Introduction to Psychology: Scientific Research Flashcards
Type of Research:
Research for the sake of gaining scientific knowledge (e.g., how many “things” a person can hold in memory at one time)
Basic Research
Type of Research:
Research aimed at answering real-world, practical problems
Applied Research
Steps in the Scientific Approach:
You notice something interesting happening in your surroundings for which you would like to have an explanation. Once you have a question, you want an answer. This tentative explanation is known as a hypothesis.
- Perceiving the Question
Steps in the Scientific Approach:
You form an educated guess about the explanation for your observations, putting it into the form of a statement that can be tested in some way; “if-then” statement; falsifiable
- Forming a Hypothesis
people have a tendency to notice only things that agree with their view of the world, a kind of selective perception
Confirmation Bias
Steps in the Scientific Approach:
The approach you use to test your hypothesis will depend on exactly what kind of answer you think you might get
- Testing the Hypothesis
Steps in the Scientific Approach:
Hypothesis was supported: your experiment worked, your measurements supported your initial observations; or, hypothesis was not supported, you need to go back to square one and think of another possible explanation for what you have observed
- Drawing Conclusions
Last Step in the Scientific Approach
- Report Your Results
Descriptive Methods:
to watch people or animals behave in their normal environment;
allows researchers to get a realistic picture of how behavior occurs because they are actually watching that behavior in its natural setting
Naturalistic Observation
Descriptive Methods:
main advantage of this method is the degree of control that it gives to the observer;
have the disadvantage of being an artificial situation that might result in artificial behavior
Laboratory Observation
Descriptive Methods:
one individual is studied in great detail;
advantage of the case study is the tremendous amount of detail it provides;
good way to study things that are rare
Case Studies
Descriptive Methods:
the only way to find out about very private (covert) behavior can be conducted in person in the form of interviews or on the telephone, the Internet, or with a questionnaire
Surveys
Two methods that allow researchers to know more than just a description of what has happened
Correlations & Experiment
tell researchers if there is a relationship between the variables, how strong the relationship is, and in what direction the relationship goes
Correlations
two things the correlation coefficient (r) represents
the direction of the relationship &
its strength
True or False:
If the relationship is a strong one, the number will be closer to +1.00 or to −1.00
True
True or False:
Correlation does proves causation
False
only method that will allow researchers to determine the cause of a behavior
Experiment
specifically names the operations (steps or procedures) that the experimenter must use
Operationalization
variable that is manipulated, independent of anything the participants do
Independent Variable
response of the participants, always the thing (response of subjects or result of some action) that is measured to see just how the independent variable may have affected it
Dependent Variable
the group that receives the experimental manipulation
Experimental Group
group that gets either no treatment or some kind of treatment that should have no effect
Control Group
each participant has an equal chance of being assigned to each condition, best way to ensure control over other interfering, or extraneous, variables
Randomization
Two common sources of problems in an experiment
Placebo Effect
Experimenter Effect
Ways to control the placebo and experimenter effect
Single-Blind Study
Double-Blind Study
