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JESS Introduction To Psychology > Lecture 2 - Research In Psychology > Flashcards

Lecture 2 - Research In Psychology Flashcards

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1
Q

What is an experiment?

A

Investigator manipulates a variable under controlled conditions and observes whether changes occur in a second variable.

Powerful enough procedure

  • allows detection of cause-effect relations between variables
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2
Q

What are the 6 steps in an experiment?

A
  1. Framing a hypothesis
    (Predicting the relationships among two or more variables)
  2. Operationalising variables
    (Concerting abstract concepts into testable form)
  3. Developing standardised procedure
    (Setting is experimental and control conditions; attending to demand characteristics; attending to researcher bias)
  4. Selecting and assigning participants
    (Randomly assigning participants to different conditions)
  5. Applying statistical techniques to the data
    (Describing the data and determining the likelihood that differences between the conditions reflect causality or chance)
  6. Drawing conclusions
    (Evaluating whether or not the data support the hypothesis; suggesting future studies to address limitations and new questions raised by the study)
    6.
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3
Q

Psychology is?

A

The scientific study of behaviour and the biological and cognitive processes that underlie behaviour

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4
Q

The profession of psychology is?

A

The profession that applies the accumulated knowledge of the science of psychology to practical problems

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5
Q

Understanding of empirical research means?

A

Improved ability to think critically about research and keep abreast of developments in your field of expertise

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6
Q

Alternatives to the scientific approach

A
  1. Logic/ reason alone (with no empirical research)
  2. Casual observation (not systematic)
  3. Common sense (can be vague, ambiguous and even contradictory)
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7
Q

Advantages of the scientific approach

A

Clarity and precision
(Specifying exactly what we mean)

Intolerant of error

  • Scientists ass trained to be sceptical about their own and other’s ideas and conclusions.
  • demand objective data with thorough documentation before accepting ideas
  • must find reasons for conflicting findings
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8
Q

3 goals of scientific approach

A

Description: summarising responses or data in a way that makes the events and the relationship between them easily understandable

Prediction: using outcome of research to identify what is likely to occur in the future

Understanding: identifying the causal factors that lead to the results

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9
Q

5 stages of the scientific method

A 
Theory
Hypothesis 
Test
Evidence 
Conclusion
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10
Q

What is a Theory?

A

A theory is a systematic way of organising and explaining observations:

Eg Einteins Theory of Relativity or Freudian Theory

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11
Q

What is a hypothesis?

A

A hypothesis is a tentative statement about the way two (or more) factors interact/impact each other

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12
Q

What is a test? Or testing?

A

A way of knowing whether or not a theory is correct

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13
Q

What is a variable?

A

Any phenomenon that can take on more than one value, ie is free to vary along some dimension

E.g anxiety in children, how tall somebody is, age

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14
Q

What is an independent variable or IV?

A

A condition or event that an experimenter varies/manipulates in order to observe its impact on another variable.

The variable that you are controlling or manipulating

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15
Q

What is a depentant variable or DV?

A

Variable that is thought to be affected by the manipulation of the IV

  • measured, counted or recorded by the investigator
  • the “outcome”
  • the results, the “data”
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16
Q

What is an example of an independent variable?

A

Toy given to a child in an experiment

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17
Q

What is an example of a dependent variable?

A

An infants response when given a certain toy in an experiment

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18
Q

What is a continuous variable?

A

Has the continuum of possible values and varies across this range (eg reaction time in seconds ranging from 0.5 to 5 seconds when braking/driving)

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19
Q

What is a categorical variable?

A

Can take on fixed values (eg make Of car, eye colour, fruit (apples or bananas) etc)

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20
Q

What is the aim in general terms of an experiment that includes an experimental group receiving some sort of special treatment in regards to an IV and a control group that does not receive the special treatment?

A

Aim: to isolate the effects of IV on DV from the effects of other variables

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21
Q

What does empirical mean in terms of empirical research?

A

Verifiable or factual

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22
Q

Basic concept of empirical research:

What is a population defined as?

A

A population is the entire group of people that a researcher is interested in

The population is always determined by the research question. Always need to know what research question is before knowing what the population is.

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23
Q

Basic concept in empirical research:

What is a sample?

