Planning a Study Lawrence R. Gordon Psychology Research Methods I

Research Project 4 Your opportunity to do original research! 4 Timeline –Week 8 (making groups (note on social loafing), picking topics) –Week 9 (planning project) –Week 10 (design and consent forms) –Week 11 (collect data) –Week 12 (analyze data) –Presentations and Papers (report data)

What can you do? 4 Correlational research –usually by survey –testing relationship of one measured variable with a second measured variable 4 Experimental research –these are strongly encouraged –need to manipulate IV(s) –keep all else constant

But remember the timeline! 4 Experiments are time consuming 4 Watch for manipulation failure 4 Experiments can be difficult (depending on how you manipulate the IV) 4 Need good control

Some Model Experiments - IDEA 4 Using surveys to manipulate the IV 4 Wordings of surveys are altered to manipulate the IV 4 Surveys are randomly distributed (“assigned”) to the participants 4 Compare responses on one form of the survey to another form of the survey 4 Only your manipulation is different

Pros and Cons of Survey Experiments 4 Pros –Quick –Easy –Reduces experimenter interaction –Improves control 4 Cons –May need to pilot test the items –Participants may not be as attentive –Manipulation may not be as salient –Self-reports –Be careful of wording! (Goodwin, App B: )

How much TV do you watch? 4 Effects of response options on reports of television watching 4 The same question was asked on all surveys, but the response options were manipulated 4 It was expected that the possible options would influence the responses

“How much TV do you watch daily (in minutes)?” 4 The seven response options were different on the 2 forms of the survey 4 Form A –“up to 60 minutes” were the first 5 options –the highest response was “more than 90” 4 Form B –“up to 60 minutes” were the first 3 options –the highest response was “more than 180”

Hypotheses 4 If “more than 60” was a more extreme response option, then fewer participants would report watching this much TV compare to others for whom “more than 60” was not as extreme a response 4 (What is the null hypothesis?) 4 Results?

Reports of TV watching by Survey Form (1999)

Reports of TV watching by Survey Form (2002)

The TV Survey Study 4 In 1999, participants reported watching more than 60 minutes of TV daily less frequently when these responses were more extreme (p =.018) 4 In 2002, participants again reported different rates of watching TV depending on the response sets (p =.038) 4 Can we infer that this is a causal relationship? 4 Is this a true experiment?

Other Experiments: Memory 4 Independent variables –Presentation (verbal, visual, episodic, semantic, procedural) –Information (meaningful, meaningless (cvc syllables like “POF”), emotional content) –Mnemonic strategies –Interference –Recall type (recognition, production)

Memory Experiments (cont.) 4 Independent variables (cont.) –Time before recall –Time between trials –Serial position (primacy and recency effects) –Presentation rate –Number of trials (proactive interference, e.g. Homer’s quote) “But every time I learn something new, it pushes out something old! Remember that time I took a home wine-making course and forgot how to drive?”

Memory experiment example 4 “I will be reading a list of words to you that I will ask you to remember according to the instructions given to you on your handouts.” 4 “After I finish reading the words, I will give you 4 minutes to recall and write down as many of them as you can in any order, but you must wait until I say ‘go’ to start writing. Are there any questions?”

Procedure 4 Read words 4 At the end of the second trial ask the participants to turn to the data sheet and answer the question at the bottom, “Briefly, what method did you use to make you able to remember the words?” 4 Proceed to scoring 3rds x 2 trials.

Trial 1, first seven 4 Circle these if you wrote them down –tie –chair –clown –scarf –grass –bat –pig

Trial 1, second seven 4 Square these if you wrote them down –stool –door –milkmaid –window –fly –cow –couch

Trial 1, third seven 4 Underline these if you wrote them down –horse –wren –house –cowboy –tree –shrub –banana

Trial 2, first seven 4 Circle these if you wrote them down –dog –glove –store –lake –newspaper –wrench –bush

Trial 2, second seven 4 Square these if you wrote them down –book –cat –flower –mitten –nail –laundry –ocean

Trial 2, third seven 4 Underline these if you wrote them down –mushroom –diary –saw –mouse –jail –coat –river

Scoring 4 Count up number of circled, squared, underlined, and “extra” words for each trial and record 4 Add up totals for each trial 4 Add up totals for each “third” 4 Make sure that you write your name and the date on this sheet to pass in so that you will get credit for this class!

Other examples of projects 4 Using published measures 4 Replication studies 4 Something else that interests you? If you (and your TA) think you can pull it off, go for it! You are not graded on the effects you find, but your design must be realistic and well conducted.

Appreciating difficult methods 4 Shotland & Heinfold (1985) 4 Bystander response to arterial bleeding 4 What did they do? 4 How did they convince people that the victim needed help? 4 Did the people believe the scenario?