chapter 2 :The Research Enterprise in Psychology(1)

Question 1

What are the goals of the Scientific Enterprise?

Answer 1

1. measurement and description
2. understanding and prediction
3. application and control.

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Question 2

Explain measurement and description.

Answer 2

If you were interested in the effects of different situations on emotion, you would first have to develop some means of measuring emotions. Thus, the first goal of psychology is to develop measurement techniques that make it possible to describe behaviour clearly and precisely.

Question 3

Explain understanding and prediction.

Answer 3

Scientists believe that they understand events when they can explain the
reasons for the occurrence of the events. To evaluate their understanding, scientists make and test predictions called hypotheses.

Question 4

Define hypothesis and variables

Answer 4

A hypothesis is a tentative statement about the relationship between two or more variables. Variables are any measurable conditions, events,characteristics, or behaviours that are controlled or observed in a study.

Question 5

Explain application and control.

Answer 5

Ultimately, many scientists hope that the information they gather will be
of some practical value in helping to solve everyday problems. Once people understand a phenomenon, they often can exert more control over it.

Question 6

Define theory and its purpose.

Answer 6

A theory is a system of interrelated ideas used to explain a set of observations.

Psychologists do not set out just to collect isolated facts about relationships between variables. To build toward a better understanding of behaviour, they construct theories. This way when they integrate facts into a whole, they move from description to understanding.

Question 7

What is the cornerstone of science?

Answer 7

The commitment to putting ideas to an empircal test.

Question 8

What happens before the publication of a research in scientific journals?

Answer 8

Before scientific articles are published in academic journals, they go through a rigorous evaluation by journal editors and other experts in the field—this is referred to as peer review.

Question 9

What is the purpose of a peer review?

Answer 9

Peer review and replication are the essential features of error control in
science. Evaluations obtained through peer review are the primary determinants of whether or not the article will be published.

Question 10

What is the “replication” or “reproducibility crisis” ?

Answer 10

The need for increased attention to the reproducibility of findings in psychology and concern over the difficulty in replicating some important research findings.These recent concerns are referred to as the “replication” or “reproducibility crisis”.

Question 11

What are the steps of a scientific investigation?

Answer 11

1. Formulate a testable hypothesis
2. Select a research method and design a study
3. Collect the data
4. Analyze the data and draw conclusions
5. Report the findings

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Question 12

What was Andrew Elliot and Markus Maier’s theory of colour on people’s behaviour and what are the sources that lead to this theory?

Answer 12

According to their theory, colours can have automatic, unconscious effects on behaviour. The theory asserts that these effects are probably rooted in two basic sources.

1. First, people learn associations based on certain colours being paired repeatedly with certain experiences.(red light in traffic)
2. Second, over the course of human evolution, certain colours may have had adaptive significance for survival or reproduction.

Question 13

To be testable, scientific hypotheses must be formulated precisely, and the variables under study must be clearly defined. How do researchers achieve these clear formulations and define this operation?

Answer 13

Researchers achieve these clear formulations by providing operational definitions of the relevant variables.

An operational definition describes the actions or operations that will be
used to measure or control a variable.

Question 14

Briefly explain the steps of scientific investigation.

Answer 14

1. To transform a theory into a testable hypothesis. A hypothesis is testable when it is formulated precisely and the variables are clearly defined.
2. Figure out how to put the hypothesis to an emperical test, once a research method is chosen, they plan how to execute the study.
3. The researchers then use any data collection techniques to make observations.
4. The observations are usually converted to numbers and then analyzed to draw conclusions.
5. Finally the findings are reported to a scientific journal.

Question 15

What are the different data collection techniques?

Answer 15

1. Questionnaire
2. Direct observation
3. Interview
4. Physiological recording
5. Archival records
6. Psychological test

Question 16

What are the advantages of the scientific approach?

Answer 16

1. The first is its clarity and precision. Commonsense notions about behaviour tend to be vague and ambiguous. The scientific approach requires that people specify exactly what they are talking about when they formulate hypotheses.
2. The greatest advantage offered by the scientific approach is its relative intolerance of error. Scientists are trained to be skeptical. They subject their ideas to empirical tests. They also scrutinize one another’s findings .Peer review of articles submitted for publication and replication of results by other researchers provides self-correcting mechanism

Question 17

Briefly explain the peer review process.

