Research Methods - Lecture 1: Introduction to research methods in psychology Flashcards
Unsuccessful replications of experiment
Could have been well-conducted but a fluke result
-> The role of statistics is to allow for this possibility
Flawed because it was badly conducted
-> The role of research design is to prevent this and control confounding variables
What is research the process of?
Asking questions about the world
What is good research design?
Good research design is a formalised way of asking questions so that we’re sure the answers will mean something -> finding cause and effect relationship
How are we consumers of research?
The information we are presented with via research tries to control our behaviour in a way favouring that research’s claims
2 ethical obligations to make sure that psychological research is done well
• Our subjects are usually people, and we have a duty not to waste their time
-> Poor research design leads to waste of time - want to be sure that whatever we do tells us something real about how the world works
• Results of psychological research are often applied to how people are treated, so we’d better get it right
-> Done as via evidence-based practices
-> Research is to do with the quality of ppl’s lives - have duty to make sure this research is correct
Psychology not used for best interests
E.g. YouTube - spend more time on their platform and Marketing - sell their product, make more money
-> If aware of evidence behind these practices, will have more chance of making choices about whether we gauge with these institutions or not
The Stroop Effect
Reading has become so automatic that it’s hard to inhibit it - So when the colour of the print conflicts with the
colour named, reaction time is slower
What are the 2 main things in experiment?
Dependent variable and independent variable
What are the 3 things to know when looking at graph?
DV, IV and relationship between the two - how does DV change when you change IV?
Dependent Variable (DV)
- Measure of the behaviour we’re interested in
- e.g., time to name colours in Stroop effect expt.
- Goes on y axis of a graph of our results
Independent Variable (IV)
• Variable manipulated by an experimenter to see
if it affects the DV
• e.g., whether colour matches name in Stroop effect
• Goes on x axis of a graph
What do DVs need to be?
Valid and reliable
Validity
- Does the DV actually measure what we want it to?
* e.g., is IQ score a valid measure of intelligence?
Reliability
• Will you get the same results if you measure the same variable again? – replication
Are measures always reliable and valid?
No - Measures are sometimes reliable but not valid
• e.g., shoe size as a measure of intelligence - has nothing to do with intelligence (not valid) but likely to be reliable as won’t change overtime
-> Negatively correlated
