Research Methods in Psychology How do we study Psychology?

Goals of Psychological Research  Define and Describe: What happened?  Explain: Why did that happen?  Predict: Under what conditions is that likely to happen again?  Control: How can I we apply our principle to make this happen again? To make sure it never happens again?

Observation Propose a hypothesis Gather Evidence Keep Hypothesis Reject Hypothesis Build a theoryPublish results Define the Problem The Scientific Method in Psychology

Psychological Research  Empirical  Knowledge based on direct observation  Theory  A systematic general principle or set of principles that explains how separate facts are related to one another  Enables researchers to fit many facts into a larger framework  Organizes facts, must predict new facts, permits a degree of control over phenomenon

Psychological Research  Hypotheses  Hypothesis: specific statement of expected outcome resulting from theory States the relationship between two variables NOT: An educated guess!!!!  Variable: can be any event, characteristic, condition, or behavior

Variables  Independent variable (predictor variable)  Factor(s) that change the outcome variable  How do we operationalize?  The variable we introduce Exercise will have a positive effect on health.

Variables  Dependent variable (outcome variable)  Dependent on the influence of other factor(s)  How do we operationalize?  In psychology this is usually a behavior or a mental process Exercise will have a positive effect on health.

Psychological Research  Research methods Design  Experimental vs. correlational (Design) Setting  Field vs. laboratory (Setting)  Descriptive Methods Naturalistic observation Surveys Case studies

Research Methods Describing Behavior  Naturalistic observation  allows researchers to observe participants in real-world settings  Advantages  allows researchers to view behavior as it really happens in a natural setting  Disadvantages  cannot control outside variables, researcher bias

Research Methods Describing Behavior  Surveys  Using interviews or questionnaires to gather information about subjects’ beliefs, feelings, experiences, etc

Research Methods Describing Behavior  Surveys  Advantages Quick and done properly can gather accurate info about a large group  Disadvantages Respondents may lie, population may not be representative, the questions may be leading

Research Methods Describing Behavior  Surveys  Population: The entire group of interest to the researcher and the group to which they wish to generalize findings; a group from which a sample is chosen

Research Methods Describing Behavior  Surveys  Sample: The fraction of any population selected for study and from which generalizations are made  Representative sample: a sample selected from the larger population in a way that important subgroups within the population are included in the same proportions as the larger population

Research Methods Describing Behavior  Case studies  An in depth study of one or a few participants consisting of information gathered by observation, interview, or psychological testing to provide a description of behavior or disorder

Research Methods Describing Behavior  Case studies  Advantages Gathers knowledge about unusual conditions; can provide a hypothesis to be tested later  Disadvantages Cannot establish cause of observed behaviors; cases studied might not generalize to larger population; researcher bias

Correlational Research Finding relationships  Correlational research: observes the relationship between two variables  Because two things vary together does not mean that one thing causes the other

Correlational Research Finding relationships  Correlational research  Scatter plot: A graph showing the relationship between 2 variables  Correlational Coefficient: a numerical value that indicates the strength and direction of the relationship between two variables; ranges from ( a perfect positive correlation) to ( a perfect negative correlation)

Correlational Research Finding relationships  Correlational research  A positive correlation means when one variable increases the other increases  A negative correlation means when one increases the other is associated with a decrease  The stronger the relationship between variables, the better the prediction

Correlational Research Finding relationships No correlation Positive correlation Negative correlation

Sources   Banyard, Philip, & Grayson, Andrew. (2008). Introducing psychological research. Palgrave MacMillan.  Hill, Grahame, & Cox, Erika. (2002). As Psychology for aqa specification b  Gross, Richard. (2008). Key studies in psychology  Myers, David, & Reviews, Cram101. (2009). Outlines and highlights for psychology by david g myers, isbn. Worth Pub.