Answer 17

1. The researcher sends a manuscript to a journal constaining the methods, findings and implications of the study.
2. The editor of the journal send it to 2 or 4 experts of the field to review it.
3. The reviwers critique the strengths & weaknesses. The might provide suggestions on how to improve it.
4. The editor reads the manuscript and the statement from the reviewers and decides if it gets published.

Question 18

Differentiate between experimental group and control group.

Answer 18

The experimental group consists of the participants who receive some special treatment in regard to the independent variable.

The control group consists of similar participants who do not receive the special treatment given to the experimental group.

Question 19

State the two basic research methods.

Answer 19

The two basic types of methods used in psychology: experimental research methods and descriptive/correlational
research methods.

Question 20

Differentiate between a extraneous variable and confounding variable.

Answer 20

-Extraneous variables are any variables
other than the independent variable that seem likely to influence the dependent variable in a specific study.

-Confounding variable : when a participant in a group is inadvertently different from the participants in the other group. A confounding variable could distort the association between the independant and dependant variable.

Question 21

How do experimenters overcome extraneous variables?

Answer 21

Random assignment.

Question 22

What are the essentials of the experimental design?

Answer 22

1. Hypothesis
2. Random assignment for control and experimental groups
3. Manipulation of the independant variable.
4. Measurement of the dependant variable.
5. Conclusion

Question 23

What are the variations in desgining an experiment?

Answer 23

1. Within subject design :When participants serve as their own control group, the experiment is said to use a within subjects design because comparisons are made within the same group of subjects or participants.
2. Between subject design :In contrast,
   when two or more independent groups of participants are exposed to a manipulation of an independent variable, the experiment is said to use a between-subjects design because comparisons are made between two different groups of subjects or participants.

Question 24

What are the advantages of the experimental method?

Answer 24

Its principal advantage is that it permits conclusions about cause-and-effect relationships between variables.

Question 25

What are the disadvantages of the experimental method?

Answer 25

1. One problem is that experiments are often artificial.
2. Experimental method cannot be used for some questions as not all variables can be manipulated due to ethical and practical concerns.

Question 26

What are the variations of the experimental method and what are their benefits?

Answer 26

1. Expose a single group to two different conditions(same people are in a cold room and hot room): Reduces extraneous variables

2.Manipulate more than one independent variable : Allows for study of interactions between variables

3. Use more than one dependent variable(looking at people sitting in a different posture including people crossing their arms) : Obtains a more complete picture of effect of the independent variable.

Question 27

Explain descriptive/ correlational research method.

Answer 27

Descriptive/correlational methods permit investigators to only describe patterns of behaviour and discover links or associations between variables.

Question 28

What are the disadvantages of descriptive research method?

Answer 28

1. The researcher cannot manipulate the variables under study. This lack of
   control means that these methods cannot be used to demonstrate cause-and-effect relationships between variables.
2. Descriptive/correlational research cannot
   demonstrate conclusively that correlated variables are causally related.

Question 29

What is naturalistic observation?

Answer 29

In naturalistic observation, a researcher
engages in careful observation of behaviour without intervening directly with the participants.

Question 30

What are the advantages of naturalistic observation?

Answer 30

1. It allows researchers to study behaviour under conditions that are less artificial than in experiments.
2. Naturalistic observation can be a good starting point when little is known about
   the behaviour under study.
3. Animal behaviour can be studied.

Question 31

What are the disadvantages of naturalistic observation?

Answer 31

1. Reactivity—when a participant’s behaviour is altered by the presence of the observer.
2. Difficulty translating observations into numerical data for statistical analyses. ( how do u use numbers to describe how mothers talk to babies)

Question 32

What is a case study?

Answer 32

A case study is an in-depth investigation of an individual participant or group of participants.

Case studies are particularly well suited for investigating certain phenomena, such as psychological disorders and neuropsychological issues.

Question 33

What is a disadvantage of a case study?

Answer 33

Case studies are highly subjective. Investigators may focus selectively on information that they want to see or expect.

Question 34

What are the advanatages and disadvantages of a survey?

Answer 34

1. Surveys are often used to obtain information on aspects of behaviour that are difficult to observe directly.
2. Inexpensive and easy to collect data from a large sample.
3. Low response rate or reluctance to participate.
4. Self report bias

Question 35

What is an advantage of descriptive research?

Answer 35

Descriptive research broadens the scope of phenomena that psychologists are able to study.