Suppl readings Textbooks on research design and method in psychology or behavioural sciences McGuire, W.J. (1997). Creative hypothesis generating in psychology: Some useful heuristics, Annual Review of Psychology, 48, Web resources –

Research design An Introduction

Main Questions Where does an experiment comes from? How is it done? Why is it done that way? How do its findings combine with others to enhance our understanding?

An example Explaining Infants’ attachment to their mothers –for food or for comfort? –Small experiments, big questions

Bigger picture of what happened in psychology in the 20th century From behaviourism to cognitive neuroscience

Research process planning designing analysing reporting

Planning Three main considerations Motivation Practicality Academic value

The scientific context of experiments Applied and basic research

Applied research –interface design, treatment of disorder Basic research –How does the system work? –How does learning occurs? –Why do infants form attachments to mothers? Direct benefit, How does the system works  repair or improve it Indirect benefit

Small experiments, big questions No experiment stand alone The strongest evidence is converging evidence obtained across different studies examining the same research question

Developing ideas for research Detailed description of a phenomenon vs. Testing of a theory –The purpose of the research is not primarily to get more data but to extend our conceptual understanding of our chosen subject matter –The purpose of a theory is to present a conceptual scheme to describe and understand a phenomenon

theory Propose new theory Revising an existing theory Adopt an existing theory Relating your findings to an existing theory

Everyday issues New or potential social, technological or biological developments A-B-C model (Antecedents, behaviour, consequences) Predicting or changing behaviour Temporal precedence or order of variables Elaborating relationships –Individual difference, gender, age, clinical population Developing ideas for research (cont’)

Discover inconsistencies or contradictions in the published research Research findings are limited in terms of nature of the participants studied or the circumstances under which the research was done Developing ideas for research (cont’)

Deductions from theories Competing theoretical explanations Alternative explanations of findings Developing ideas for research (cont’)

Method related issues Developing and validating measures Methodological limitations More realistic settings Developing ideas for research (cont’)

Final note In order to generate sensible research ideas, you need to familiar yourself with the established research literature and You can not learn to be a researcher just from a book Conducting research is a skill which requires practice.