linear graph

    • Zero/None: Scattered, no pattern

    • Perfect Negative: Negative linear graph

  • Experiments

    • correlation between variables

    • types of variables (independent, dependent)

    • experimental group vs. control group

      • (placebo effect, random assignment, double-blind)

    • confounding variables

    • placebo

    • placebo effect

    • single vs double-blind procedure

  • Ethics in Psychological Research

    • Humans:

      • informed consent

      • debriefing

    • Animals:

      • minimize discomfort

      • humane care, healthy conditions

  • Based on guidelines by the APA

    1. Beneficial

    2. Trust, accountability, ethics

    3. Transparency (MUST be debriefed at the end)

    4. Prevent unjust practices

    5. Dignity, rights (MUST have informed consent)

  • Statistics

    • organize, summarize, analyze data

    • some may skew data to serve their own purposes

  • Qualitative vs Quantitative

  • Descriptive vs Inferential

  • Measures of Central Tendency

    • Mean → Average

    • Mode → Most occuring

    • Median → Middle

  • Variation

    • Range → difference between highest and lowest

    • Standard deviation → variation from mean

      • smaller number → closer

      • larger number → farther

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