1. Research Strategies – Mod 2 Notes

2.  Research in psychology is necessary in order to create logical, scientific, informed conclusions about psychological phenomena.  Intuition and “common sense” are unreliable because they tend to vary from person to person. Often, the real reasons behind phenomena are counter- intuitive.

3.  Bias is any unjustifiable (non-scientific) influence that will increase the likelihood of a particular outcome in analysis and research.  Examples of bias include:  Increased or decreased attention to certain results because of prior expectations.  Behaving as expected rather than normally during observation.  Not investigating phenomena due to internal value judgments.

4.  These are good for defining questions about observed phenomena, including figuring out what variables pertain to a particular phenomenon.  Descriptive studies include:  Case studies  Interviews  Surveys  Direct observation: natural or lab  Longitudinal and Cross-Sectional Studies

5.  Correlation studies look at the statistical relationship between observed phenomena and make predictions about outcomes on the basis of statistical probability. These often arise out of descriptive studies.  Correlation is not the same thing as cause-and-effect.

6.  Experimental studies are the most important method for trying to determine cause-and-effect relationships. Critical to experimental studies is establishing research protocols, including operational definitions and a hypothesis, and the control of variables.

7.  Variables are any factors that might influence an outcome in an experiment. These include:  Independent variable: the variable that is actively manipulated to cause a change in the dependent variable.  Dependent variable: the research variable influenced by the independent variable. This is usually the phenomenon under question.  Confounding variables: other variables that could influence the dependent variable that are not the independent variable.

8.  Experimental groups include:  Control group: the group that is not exposed to the independent variable. (Often, a placebo is used to help achieve this.)  Experimental group: the group that is exposed to the independent variable.  Controlling for confounding variables: random assignment and the double-blind method help to control for confounding variables.

9.  Statistical considerations include:  Size of the research population: (=n)  Variation between results in the groups.  Variation of results within groups.  Reliability of the result: (? +/-.95)

10.  For Human Research, there must be…  Informed Consent  Protection from harm and discomfort  Confidentiality  Debriefing...unless the test subject waives these rights.