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

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

3. 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”

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

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

8. “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

9. 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”

10. 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?

11. 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?

12. 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?

13. 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?

14. 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?

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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

23. 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?

24. 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?