1. Psych 231: Research Methods in Psychology
The research process
Psych 231: Research Methods in Psychology

2. Announcements This is the final lecture Labs this week
Wednesday (optional) – Review Q&A, help with posters, etc.
Labs this week
Poster presentations
Turn in group ratings sheets
Announcements

3. From Day 1

4. Course Review: The Research Process
Presenting your work
Get an idea
A set of skills leading to knowledge & understanding
A way of thinking (beware small samples, correlation is not causation, etc.)
A way of life?
Stats.org: Stats in the news
Would you recommend that people should know basic research methodology (and statistics)? Why?, what benefits do you think that they get from it?
Why do you think that it is important in psychology; why do we require so many methods and statistics courses for our majors?
Is knowing this “set of skills” important only for doing research? Or is it equally important for consuming (reading or hearing about) research?
Is it important to recognize the difference between “science” and “pseudoscience”? Does knowing the “set of skills” introduced here help with that?
Do you find the scientific method lead to strong, convincing argumentation? How does it compare to other sources of knowledge (e.g., authority, faith, intuition, etc)?
Course Review: The Research Process

5. The Research Process Get an idea Often the hardest part
No firm rules for how to do this
Observations
Past research
Review the literature
The Research Process

6. The Research Process Review the literature What has already been done?
What variables have people looked at
What hasn’t been looked at
How are other experiments in the area done?
What methods are used?
To measure the dependent variable
To manipulate the independent variable
To control extraneous variables
The Research Process

7. The Research Process Formulate a testable hypothesis
What is a hypothesis?
A predicted relationship between variables
What does it mean to be testable?
Must be falsifiable
Can it be replicated
Must be able to observe/measure (and manipulate for experiments) the variables
Directly
Indirectly
Operational definitions
The Research Process

8. The Research Process Design the research What method?
Experiment, Survey, Developmental designs, …
What kind of comparisons are used
Control groups
Baseline conditions
What are your variables?
How many levels of your Independent variable(s)
How do you measure your dependent variable(s)
What can be done to control for biases and confounds?
The Research Process

9. The Research Process Collect Data Importance of pilot research
Who do you test?
What is your population?
Your sample?
Your sampling method?
The Research Process

10. The Research Process Analyze the data Design drives the statistics
Understanding Variables and variability
Descriptive statistics (summarizing)
Means, standard deviations
Graphs, tables
Correlation
Inferential statistics (drawing conclusions)
What kind of analysis is appropriate for your design
T-tests
ANOVA
Between or within versions
The Research Process

11. The Research Process Interpret the results
Correlation versus causation
Reject or fail to reject null hypotheses
Statistical vs. theoretical significance
Support or refute the theory (or revise)
Generalizability of the results
The Research Process

12. The Research Process Present the results
Getting the research “out there”
Conference presentations
Posters
Talks
Written reports
APA style
Supports clarity
The Research Process

13. The Research Process Repeat
Each set of results leads to more research questions
Refine the theory
Test a refined theory
Test alternative explanations
The Research Process

14. Reviewing for the final exam
Mon Dec. 3:10-5:00
It is cumulative, covers the entire course. The majority is on new material (roughly 65%), the rest is material covered on Exams 1 & 2.
All multiple choice/scantron for the final
Reviewing for the final exam

15. Reviewing for the final exam
Final 1/3 of the course
Non experimental methods
Survey, correlational, & developmental
Statistics
Descriptive
Inferential
Presentations
Papers, Posters, & Talks
Reviewing for the final exam

16. Reviewing for the final exam
First 2/3 of the course
Scientific method
Getting ideas
Developing (good) theories
Reviewing the literature
Psychological Science
Ethics
Basic methodologies
APA style
Underlying reasons for the organization
Parts of a manuscript
Variables
Sampling
Control
Experimental Designs
Vocabulary
Single factor designs
Between & Within
Factorial designs
Reviewing for the final exam