Methods and Statistics

Question 1

What are the three main steps in the scientific method?

Answer 1

Describing, Predicting, Explaining

Question 2

Define what a theory is

Answer 2

A well-supported explanation of why or how some phenomenon occurs

Question 3

Define what a hypothesis is

Answer 3

A prediction about what should occur in a specific context given a theory

Question 4

What are the three limitations/caveats of the scientific method?

Answer 4

1. General/idealized person - theories do not apply to a specific individual, instead, they are for the general or idealized person
2. Fixed aspect - psychologists assume that there are at least some fixed aspects of our human nature that they can explain
3. Observation and scientific testing - some parts of human nature can be studied through observation and scientific data

Question 5

What is “The Problem of Fixedness”?

Answer 5

How much of human nature is fixed, biologically determined, and universal

• what are the potential influences of evolution, genes, culture AND
• if there are essential characteristics of human nature

Question 6

What is “The Problem of Introspection

Answer 6

Do we truly know ourselves, and if we don’t, how could we hope to ever theorize about others
- questions on our individual selves, why we act first before explaining that particular action, and why we do not always know exactly what we want

Question 7

What is “The Problem of Biology”?

Answer 7

How much we care about the biology of the brain and body in explaining human thinking and reasoning
- how neuroscience and psychology are alike/different, how we’re supposed to approach mental health like we do in heart disease or cancer

Question 8

What are the controversies regarding psychology?

Answer 8

• Dominated by white, cis, male scientists and their Euro-centric ideals
• Attempts to prove differences in intelligence, personality, and motivation between people
• People outside of psychology only care about prediction and not the explanation
• Many major psychological findings have shown to not be replicable

Question 9

What are the three sources of knowledge?

Answer 9

Intuition, Observation, and Authority

Question 10

What is intuition?

Answer 10

Knowledge that you just know, and since it is internat (from your own self), it cannot be shared because people have different intuition

Question 11

What is observation?

Answer 11

Knowledge that you have personally experienced, it is a bend of both intuition and authority

Question 12

What is authority?

Answer 12

Knowledge that should almost automatically be accepted and is given to you by someone “credible”. This knowledge has the potential to be misused.

Question 13

What are the four problems we can encounter with pure observation?

Answer 13

It is not always possible, reliable, true, and people do not always agree on what they are experiencing

Question 14

How do you deal with impossibility of observation (pure observation)?

Answer 14

By making use of tools that specifically are made to measure behaviour and cross-checking them to see that they are functioning properly

Question 15

How do you deal with biases and differences in opinions (pure observation)?

Answer 15

1. Scientists must have scientific skepticim - not to overly trust or get attached to any theory or observation
2. Scientific findings must go through peer review to ensure that no biases sneak in
3. Studies must be replicaple to advance theories - to disconfirm or confirm hypotheses

Question 16

How do you deal with the reliability of observation (pure observation)?

Answer 16

1. Openness - data and measurements should be available for anyone to use in order for them to evaluate and check the reliability (of data and measurements)
2. Falsifiable hypotheses - there must be inflexible predictions that are observable (not too fluid)
3. Participant and person getting the data should not be aware of the hypothesis (double-blind experiments)

Question 17

What are exploratory studies?

Answer 17

They seek to describe some phenomena by collecting data (description to prediction)

Question 18

What are confirmatory studies?

Answer 18

Derive a falsibfiable hypothesis from some theorized explanation of the world, and then seek to find data that either confirms or diconfirms it

Question 19

What is an operational definition?

Answer 19

It is a description of a psychological property in concrete and measurable terms

Question 20

What is an instrument in psychology?

Answer 20

It is anything that can provide a measurement of the operational definition

Question 21

Define the three properties of a good instrument

Answer 21

1. Valid - instrument measures what it claims to measure
2. Reliable - instrument gives similar measurements each time it is used (replicability)
3. Power/Sensitivity - instrument detects even very small differences in the measure

Question 22

What is data?

