1. PY 101 Research
Studying Behavior

2. 4 out of 5 Dentists Recommend Crest Toothpaste

3. Psychology as a Science
Attempts to describe, predict, influence and explain thought and behavior.
Uses scientific method

4. What is “normal”
Can this happen by “chance”?
What else could effect this outcome?
Remove emotions and take a methodical approach to reasoning.

6. Advantages of science:
Terminology:
Hypothesis - a possible way things could be
Theory - an explanation for the way things are, usually supported by a lot of data.
Advantages of science:
Scientific methods are deductive
Science is more systematic, and less subject to human bias

7. Variable
Any event, situation, behavior, or individual characteristic that varies - that is, has at least two values

8. Examples Variable Name Levels (values) Gender Male or Female
Test Scores # correct
Room Temp. Hot, Warm, Cold
Room Temp. Degrees Fahrenheit

9. Operational Definition
A definition of the variable in terms of the operations or techniques the researcher uses to measure or manipulate it

10. In Class Exercise
Operationally define
Love
Happiness
Anger
Sadness

11. Values of a variable Nominal Quantitative
Different groups with no numeric properties
Male-female, distraction-no distraction
Quantitative
Amounts or quantities
Numerical

12. Relationships Between Variables
Is gender related to happiness?
Do males and females differ in their happiness?
Is distraction while studying related to exam performance?
Do people perform better when they are not distracted than when distracted?

13. Relationships Between Quantitative Variables
Positive
Negative
Curvilinear
No Relationship

14. Positive relationships
Increases in the values of one variable are associated with increases in the second variable
Increasing study time is associated with higher grades

15. Pizza Consumption
High
Low
Body Weight

16. Pizza Consumption
High
Low
Body Weight

17. Negative relationships
Increases in the values of one variable are associated with decreases in the second variable
Increasing hours of work are associated with lower grades

18. Time at Parties
High
Low
GPA

19. Time at Parties
High
Low
GPA

20. Curvilinear Relationships
Increases in the values of one variable are associated with both increases and decreases of the second variable
Anxiety can help increase performance until it gets too high – then it decreases performance

21. PERFORMANCE
High
Low
Low Moderate High
ANXIETY

22. Are the Following Relationships Positive or Negative?
GPA and Alcohol Consumption
# of sexual partners and # of STDs
ACT scores and freshman GPA
# hrs TV viewed and # hrs studying

23. Research methods
Naturalistic Observation
Laboratory Observation
Case Studies
Surveys
Experiments

24. Naturalistic Observation
Observe behavior in its natural setting, attempt to avoid influencing or controlling it
Advantage: Good way to collect normative data
Disadvantage: Must wait for the behavior to occur naturally

25. Laboratory Observation
Observe behavior in a laboratory where extraneous variables can be controlled and specialized equipment can be used
Advantage: Better control of outside factors. More precise equipment can be used
Disadvantage: Surroundings may affect results

26. Case Studies
Observe one or a very few subjects in great depth, usually over a long period of time
Advantage: The only method appropriate for very unusual cases
Disadvantage: Problems with generalizing the results

27. Two Ways of Studying Relationships
Non-experimental method
Experimental method

28. Non-experimental Method
Behavior is observed as it naturally occurs
Variables are measured only
Examples

29. Problems Direction of cause and effect Uncontrolled third variables
Does X cause Y?
Or does Y cause X?
Uncontrolled third variables
Perhaps Z causes both X and Y
If so X and Y will appear to be related

30. Experimental Method
Addresses the problems of inferring cause and effect
Manipulate the first variable and observe the effect on the second variable
Control for all other variables

31. Effect of IV on the DV Independent Variable Dependent Variable
Does distraction cause poor performance on an exam?
Independent Variable
“cause” variable
Manipulated first
Dependent Variable
“effect” variable
Measured as a response to the IV

32. Causal sequence The IV comes first
The DV is then measured to examine the effect of the IV
Thus, X causes Y
Y could not cause X

33. Relationship of Fall Semester Final Exams and Christmas
Have you ever noticed that EVERY fall semester shortly after final exams, the entire country celebrates Christmas?

34. Control Other Variables
Experimental Control
Variables are kept constant
Randomization
Randomly assign participants to conditions
Run the conditions of the study in a random order
Some other variable could not cause the relationship between X and Y

35. Advantages of the Non-Experimental Method
Real life situations
Prediction
Study aspects of people such as personality characteristics
Can study variables that would be unethical to manipulate in a true experiment

36. Validity Is something “valid”?
Three ways of evaluating research in terms of validity

37. Construct Validity
Were the variables studied adequately measured or manipulated?
Look at the operational definition of the variables that were studied

38. Internal Validity Can I infer that variable X caused variable Y?
Higher internal validity with the experimental method

39. External Validity Can I generalize beyond this particular study?
Other types of participants, other ways of studying the variables

40. Experiments Involve random assignment and controlled manipulation
Causal claims possible
Independent variables manipulated by E
Dependent variables supposedly affected by independent variables
Experimental groups get the different values of the independent variables. Control groups do not.

