Methods Flashcards
Science is logical
Science is repeatable
Science is vulnerable to disconfirmation
3 Features of science
An integrated set of statements that describes, predicts, or explains behavior
theory
Specific, testable, and disconfirmable statements about the behavior we want to study or theory we want to test
hypothesis
Conceptual representation of behaviors or phenomenon around which research is based; the thing you’re interested in studying
Ex: Love, aggression, and groups– abstract representations that are intangible and do not exist in physical reality
construct
Defines a construct in concrete terms
Ex: anger –> throwing a chair at your boss
Operationalization
Describe, predict, explain behavior
Goals of research
Naturalistic observation/ethnography
Observe behavior where it typically happens
Describing behavior
High in external validity
See what people actually do
Strengths of describing behavior
Can only describe
No private/rare events
Observer bias
Low in internal validity
Limitations of describing behavior
Correlational studies
Determine how much and in what way two pre-existing variables are related
Predicting behavior
Study things you can’t or shouldn’t manipulate
Lots of data
Cheap and easy
Strengths of predicting behavior
Response bias– people can lie or aren’t aware of their bias
Sampling errors
Cannot interpret causality
Could be other factors that correlate things
- Ex: correlation between coffee and heart attacks- does not include amount of sleep, stress, sugar consumed, etc.
- Ex: positive correlation between ice cream sales and homicide rates- does not include heat, population density, etc.
Limitations of predicting behavior
- Experiments
- Manipulate one or more factors while controlling others (holding things constant)
Explaining behavior
High in internal validity
Can conclude causality
Strengths of explaining behavior
Expensive
Demand characteristics
Low in external validity
Limitations of explaining behavior
Variable manipulated or controlled by the researcher
Experimental group: angry participants throw a chair at their boss
Control group: angry participants sit quietly in a chair
Independent variable
The measurement of the consequences of/response to the IV
Happiness: do people feel happier as a result of chair throwing?
Measure on a scale from very happy to not happy
Dependent variable
Extent to which we can draw cause-and-effect inferences from a study
Internal validity
Extent to which we can generalize findings to real-world settings
External validity
The extent to which a test yields consistent results
Reliability
Control
Random assigment
Two critical features of experiments
Basically, let participants know what they’re getting into
Institutional Review Board (IRB) monitors our activities and approves our studies before we can run participants
How do we address ethical concerns in experiments?
