Introduction to psychology chapter 2 (Methods of Psychology)

Question 1

What are the main steps for making research

Answer 1

1. observation
2. theory
3. hypothesis
4. prediction

Question 2

What three things did clever hans teach us

Answer 2

1. skepticism is important
2. for research observation and varibles have to be controlled
3. there are biases like observer expectancy effect

Question 3

explain the three types of research designs in psychology

Answer 3

1. experiment (manipulate a independent variable and look at change in dependent variable)
2. correlation study (measure two or more varibles and see how they are related –> does not tell about causation
3. descriptive study (characterize and study observation)

Question 4

why does there have to be an control group

Answer 4

to be sure that no other effects change the dependent variable

Question 5

what is the difference between a with-in subject and a between-group experiment

Answer 5

within subject means that all subjects are tested in all all conditions
between groups mean that there are more groups that are tested each

Question 6

how do you make sure that subjects bias the results by their own choice of group

Answer 6

by random assignment

Question 7

what types of research settings are there and what are their advantages

Answer 7

laboratory setting: greater control over variable but maybe not natural behaviour
field studies: done in real life so less control over varibale but more natural behaviour

Question 8

what kinds of data collection methods are there and what are their disadvantages

Answer 8

self report: no evidence for feelings, highly subjective

observational method: takes very long, difficult to decode for statistics

Question 9

how do you solve the subject and experimenter expectancy effect

Answer 9

by not letting both of them know what condition is going on –> double blind experiment

Question 10

how can you see biases in statistics

Answer 10

they can be seen by systematic deviation, which means the results are always too high or too low

Question 11

what means statistically significant and what takes it into account

Answer 11

statstically significance means that the results are not merely by chance. It is described by value p.
It looks at 
1. size of the effect
2. number of subjects and observations
3. variablity of data within a group

Question 12

what rights do humans have in a study because of ethics

Answer 12

they have the right to quit anytime, anonymity in results and knowing if they have been decieved in the end

Question 13

what is reliability and validity

Answer 13

reliability: are the results always the same?
validity: does it measure what it is supposed to measure?

Question 14

why can most studies not be generalized on the whole humanity

Answer 14

because most studies are done in western educated industrialised rich democratic countries (WEIRD)