Answer 22

Collection of measurements

Question 23

What is descriptive statistics?

Answer 23

Mathematical tools used to summarize data into more useful ways of understanding

Question 24

What is inferential statistics?

Answer 24

Mathematical tools used to help decide if data confirm or disconfirm some hypothesis (what can you infer from the data?)

Question 25

How do psychologists report their collected and analyzed data?

Answer 25

They present it to their peers (in conferences or academic journals) to get feedback on their work (peer review)

Question 26

What are the main tasks of a peer reviewer?

Answer 26

1. Be highly skeptical of the claims - to identify alternative explanations 2. Assess if the instruments used are considered good instruments (valid, reliable, sensitive/powerful) 3. Double-check if statistics were properly carried out Most importantly, replicability of the study must be assessed as it is very important

Question 27

What are study design/methods?

Answer 27

A set of guidelines for how data is collected for a study, each one will have its own set of applications, benefits, and limitations

Question 28

What is a Naturalistic Observation method? What are its pros and cons?

Answer 28

Observing participant in their "natural habitat" and writing down their behavious in response to various everyday situations. Its pros are that it removes demand characteristics and maximizes external validity. Its cons are that there is no way to tell what caused the observed behaviours, and that there is high possibility of experimenter bias since they choose what to record as data

Question 29

What is a Case Studies method? What are its pros and cons?

Answer 29

Observing and measuring the behaviour of a single, usually unique participant, over an extended period of time by giving them many different tests. Its pros include detecting and working with rare and unique cases (otherwise it would be washed out in averaging data). Its cons is that we cannot be truly certain of what caused the behaviour observed.

Question 30

What is a Correlational Studies method?

Answer 30

Measures the relationship/prediction between two variables/data sets. It does not mean that one variable caused the other.

Question 31

How do you carry out a correlational study?

Answer 31

1. Choose two variables 2. Measure the two variables quantitatively in as many people as possible 3. Graph the relationship on the axes 4. Estimate the direction and strength of the correlation

Question 32

What is the Directionality Problem in a Correlational Studies method?

Answer 32

For any correlation, you can never determine whether Variable A caused Variable B or vice versa

Question 33

What is the Third Variable Problem in a Correlational Studies method?

Answer 33

For any correlation, there is an infinite number of what we call "third variable", which is an unmeasured variable that may be affecting both variables A and B.

Question 34

What is an Experiment method made up of?

Answer 34

1. Independent variable - manipulated 2. Dependent variable - measured 3. Random Assignment - participant is randomly put into an experimental group 4. Random Selection - participants are randomly chosen to represent the population better

Question 35

How do you solve directionality in an experiment?

Answer 35

Choose which variable you manipulate and which you measure to control the direction ("temporal precedence")

Question 36

How do you solve third variables?

Answer 36

By doing random selection and assignment to guarantee that the two groups are, on average, identical in ever way except the variable you manipulate

Question 37

What is Descriptive Statistics?

Answer 37

Gives a general sense of what data looks like

Question 38

What is Central Tendency (Descriptive Statistics)?

Answer 38

Describes the data's typical value. Examples would be the mean, median, and mode

Question 39

What is Variability (Descriptive Statistics)?

Answer 39

How different the data points are from one another. Examples are range and standard deviation.

Question 40

What are the two mistakes that can be made when interpreting data?

Answer 40

1. False Alarm: accepting an event that occured by chance as meaningful 2. Miss: rejecting a real effect and attributing it to chance

Question 41

What is Inferential Statistics?

Answer 41

Helps decide what to conclude with the data while balancing false alarms (accepting chance) and misses (rejecting real effects). It helps us specify what performance is expected by chance alone.

Question 42

What is Statistical Significance (Inferential)?

Answer 42

The critical boundary at which we decide that the event we observed is unlikely to have come from chance alone, and that therefore something else must be at play