Psychology Get ready to take notes on research methods!

RESEARCH METHODS different ways scientists collect data

OBSERVATION Collecting data using your five senses –Naturalistic = behavior is observed in a natural setting and not interfered with or altered in any way –Participant = behavior is observed through active, firsthand involvement

Be careful not to infer information that has not been confirmed. For example, assuming you know WHY an observed behavior has occurred when you have only witnessed it.

SURVEY METHOD Measures self-reported trends in attitudes, motives, opinions, behavior Self-reported data must be interpreted cautiously. WHY?

SURVEYS ARE EASILY BIASED A small sample is not representative of the larger population Phrasing of the questions affect how people answer People may lie on sensitive or personal topics

CORRELATION Statistical technique used to measure the strength and nature of the relation between two variables Strength of the relationship is shown by the correlation coefficient + or – indicates direction

CORRELATION Does NOT establish cause and effect Helpful in studying topics where experimental methods would be unethical

EX POST FACTO Subjects are selected based on conditions already present Do you know what “ex post facto” means?

EX POST FACTO Has all the components of a true experiment, but the independent variable is already established by nature rather than by the experimenter Cannot make cause/effect conclusions Most often used because of ethical concerns about doing an experiment

CASE STUDY In-depth data collected on rare cases (very few potential subjects available to study) As in other methods, it is used because one can’t ethically recreate the rare situation on large numbers of people Example 1: Phineas GagePhineas Gage Example 2: GenieGenie

DEVELOPMENTAL STUDIES Used to study changes in human behavior over time –Longitudinal studies follow the same subjects over many years –Cross-sectional studies take a look at subjects of different ages at the same point in time

CONTROLLED EXPERIMENTS The only method of research that can establish cause and effect!

CONTROLLED EXPERIMENTS Hypothesis Independent and dependent variables Operational definitions Control and Experimental Groups Population defined Subjects randomly selected Hypothesis supported or not supported

More about CONTROLLED EXPERIMENTS coming to a classroom near you soon!

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