lecture 2- thinking critically with psychological science Flashcards
why do we NEED psychological science?
it employs empirical approach, attempt to explore and understand without misleading or being mislead, requires a scientific attitude: curiosity, skepticism, and humility
why are we vulnerable to believing untruths?
our culture, emotions, beliefs, and judgements can cloud truth and only lets what we WANT to hear through.
what is hindsight bias and how does it apply to psychological research methods?
“I knew it all along” saying it after the matter already happened
what is overconfidence and how does it apply to psychological research methods?
we think we know more then we do
what is the scientific method?
stating the question, offering a theory and then constructing rigorous laboratory or field experiments to test the hypothesis.
describe the 4 steps of the scientific method
making an observation, forming a hypothesis, making a prediction, conducting an experiment and finally analyzing the results.
differentiate the goals, purpose features, common types, strengths, and weaknesses of the 3 research methods.
descriptive- use systemic observation to describe a specific behavior and often used to develop hypothesis.
purpose- collecting information without changing changing the environment
common types of descriptive research: case studies, surveys, naturalistic
strengths- can illustrate rare cases, easy way to collect info, recording in natural environments.
weakness- research or question Bia, dishonest responses, lack of generalizability
relational- determines whether a relationship or association exist between 2 or more variables
purpose: company two or more variables to see how they are related
(answers the question, “is this variable related to or does it predict another variable?”)
strength: easy to collect data, helps determine if there a relationship, possibility of cause and effect.
weakness- correlation does not equal causation, direction of relationship is unknown, 3rd variable problem/ something else is accounting for the relationship)
experimental- (gold standard) use to understand why cause the finding of interest, which can determine causality.
purpose: to conduct a true experiment to understand what causes the finding of interest. Starts w/ a hypothesis. (solid question, background and research, making sure its testable, dependent variable and independent)
independent variable- (manipulate) changeable dependent variable- measurable
strengths - only with experimental research we can establish cause and effect relationship between 2 or more variables.
descriptive research design
case studies, surveys, and naturalistic observation. The goal of these designs is to get a picture of the current thoughts, feelings, or behaviors in a given group of people.
relational (correctional) research design
A correlational research design investigates relationships between variables without the researcher controlling or manipulating any of them. A correlation reflects the strength and/or direction of the relationship between two (or more) variables. The direction of a correlation can be either positive or negative.
experimental research designs
Experimental design refers to how participants are assigned to the different conditions of an experiment. There are four types of experimental designs: independent measures, repeated measures, matched pairs, and quasi-experimental designs.
who protects the rights of participants in psychological studies?
(IRB) institutional review board
what rights do the people in psychological studies have?
informed consent, withdraw at any time, cannot be forced to participate, researcher protect from harm or distress, leave same way you came in, confidentially
