Task/Lecture 1

Question 1

Basic research

Answer 1

Investigating issues relevant to testing theoretical/empirical positions. Goal: acquire general information on a phenomenon.

Question 2

Applied research

Answer 2

Investigating real-world problems. Goal: acquiring information that is directly applicable to real-world issues

Question 3

Steps of research process

Answer 3

1. Develop hypothesis
2. Choose a research design
3. Choose subjects
4. Decide what to observe and what the appropriate measures are.
5. Conduct study
6. Analyse results
7. Report results
8. Start process over again

Question 4

Confirmation bias

Answer 4

Looking for information that confirms what we already believe

Question 5

Deception

Answer 5

Actively misleading participants or purposely withholding information from them.
- Allows for creation of unnatural situations
- Sometimes this is the only way behaviour can be studied

Question 6

Issues with deception

Answer 6

• Different reactions from participants in subsequent experiments
• Violates the assumed trust between participant and researcher –> feeling of betrayal can lead to negative attitudes towards research
• Ethical treatment requires informed consent

Deception is allowed under restricted conditions.

Question 7

Solutions for deception: Role Playing

Answer 7

Participants are fully informed and are asked to act as if they were in a given situation.
- Sometimes informed participants behave differently, so it is not equivalent to deception.

Question 8

Solutions for deception: Prior consent

Answer 8

Obtaining the participants consent to being deceived in an experiment.

Question 9

Solutions for deception: Debriefing

Answer 9

Post study session where participants are informed about the nature of deception. Goal is to restore participant’s trust + self-esteem.

Sometimes it is ethical to not debrief:
- when it would contaminate the subject pool
- if it will harm participants
- when it is impractical

Question 10

Debriefing

Answer 10

Should include:
1. full disclosure of the purpose
2. Complete description of the deception
3. Discussion of the problem of perseverance of the effects
4. Why deception was necessary and its benefits.

To make debriefing convincing:
1. use demonstrations
2. allow participants to observe subsequent sessions
3. give them an active role in the research.

Question 11

(True) Science

Answer 11

Relies on established scientific methods to acquire information + adheres to certain rules when determining validity.

Question 12

Non-science

Answer 12

Not empirically testable. Ex. Philosophy

Question 13

Pseudoscience

Answer 13

“False science” Statements, beliefs or practices that are claimed to be scientific/factual but are not. (Ex. Astrology)

Question 14

Scientific explanations are…

Answer 14

Empirical, Rational, Testable, Parsimonious, General, Tentative, Rigorously evaluated

Question 15

Commonsense explanations

Answer 15

based on our own sense of what is ture about the world

Question 16

Belief-based explanations

Answer 16

arise from individuals or groups who have accepted on faith the truth of their beliefs.

Question 17

Method of authority

Answer 17

Using expert sources to obtain information. Helpful in the early stages of acquiring knowledge, but may be biased.

Question 18

Rational method

Answer 18

Logically deduced conclusions from self-evident truths

Question 19

Scientific method

Answer 19

1. Make an observation
2. Form a hypothesis
3. Perform experiment
4. Analyze data
   in line → confirm hypothesis → test new predictions
   not in line → hypothesis wrong? → reconsider hypothesis and/or predictions
5. Report findings
6. Invite other to reproduce the experiment

Question 20

Theory

Answer 20

goes beyond the level of a hypothesis, highly ordered and structured. consists of a set of interrelated propositions that attempt to specify the relationship between a variable and a behaviour. (Only partially verified)

Question 21

Hypothesis

Answer 21

Connected with prior research and logical
Testable and falsifiable - observable and measurable variables, focused on real situations, events or individuals. Theories that are non-falsifiable are not scientific.
Positive - entails presence, not absence of a relation
Parsimonious - based on a minimum number of assumptions, keep things concise, simple and short.

Question 22

Good Theories

Answer 22

ability to account for data, explanatory relevance, testability, prediction of novel events, parsimony

Question 23

Testing theories: conformational strategy

Answer 23

Setting up a situation and observing whether the predicted effects occur. If yes the theory is supported by the results and the confidence in the theory increases.
Limitation: fake confirmations might happen for a long time

Question 24

Testing theories: Disconformational strategy

Answer 24

Determining whether outcomes not expected by the theory, do or do not occur.

Question 25

Testing theories: Strong inference

Answer 25

Developing several alternative explanations for a phenomenon, testing them and ruling out the false alternatives, until only one remains.

Question 26

Fraud

Answer 26

Data fabrication, falsification, plagiarism
Why does one do this?
- Personal recognition
- Pursuit of money
- Publish or perish atmosphere

Question 27

Ethics and animal subjects

Answer 27

• Minimizing discomfort, illness, pain
• Research has to be approved by an animal care committee and there must be a veterinarian who overseas this research.

Question 28

Ethical issues

Answer 28

Prresent research protocol for review of ethical issues before one can conduct their research.

General issues
- Consent (for children also from parents)
- Anonymity and confidentiality
- Deception (only allowed in special cases)