1. Research Studies in Psychology
September 7, 2017

2. Dweck on Praise
What is meant by a “growth mindset”? What is meant by a “fixed mindset”?
What is Dweck’s theory on the effect of praise?
How does Dweck carry out research to test her theory? What was her procedure?
What were Dweck’s findings? What were the results of her study?
Finally, what are the implications of her study? What do they mean for our own school community? What do they mean for the IB Programme?

3. Understanding the Research Process

4. The research process What is the “aim” in a study?
Who are the members of the “target population”?
Why is it important to have a detailed procedure?
Why are the findings in a research study always open to debate or alternative explanations?

5. The Pygmalion Effect Read the article “Rosenthal and Jacobson, 1966”
What was the aim of the study?
Who made up the target population?
What was the procedure?
What were the findings of the study?
To what extent do you feel that Rosenthal and Jacobson's
study reflects your own school experience?
Pygmalion by Jean-Baptiste Regnault, 1786, Musée National du Château et des Trianons

6. Key terms in a research study
Participant
Sample
Representative Sample
Opportunity Sampling
Sampling bias (Sears, 1986)
Self-Selected Sample
Snowball sampling
Participant Variability
Random Sampling
Purposive Sampling: judgemental, selective, or subjective sampling
Stratified Sample
Why does any of this matter?

7. Watch the video and evaluate the sampling technique used to study “cute aggression”

8. For each scenario, identify the sampling technique used:
Your school wants to do a study of the attitudes of the parent community toward the IB program. The school is looking for parents who have had older children study in the IB program in a different school, in order to see if they feel that the program is better, equal or worse than the program at the other school. What type of sample is this?
An industrial psychologist is looking at job satisfaction and burnout in teachers. In order to do this and represent a large range of teachers, what would be the most effective sampling technique?
Your school is doing a study of attitudes toward the school lunch. In choosing a sample, what would be the most appropriate if you want to get a good sense of how all members of your community feel about the lunches?
Purposeful
Opportunity Sampling
Random Sampling

9. For tomorrow Read Oxford pages 21-22 Read Pearson pages 6-8
Read “Don’t Stand So Close To Me” and look for examples of unethical research practices. Be prepared to discuss tomorrow.