WEEk 1 - introduction Flashcards
What is research?
Research is the generation of new knowledge or the use of existing knowledge in new ways to generate new concepts, methodologies, interventions or understandings
What are the objectives of psychological research
- Describe
- Explain
- Predict
In the objectives of psychological research - what does ‘describe’ mean?
To portray the phenomenon accurately
Example, Piaget theory on child development arose from his observations of his son.
In the objectives of psychological research - what does ‘explain’ mean?
To identify the causes of the phenomenon
Example: social connection and depression
In the objectives of psychological research - what does ‘predict’ mean?
Identifying risk factors of a phenomenon can help you predict what might happen
Example: what factors may predict academic outcome the best
What are the two broad approaches?
Inductive
Deductive
What is the inductive approach
Aims to generate new theories or ideas
What are deductive methods?
Aims to test theories and to test weather they are valid or not
What is the empirical method? (hypotheticodeductive method)
When we take a theory and come up with a testable hypothesis from it
What is a theory?
- A theory is a broad statement about what is true in the universe -> a statement about reality
- Any theory is a statement of cause and effect
- A statement about the relationship between two variables
- A theory states that a change in the independent variable will cause a change in the dependent variable
What are independent and depended variables?
- A independent variable is the ‘causes’ (what you manipulate)
- A dependent variable is the effect (the thing that is being measured)
How do we test a theory?
- we can never actually fully test a theory because it is a statement about the whole of the universe (reality) and we will never be able to test out every scenario.
- So instead we test a hypothesis that should be true if the theory was true
What is a hypothesis?
A hypothesis is something we can actually measure or test. It cant be something we already know - it has to be a prediction about something that hasn’t happened yet.
What does a good theory help generate?
It helps generate a hypothesis - this then assists with forming a research question/s
What is a research problem/question
An interrogative sentence that states the relationship between two or more variables or the key research question
What is the criteria for a good research problem?
- variables should express a clear relationship
- stated in question form
- Capable of empirical testing
What is operationalisation?
- The way you turn abstract concepts into measurable observations for research.
- In the process of research, to test a hypothesis, a scientist needs to be able to make the hypothesis about something they can directly observe. But that thing should correctly represent the theoretical variable they are interested in. The scientist comes up with an operational definition of their theoretical variable that will serve the purposes of enabling them to test a prediction
- Example: let’s say my general theory was that people
experience more brain-fog when they are hungry. To test this, I need to find a thing which I could measure (or possibly even that I could manipulate) which represented hunger and another that might measure brain fog
What is a variable?
- something that varies
- takes on different categories or values.
example: gender, IQ scores etc.
What is a categorical variable?
- varies by type or kind
- Nominal measurement
Example, gender, religion, uni course
What is a continuous variable?
- Varies by degree or amount
- Interval/Ratio measurement
Examples: reaction time, height, age, anxiety level
How do you actually answer research question?
- Design a study
- Find participants (define your population and sample from it)
- Make some measurements (and potentially stage an experiment to manipulate the variables)
- Analyse the data
- Write a paper explaining what you have done
What are the common pitfalls in research?
- Extraneous variable
- Confounding variable
What are extraneous variables?
- A variable that competes with the IV in explaining the outcome of the DV
- also called nuisance variable
What is a confounding variable?
- A variable that is systematically related to both the IV and DV in your study, so that any changes in the DV cannot be directly attributed to the IV
- The result is said to be confounded. Confounding reduces internal validity
What is causation?
A condition where one event (the cause) generates another event (the effect)
Example: ice cream and sunburn example - hot day
What is the criteria for identifying a casual relationship?
- relationship condition: The cause (IV) must be related to the effect of the DV
- Temporal order condition: Changes in the IV must precede (come first) changes in the DV
- No other plausible explanation must exist for the effect
Inferring causality in a design
A well-designed and appropriately conducted/controlled experiment can allow inferences about causality (a conclusion based on evidence or reasoning)
- perform and action (manipulate IV)
- measure consequences (changes in DV)
- control for other possible explanations (extraneous variables)
An experiment should be…
- Carefully designed
- Rigorously controlled
- Replicable
- Ethical
What are the disadvantages of the experimental approach?
- Does not test the effects of non-manipulated variables
- many potential independent variables cannot be manipulated (for example, people’s age, gender) - Artificiality or generalisability
- Sometimes cant generalise laboratory findings to the real world context
