Psychology as a science & Getting Research Ideas Psych 231: Research Methods in Psychology

Reminders Don’t forget quiz 2 due this Friday For fun: “Science Isn’t Broken” article from 538 Reminders

Psychology as a science Ask a person on the street to: “Name a famous psychologist” Dr. Sigmund Freud Dr. Phil (McGraw) Do they represent the standard psychologist? NO! Psychology is a diverse discipline ISU’s Psych Dept has 6 different groups APA has 55 different divisions of psychology Psychology as a science APA Executive Report: “Psychology as a core STEM discipline”

Psychology as a science What is science? What are the goals of science? Description, prediction, explanation/understanding Is psychology a science? Yes Studies the full range of human behavior using scientific methods Applications derived from this knowledge are scientifically based Researchers Practitioners Psychology as a science

Psychology as a science Psychology’s goals are similar to the goals of the physical sciences (e.g., physics and chemistry) Psychologists are concerned with the behavior of people (and animals) rather than the physical world. Simplest Complex Description of behavior Describe events, what changes affect change, what might be related to what, etc. Prediction of behavior Given X what will likely happen Control of behavior For the purpose of interventions (e.g., how do we prevent violence in schools) Causes of behavior Sometimes predictions aren’t enough, want to know how the X and the outcome are related Develop specific theories Explanation of behavior A complete theory of the how’s and why’s Psychology as a science

Psychology as a science How is psychology different from the physical sciences? Human (and animal) behavior is typically much more variable than most physical systems. Statistical control Methodological control Often the thing of interest requires indirect measurement (and thus underlying assumptions) Psychology as a science

Where do research ideas come from? Great research ideas Barriers You Where do research ideas come from?

“I’m not interested in the topic.” You Great ideas “I’m not smart enough.” “Somebody else must have already done this.” “I don’t know how to pursue the idea.” “It’s too simple, something must be wrong.” “The idea will take too much work.” Do consider the practicality of the work load, but don’t be afraid of hard work. Glued to your first idea. Be flexible, adjust your idea as you learn more “I’m not interested in the topic.” Classic barriers

Where do ideas come from? Curiosity We typically study things that interest us. Continuum of the development of research ideas Informal Formal “This is interesting. I’d like to know more.” “We’ve got a problem to solve.” “We understand some things, but there are still questions.” “The theory says X. Let’s test the theory.” “Here [is] a first principle not formally recognized by scientific methodologists: When you run onto something interesting, drop everything else and study it.” (B. F. Skinner, 1956) “Here [is] a first principle not formally recognized by scientific methodologists: When you run onto something interesting, drop everything else and study it.” (B. F. Skinner, 1956) Where do ideas come from? Kevind Dunbar talk: “On Unexpected Science” Steven Johnson talk: “Where good ideas come from”

Where do ideas come from? Curiosity Observation Direct observation - things that you observe: includes public observation, self observation, observing children, observing animals Vicarious observation - what somebody else has observed and reported Where do ideas come from?

Where do ideas come from? Curiosity Observation Common Sense - things that we all think are true “Opposites attract” But note: a lot of our common sense is contradictory Absence makes the heart grow fonder Long distance affairs never last Where do ideas come from?

Where do ideas come from? Curiosity Observation Common Sense Past research – find out what research has already been done and ask yourself “what don’t we know still” Follow-up studies, expanding the past research in more detail or new directions Improvements on past research studies, maybe you think the past research had some serious flaws or limitations Where do ideas come from?

Where do ideas come from? Curiosity Observation Common Sense Past research Identify a problem – perhaps there is an important problem or issue that needs a solution. WWII - why did airplanes keep crashing? Led to development early cognitive theories of attention Where do ideas come from?

Are my ideas good? Evaluating your research ideas Focus: Is your idea specified enough to be manageable ROT rule: Replicable - one time deal? Observable - can you measure it? Testable - can you test it & can you falsify it? Are my ideas good?

Many interesting results are not accepted until they are replicated Cold fusion - a potential answer to our energy needs The results were never replicated and are not generally accepted by the scientific community Extrasensory perception (ESP) Some proponents claim that ESP only occurs under certain unknown conditions and that it is impossible to predict when the conditions are right. Replication

Many interesting questions may not be examined experimentally because they aren’t observable (either directly or indirectly (yet?)). Do dogs think like humans? Since we can’t directly observe a dog’s thoughts, we can only make inferences about their thoughts via their behavior Is my experience of the color blue the same as yours? Observable

Other hypotheses may not have objective testability (e. g Other hypotheses may not have objective testability (e.g., imaginary events) What if the dinosaurs hadn’t become extinct? What would the world be like if Abraham Lincoln had lived? Testable

Example: A research idea Getting the idea How do people remember things? This is a pretty big question To begin to answer it we’ve got to FOCUS Break the general idea down into smaller more specific ideas Develop theories as to how & why Then we can begin doing research to test parts of the theories Example: A research idea

Example: A research idea Focusing the idea What does memory involve? Encoding - getting the memories in Storage - keeping the memories Retrieval - getting the memories out Are all kinds of memory the same? Procedural vs. declarative memories Pictures vs. words How long do memories last? Example: A research idea

Example: A research idea Evaluating the idea (ROT) Can we re-do the experiments, do we get similar results? How do we observe memory? Recall tests, recognition tests, “brain waves,” ,,, Are our predictions testable? Reading the literature will help greatly with evaluating research ideas Example: A research idea

Reviewing the literature Why do a review of the literature? What is the literature? How do you search the literature? Guest lecturer: Sarah French, psychology librarian, in labs Thur & Fri (meeting in the library, remember?) Reviewing the literature

Why review the literature What are the underlying motivations for doing a review of the literature? Getting ideas. What has been done, what hasn’t been done? Understanding the relevant theories. What variables are important? Avoid past mistakes. Why review the literature

Primary Sources - essentially reading the original report Journal articles Edited books (sometimes) Professional meetings Electronic publishing (fairly new, pluses and minuses) Faculty members & other personal communications Secondary Sources - reading a report of the report What is the literature?

Secondary Sources - reading a report of the report Literature Reviews Psychological Bulletin, Annual Review of Psychology Text books Citations in books and articles Advantages: Good starting place Often reviews a lot of relevant literature Relatively brief descriptions Disadvantages: Somebody else’s description May be incorrect May be biased Not enough detail What is the literature?