Research

Question 1

What’s a theory?
Give an example

Answer 1

A set of propositions meant to explain a class of observations

Example: Low serotonin causes major depression

Question 2

Whats a hypothesis?
Give an example

Answer 2

Expectations of what should occur if the theory is correct.

Example:
Lower serotonin levels found in ppl who are severely depressed
Higher serotonin levels will alleviate depression
if reduced in healthy ppl, may cause depressive symptoms to appear.

Question 3

What should scientific theory be?

Answer 3

Principles clearly defined

Based on reproducible data

Refined/abandoned in light of new evidence

Question 4

What should scientific theory not be?

Answer 4

Based on anecdotal evidence, ie. intuition/opinion

Impossible to disprove

Based exclusively on explanations of pre-exciting data after the results are known, ie. forming a hypothesis after the results are known

Question 5

What are the key research methods in psych disorders?

Answer 5

1. Case studies
2. Correlational research

3.Epidemiological studies

4. Genetic studies
5. Experimental research
6. Clinical trials(Treatment outcome research)
7. Analogue experiments
8. Single case designs
9. Meta analysis

Question 6

What are case studies?

Answer 6

Collecting and reporting on rich information on one person

Used to generate a hypothesis which can later be tested

The method for reporting is important but incredibly rare phenomena

Question 7

What are some examples of case studies

Answer 7

Albert

Nim Chimpsky- trying to get chimps to learn a language

Phones Gage- personality change following damage to the prefrontal cortex

Question 8

Whats correlational research
Example

Answer 8

Studying the relationship between two variables

More exercise is correlated with lower levels of depression

but correlation does not equal causation

explanations
3rd variable
exercise releases endorphin
depression makes ppl less likely exercise

Question 9

Correlation does not equate to causation

Answer 9

More dolphins are pink

Dolphins love ice cream

loving ice cream doesn’t make u go pink

Question 10

What are epidemiological studies

Answer 10

Survey large groups of ppl to get a picture of the entire population

Question 11

What is incidence?

Answer 11

The proportion of people who develop new case of the disorder in some period, usually a year

Can be cross sectional or longitudinal studies

Question 12

What is prevalence?

Answer 12

The proportion of people with the disorder either currently or during their lifetime

Question 13

What are risk factors?

Answer 13

Variables that are related to the likelihood of developing the disorder

Question 14

What is another method of genetical study other than knockout studies, what does it do?

Answer 14

Genome Wide Association Studies (GWAS)

Examine relationship between depression and 20,000-25,000 genes with no explicit hypothesis.

Question 15

What is experimental research

Answer 15

Manipulate a variable and make it an independent variable
Observe the effect that has on a dependant variable
Allows us to test for causal relationships

Question 16

IS virtual reality as effective as real life exposure

Answer 16

33 patients with acrophobia
Randomised to one of two groups
One group receives VR exposure (experimental group)
One group receives standard exposure (control group)

Not a lot of difference n the results, VR may be a less expensive, less time consuming

Question 17

Not a lot of difference n the results, VR may be a less expensive, less time consuming
Is this a valid conclusion?

Answer 17

Internal validity
Is the result confounded, ie is there a different factor driven the results
Example: If the person spent more time in VR than the person doing it IRL

External validity
Will it extend to exposure for other phobias?

Question 18

What is treatment outcome research

Answer 18

Clinical trials

Question 19

How is it assessed if a clinical trial will work

Answer 19

Randomised control trials
A person is randomly assigned and is either given the experimental treatment or a control treatment

Question 20

What are some issues that present in randomised control trials and how are they reduced?

Answer 20

Expectations influence treatment outcome
The type of ppl who sign up may believe that the treatment will work, ie. selection bias

Placebos are given to control for expectations

Expectations also bias researchers through confirmation bias

So double blind procedures help protect against this

Question 21

What are analogue experiments

Answer 21

Covers wide range of approaches- share common features

Rationale: Where its challenging to test the hypothesis that you want to test you randomly assign ppl to receive some type of trauma
Group 1- exposed
Group 2- control exposure
This is unethical

Question 22

What are the types of analogue experiments?

Answer 22

1. Create a laboratory model
2. Use subjects similar to a patient population
3. Animal models

Question 23

How do you create a laboratory model
give the example

Answer 23

Co2 given to induce panic attacks in healthy subjects

Its safe and reversible

And has been used to study medications and the physiology of panic attacks

Question 24

Use subjects similar to a patient population

Answer 24

Recruiting patients is difficult
Can just recruit ppl from a community that have elevated levels of symptoms

Question 25

What is the animal model

Answer 25

Does chronic stress increase risk for depression?

Linking stimulus to causal relatons

Exposing rats to unpredictable electric shocks/ cold temperatures/ pinching their tails
Studies still employed to this day
The rats more exposed to these procedures are more depressed and giving the rats an antidepressant relieves it

Question 26

Why are animal models not as accurate?

Answer 26

Rats are smaller
What is depression in rats- u can’t ask them how they feel

Question 27

What are single case designs?

Answer 27

Study of individual cases

Manipulate the timing and nature of experimental conditions

With frequent repeated measurement

Example: person normally treat them, make them withdraw and reintroduce

Question 28

What is meta analysis?

Answer 28

Statistical summarisation of results across numerous studies- compilation of effect sizes

Example: Asking if cognitive behavioural threader is better for OCD than control treatments
Analysed 16 outcome studies w 756 patients

YES CBT for OCD was more effective than the control

Question 29

What are some caveats to meta analysis

Answer 29

Only as good as the data collected.studies published

Publication bias

Convergence

Question 30

What is publication bias?

Answer 30

where studies that fail to show an effect are less likely to be published

Question 31

What is convergence?

Answer 31

No method is a solution.