Week 2: Overview of the Scientific Method

Question 1

Research Literature > Research Question > Empirical Sutdy > Data Anlayss > Conclusions> Research Literature —- is what?

Answer 1

Simple Model of Scientific Research in Psychology

Question 2

How do you find a research topic?

Answer 2

• Internal observations
• Practical problems
• Previous research

Question 3

Why review research literature when developing a research topic?

Answer 3

• Determine if question already answered
• Evaluate the interestingness of question
• Give ideas on conducting own study
• Tell you if your question fits into the reseach literature

Question 4

What is research literature?

Answer 4

All the published research in particular that field

Question 5

What are the two types of research literature?

Answer 5

1. Professional journals

2. Scholarly books

Question 6

How do you generate a research question?

Answer 6

• Look at discussion section of research article

- Generate own reserach question

Question 7

How to generate own research question?

Answer 7

1. Conceptualise behaviour/psychological characteristic as a variable
2. Ask for frequent/intense the variable is

Question 8

What must a research question be?

Answer 8

1. Interesting.

2. Feasible

Question 9

What makes a research question interesting?

Answer 9

• Answer is in doubt
• Fills a gap in the research literature
• Has important practical implications

Question 10

What is a theory

Answer 10

Coherent explanation or interpretation of one or more phenomena

Question 11

What is a hypothesis

Answer 11

A specific prediction about a new phenomenon that should be observed if a particular theory is accurate

Question 12

What is the theory/hypothesis relationship?

Answer 12

If/then

e.g. If drive theory is correct, then cockroaches would run faster when others observe them

Question 13

How do you derive a hypothesis from a theory?

Answer 13

• Generate research question, ask if any theory implies answer to the question.
• Focus on components of the theory that’s not been directly observed.
• Distinguish between competing theories.

Question 14

What is the Hypothetico-Dedutive Method?

Answer 14

A cyclical process of theory development, starting with observed phenomena and developed using existing theory

Question 15

How to incorporate theory into research?

Answer 15

1. Interpret results using one or more theories

2. Describe theory, derive and test hypothesis in a new study and then re-evaluate the theory

Question 16

What are the characteristics of a good hypothesis?

Answer 16

1. Testable and falsifiable
2. Logical
3. Positive (Makes a positive statement about the existence of a relationship or effect).

Question 17

What is a variable?

Answer 17

Quantity or quality that varies across people or situations

Question 18

What is a quantatative varible

Answer 18

A quantity typically measured by assigning a number to each individual (e.g. height)

Question 19

What is a categorical variable

Answer 19

Represents a characteristic of an individual, measured by assigning each individuals response to one of several categories (e.g. ethnicity)

Question 20

What is an operational definition

Answer 20

A definition of the variable in terms of how it will be measured

(eg. Depression is abstract but can be directly observed/measured through scales, diagnosis or number of symptoms)

Question 21

What is a sample

Answer 21

A smaller portion of the population the researcher wants to study

Question 22

What are the two types of sampling

Answer 22

1. Simple random sampling

2. Convenience sampling - whoever is available

Question 23

What type of sampling is most used in psychological research?

Answer 23

Convenience sampling

Question 24

What is experimental research?

Answer 24

• Goal is to explain

- Manipulate one or more variables while attempting to control extraneous variables.

Question 25

What is non-experimental research?

Answer 25

- Goal is to make predictions | - Does not manipulate variables (e.g. recording how many use cellphone while at red light)

Question 26

What is an independent variable?

Answer 26

Variable that the experimenter manipulated ( the presumed cause)

Question 27

What is a dependent variable?

Answer 27

Variable the experimenter measures (the presumed effect)

Question 28

What is an extraneous variable?

Answer 28

Any variable other than the dependent variable

Question 29

What is a confounding variable?

Answer 29

- Type of extraneous variable - Systematically varies along with the variables under observation - Provides an alternative explanation for the results

Question 30

What is the difference between laboratory and field research?

Answer 30

- Lab study is conducted in a laboratory environment | - Field study is conducted in the real world

Question 31

What is internal validity?

Answer 31

Degree to which we can confidently infer a causal relationship between variables

Question 32

What is external validity?

Answer 32

Degree to which we can generalize findings to other circumstances or settings like the real world

Question 33

What kind of validity does lab research have?

Answer 33

High internal validity, low external validity

Question 34

What kind of validity does field research have?

Answer 34

Low internal validity (no control over environment), high external validity

Question 35

What are field experiments?

Answer 35

Independent variable manipulated in a natural setting with extraneous variables controlled. Has high internal and high external validity.

Question 36

What do descriptive statistics do?

Answer 36

Summarize the data

Question 37

What do inferential statistics do?

Answer 37

Generalise the results from the sample to the population

Question 38

What is the mode?

Answer 38

The most frequently occurring score in the distribution

Question 39

What is the median?

Answer 39

The midpoint of a distribution of scores

Question 40

What is the mean?

Answer 40

The average of a distribution of scores

Question 41

What is the range?

Answer 41

A measure of dispersion that measures the distance between highest and lowest scores in a distrbution

Question 42

What is the standard deviation?

Answer 42

A measure of dispersion, measuring the average distance of scores from the mean

Question 43

What is the variance?

Answer 43

The standard deviation squared (also the distances of the scores from the mean, but in a different unit of measurement)

Question 44

What statistics does experimental research use?

Answer 44

Means and standard deviations, compare for each group

Question 45

What statistics does non-experimental research use?

Answer 45

Percentages or correlations between two variables

Question 46

What is a correlation coefficient?

Answer 46

Describes the strength and direction of the relationship between two variables?

Question 47

What is used to denote the correlation coefficient?

Answer 47

Pearson's r.

Question 48

What does a correlation coefficient of 0 mean?

Answer 48

There is no relationship between the two variables

Question 49

What kind of correlations can exist between two variables?

Answer 49

- Negative correlation ( As one variable goes up, other goes down) - Positive correlation (both go up or down)

Question 50

What is the max range scores for Pearson's r?

Answer 50

+1.00 or -1.00

Question 51

What does it mean for an effect to be statistically significant?

Answer 51

The effect is unlikely due to random chance and therefore likely represents a real effect in the population

Question 52

What threshold is usually used for statistical significance?

Answer 52

5% - results that have less than 5% chance of being due to random error

Question 53

What are the two types of errors?

Answer 53

Type I error | Type II error

Question 54

What is a Type I error?

Answer 54

- False positive | - Results are due to chance

Question 55

What type of error rejects the null hypothesis when it is true?

Answer 55

Type I error

Question 56

What is a Type II error?

Answer 56

- Missed opportunity, there is actually a real effect in the population that researcher has missed

Question 57

What type of error retains the null hypothesis when it is false?

Answer 57

Type II error

Question 58

When are the chances of a Type II error increased?

Answer 58

When the chances of a Type I error are reduced: - the statistical significance threshold too low (under 5%) - sample size too small

Question 59

Can theories be proved?

Answer 59

No, they are supported, refuted or modified based on research results.

Question 60

Why do researchers not use word proved?

Answer 60

- Could be Type I error - Maybe be other plausible theories - Further testing could disprove theory - Problem of induction (All swans are white...)