A

A sample is a subset of the population. It needs to be representative of the population (large enough and appropriate enough) m

A sample needs to be a stratified sample of the stratified population - not a disproportional stratified sample.

24
Q

What does Generalisability mean?

A

When the research results (from the sample) can be applied to the entire population of interest.

25
Q

What does generalisability require?

A
  • Internal validity (are the procedures of the study sound or are they flawed?)

Eg (the research study may be flawed if something has gone wrong or something is wrong with the design of the study)

  • External validity: (Does the research context resemble the situation found in the real world?)

(If you have a representative sample you have good external validity if you have a sample that is not representative then you have poor external validity)

26
Q

3 Types of research methods

(Reminder: there are 3 goals of scientific approach and the designs fit in with these goals(

A
  1. Descriptive designs (concerned with describing behaviour)

Eg measuring what people do in various circumstances or describing how they behave

  1. Correlational designs (concerned with predicting behaviour)

Eg a relationship between two variables that allows us to predict how anybody will respond on the second variable by knowing how the respond on the first variable)

  1. Experimental designs (concerned with establishing the causes of behaviour)

Eg a cause and effect relationship

27
Q

Variations in experimental designs

A

Independent groups design (aka between-subjects, individual participants receive one level of IV)

Within subject design (aka repeated measures, individual participants receive all levels of IV)

Different between these is straight forward - it is whether you study the same person under multiple conditions or whether you study different people under different conditions

28
Q

2 kinds of statistics

A

Descriptive statistics

(Used to organise and summarise)

Inferential statistics

(Used to interpret data and draw conclusions, tells as whether our hypothesis was supported)

29
Q

What are descriptive statistics?

Note: There are two types of descriptive statistics

A
  1. Measures of central tendency
    - Reflect typical average scores I.e mean (arithmetic average), median (middle) and mode (most frequent)
  2. Measures of variability
  • how the scores vary from each other and the mean
  • standard deviation: an index of the amount of variability in the data set (larger SD indicates more variability)
30
Q

How do you derive the MEAN or what is the mean?

A

Sum of all the values decided by the number of values.

Eg. 3,7,10,8,31,10,2

Add them all together 71 and divide by number of values (7) = 10.14

31
Q

How do you derive the MEDIAN or what is the median?

A

The value at which half the observations are larger and half the observations are smaller. The middle value in the ordered list.

Eg. 3,7,10,8,31,10,2

Put numbers in order from smallest to largest

= 2,3,7,8,10,10,31

Pick the middle number and that is the median score. In this case the median is 8

32
Q

How do you derive the MODE or what is the mode?

A

The mode is the most frequently occurring number or score

E.g 3,7,10,8,31,10,2

Mode = 10 as it occurs twice

33
Q

Concept of standard deviation:

Explain SMALL STANDARD DEVIATION

A

Low variability (as in measures or values that are similar) = Small Standard Deviation

Eg. 8 children in a speaking experiment that all speak a relatively similar amount of words in a certain timeframe would be considered low variability, small standard deviation

34
Q

Concept of Standard deviation

Explain LARGE STANDARD DEVIATION

A

High variability (as in measures or values that are not similar or have a large difference) = Large Standard Deviation

Eg. 8 children in a speaking experiment that all speak a vastly different amount of words in a certain timeframe would be considered high variability, large standard deviation

35
Q

What are inferential statistics or what do they involve?

A
  • used to interpret data and draw conclusions
  • indicate whether or not the predication was supported
  • involves determining the probability that the obtained result is due to chance
  • when this probably (p) is very low (p < .05 (less than 5 out of a hundred chance)) then statistical significance exists
36
Q

List potential problems with experiments

A
  • extraneous variables

- confounding

37
Q

Explain Extraneous variables

A

Variables other than IV that seem to influence the DV

Eg. In the brave buddies program (kids with selective mutism) the extraneous variables may be age, gender and baseline anxiety levels

38
Q

Explain the concept of Confounding

A

Occurs when 2 variables are linked together in a way that makes it difficult to sort out their specific effects on the DV.

Eg. If most anxious children were assigned to the brave buddies group (control group) in the selective mutism experiment and non anxious children were in the other group

39
Q

What are the benefits of random assignment of participants to levels of IV?