41. Experiments Can make causal claims: Disadvantages:
Manipulation removes directionality
Random assignment removes third variables
Disadvantages:
Random assignment sometimes impossible, sometimes unethical
Control can reduce validity

43. Cannot imply causation due to: Directionality problems
Correlation
Cannot imply causation due to:
Directionality problems
Third Variables

44. The Correlation Co-efficient
The preceding methods are correlational. They can determine if X and Y go together, but not if X causes Y.
The Correlation Co-efficient
HIGHER
High
Corr. Size
Low -1 1

45. Developmental Methods
Longitudinal Studies:
Follow the same group across time to determine age-related changes in thought and behavior
Cross-sectional Studies:
Assess groups of differing ages, usually at the same time

46. A longitudinal study from ages 4-7

47. A cross-sectional study from ages 4-7
Pros/Cons: Cross-sectional studies are generally quicker, but compare different people rather than determine changes within an individual

48. Longitudinal We want to know………
How much does a child’s vocabulary increase from age 2 until 8 years of age?
TWO basic research methods:
Cross sectional
Longitudinal

51. Ethical Issues Informed Consent Deception Foreseeable risks
Children as subjects

52. Informed Consent: Deception:
Human subjects must be told of all foreseeable risks. Animals can't give informed consent, must be protected from unnecessary suffering.
Deception:
Some psychologists oppose all deception. Others tolerate deception as long as it poses no foreseeable risks and debriefing occurs.

53. Risk:
In psychology, the standards for acceptable risk must be very stringent, because potential benefits for the participating subject are very low
Children:
Young children may have difficulty giving informed consent, due to a desire to obey & please adults & a lack of understanding of possible risks

54. Survey Research

55. Surveys
Collect data from groups of people using questionnaires or interviews. Data is useless unless sample is representative.
Advantage: Can collect information such as attitudes and beliefs
Disadvantage: Subjects may lie or mislead

56. Questions to Ask Before Doing Survey Research
Do you have a clear hypothesis?
Do your questions focus on that hypothesis?
Will participants answers provide accurate answers to your questions?*
To whom will your results apply?*

57. Answers May Be Inaccurate Because:
People don’t know the causes of their own behavior
People’s memories are inaccurate
People are not good at predicting their future behavior
People are not telling you what they know because of
Social desirability bias
Demand characteristics
Response sets

58. Generalizing Your Results
Do you know what your population is?
How can you get a representative sample of that population?
Will nonresponse bias prevent you from generalizing your results to that population?

59. Advantages and Disadvantages of Survey Research:Conclusions
Easy way to get a lot of information
However, that information:
Will not have internal validity
May not have construct validity because of self-report problems
May not have external validity because of poor sampling or because of nonresponse bias
May not answer research question because survey questions weren’t focused on hypotheses

60. The Advantages and Disadvantages of Different Survey Instruments
Written Instruments *
Interviews*

61. Written Instruments Self-administered questionnaires
Cheap, easy to distribute to large sample--but nonresponse bias is big problem
Anonymous which may promote honest responses
Investigator-administered questionnaires
Higher response rates
May hurt sense of anonymity and thus decrease honesty of responses
Note: A highly refined version of the investigator-administered questionnaire is the psychological test*

62. Psychological tests May be part or all of a questionnaire
Even if you don’t use questions from tests, you can try to use strategies that test-makers use*

63. Things Questionnaire Writers Can Learn from Test Makers
Pretest questions and measure
Standardize how measure is administered
Be objective
Be aware of response sets
Seek evidence for measure’s reliability and validity

64. Interviews May be worth added expense if
It increases response rate
Need ability to clarify questions, follow up on responses
May not be worth added expense if construct validity is harmed by
Interviewer bias
Participant trying to impress interviewer
Telephone interviews may be ideal solution*

65. Advantages of Telephone Interviews
Cheaper than face-to-face interviews
Can have high relatively high response rate
Interviewer bias controlled by
Lack of body cues
Monitoring/taping interviewer’s calls

66. Planning a Survey Deciding on a research question
Choosing the format of your questions*
Choosing the format of your interview--if you use an interview*
Editing your questions*
Sequencing your questions*
Refining your survey instrument*
Choosing a sampling strategy*

67. Choosing the Format of Your Questions
Fixed alternative
Yes/No
Reliable
Not powerful
Likert
Open-ended
May not be properly answered
May be difficult to score

68. Choosing the Format of Your Interview
Unstructured
Interviewer bias is a serious problem
Data may not be hard to analyze
Semi-structured
Follow-up questions allowed
Probably best for pilot studies
Structured
Standardized, reducing interviewer bias

69. Editing Questions: Nine Mistakes to Avoid
1. Avoid leading questions
2. Avoid questions that invite the social desirability bias
3. Avoid double-barreled questions
4. Avoid long questions
5. Avoid negations
6. Avoid irrelevant questions
7. Avoid poorly worded response options
8. Avoid big words
9. Avoid ambiguous words & phrases

70. Sequencing Questions
To boost response rate, put innocuous questions first, personal questions last
To avoid wasting time, qualify early
To increase accuracy, keep similar questions together
To boost response rate, put demographic questions last

71. Putting the Final Touches on Your Survey Instrument
Professional appearance
Proof reading
Pilot testing
Practice coding responses--may lead to refining questionnaire so that it is easier to code responses

72. Choosing a Sampling Strategy
Random sampling
Stratified random sampling
Convenience sampling
Quota sampling
Conclusions
Only random sampling will be representative
Non-response bias may ruin your sample

73. Administering the Survey
Informed consent
Clear instructions
Debriefing
Confidentiality

74. Analyzing Survey Data
Summarizing data
Inferential statistics

75. Conclusions: Survey Research
Survey research is the most used research method
Survey research is the most misused research method
You know how to use rather than abuse survey research