Review for Exam 1 PowerPoint lectures: Introduction Psychology as a science, other ways of knowing, pseudoscience, ethics, theory, and literature review Quantitative/qualitative approaches (deductive/inductive) Empiricism: Experimental vs. Non-experimental designs Basic or applied, lab or field setting, independent and dependent variables, causal vs. correlational Operational definitions Directional and non-directional hypotheses, conceptual and operational definitions, moving toward measurement Patten topics 1-15 Marshall (1996) article on quantitative vs. qualitative sampling

Developing operational definitions PY257: Research I February 10, 2010 Dr. Leonard

Scientific Method 1. Formulate theories √ 2. Develop testable hypotheses √ √ 3. Conduct research, gather data √ 4. Evaluate hypotheses based on data 5. Cautiously draw conclusions

Directional hypotheses make specific predictions about the direction of the relationship between variables or the degree of difference between groups E.g., Children on Drug A will experience fewer hyperactive episodes than children on Drug B Non-directional hypotheses simply predicts that there will be some relationship or difference but does not specify the direction of degree E.g., Children receiving Drug A and Drug B will display different behaviors The nature of your hypotheses influences your operational definition

In order to communicate with others and carry out research, we must define concepts explicitly We need conceptual definitions in order to communicate the meaning of a concept (e.g. worry vs. anxiety) But, we need operational definitions in order to specify how the concept will be captured and measured (operations used to attain them)

Pros… Operational definitions contribute to parsimony in theories and hypotheses Operational definitions enable researchers to replicate each other’s work; contributes to reliability Operational definitions make the constructs being studied transparent and possible misinterpretations of results

Cons… Operational definitions may lead to strict, narrow definitions of concepts which could contribute to oversimplification of complex phenomena (pseudoscience) Operational definitions may not fully capture all aspects of a concept

Converging operations a.k.a. “two heads are better than one” The idea that our understanding of a phenomena can only be enhanced when multiple investigations are conducted by different researchers using different operationalizations of the concept of interest in order to build a general consensus

Manifest Anxiety Scale One of the very first anxiety scales (1951, 1953), developed by well-known psychologist Janet Taylor who later became President of APA Designed to test overall, general anxiety over time; believed to be a relatively stable characteristic of one’s personality State vs. trait conceptualization Has been revised several times for children (CMAS) and adults but many still use it; led to the creation of the STAI