A
  • It reduces the likelihood of a confounding
  • Each participant has an equal chance of being assigned to any group or condition in the study
  • Unlikely that all of the same kind of subjects would end up in the same study group eg for brave buddies excitement it’s unlikely that highly sociable people would end up in the same group or highly anxious people would end up in the same group
40
Q

Advantages of experimental research?

A

Permits conclusions about cause-effect relationships because

  • relationships between IV and DV has been isolated
  • effect of extraneous variables has been neutralised (through random assignment)
41
Q

Limitations of experimental research

A
  • some experiments are artificial (conducted in controlled lab settings, therefore results might not hold in more natural settings, poor external validity)
  • manipulation of some variables is not ethical
  • manipulation of some variables is difficult or impossible
42
Q

What is descriptive research?

A

The descriptive approach seeks to describe phenomena rather than to manipulate variables

43
Q

What are 3 methods of descriptive research?

A
  • case studies
  • naturalistic observation
  • survey research
44
Q

A case study is an in-depth study of the behaviour of one person or small group. It is often used in clinical research (e.g Freud) also used when large numbers of participants are not available.

Why are the drawbacks?

A

Small sample size
Susceptibility to researcher bias
Problem of an atypical case

45
Q

An in depth study of a phenomenon in its natural setting is referred to is?

A

Naturalistic observation

Example: Piaget’s study of the cognitive development of his own children

46
Q

What are the advantages and disadvantages of Naturalistic Observation?

A

Advantage:

  • good generalisability

Disadvantages:

  • observation per se can alter behaviour
  • cannot establish the cause of behaviour
47
Q

Survey technique: asks questions of large numbers of persons to gain information on attitudes and behaviour.

What are two approaches:

A
  • questionnaires

- interviews (face to face, telephone)

48
Q

What are two disadvantages of survey approach?

A
  • sampling issues

- people may not respond accurately (distracted while filling in questionnaire, chatting with friends, on phones etc)

49
Q

What type of research:

  • is used when variables cannot be manipulated
  • produces a “correlation” when 2 variables are associated with one another

I.e correlation coefficient (r) indicates the ‘strength’ and ‘direction’ of the association. Eg a general prediction can be made for children as they age they weigh more.

A

Correlational research

50
Q

What are positively correlated variables

A

Values vary in SAME direction
High values of one variable are associated with high values of the other variable

Eg.

  • More Years of education equates to higher income level
  • Age during childhood, height. The older the taller.
  • hours of study and exam performance. More hours of study the better the performance during exams.
51
Q

What are negatively correlated variables?

A

Values vary in OPPOSITE direction
High values of one variable are associated with low values of the other variable

Eg.

  • age (after 40 years), visual acuity. The older the person the less visual acuity.
  • shyness, number Of friends. The more shy the less friends.
52
Q

Correlation of coefficient score:

Values of ‘r’ range from -1.00 to +1.00

What do the following correlation coefficient scores indicate:

(note: Values indicate strength, sign indicates direction)
* -1.00?
* - 0.50?
* 0.00?
* + 0.50?
* + 1.00?

A
  • -1.00 = strong negative correlation
    • 0.50 = moderate negative correlation
  • 0.00 = no correlation between variables
    • 0.50 = moderate positive correlation
    • 1.00 = strong positive correlation
53
Q

Definition of correlation coefficient

A

A number between +1 and −1 calculated so as to represent the linear interdependence of two variables or sets of data.

54
Q

Variables can be strongly correlated. Does this mean that this would imply causation or that they would be ‘Causally related’?

A

No. Correlation does not infer causation.

Eg. There is a positive correlation between Ice cream consumption and drowning. This does not mean that there is a cause and effect relationship between the two. For instance, there may be a THIRD variable involved, such as temperature; when children are hot they like to eat ice cream, when it’s hot they also like to swim to cool off.

55
Q

CRITICALLY EVALUATING RESEARCH

What are some of the factors to consider when critically evaluating research?

A
  • Does the theoretical framework make sense?
  • Is the sample adequate and appropriate
  • Are the measures and procedures adequate?
  • Are the data conclusive?
  • Are the broader conclusions warranted?
  • Does the study say anything meaningful?
  • Is the study ethical?

JESS Introduction To Psychology (5 decks)

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