How do you begin the research process?
- Start asking questions.
- Search the literature.
- Begin shaping the idea into a hypothesis.
What are Theories?
• An organised set of principles used to explain observed phenomena.
What is are Conceptual variables?
An abstract concept one may attempt to
measure.
What are Operational definitions and how do they relate to Conceptual variables?
Operational definition states how conceptual variable will be manipulated or measured.
What are the 3 main categories of research designs?
- Descriptive Research
- Correlational Research
- Experiments
What are the goals of Descriptive Research?
• To describe people and their thoughts, feelings, and
behaviours.
• Discovers trends and tendencies.
What are methods of conduction Descriptive Research?
- Observational studies.
- Archival studies.
- Surveys -Importance of random sampling
What is the limitations of Descriptive Research?
Limited in what questions it can answer.
What are the goals of Correlational Research?
To learn about the relationship between variables.
- How well does one variable predict another variable?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of Correlational Research?
Advantages:
• Can study the associations of naturally occurring variables that cannot be manipulated or induced.
• Can examine phenomena difficult or unethical to create for
research purposes.
• Offers freedom in settings in which the variables are measured.
Disadvantage:
• Major disadvantage: CORRELATION IS NOT CAUSATION!
What are the goals of Experiments?
• Experiments used to examine cause-and-effect relationships.
What are two essential characteristics of an experiment?
- Researcher has control over the experimental procedures.
* Participants randomly assigned to different treatment conditions.
What is a variable?
Any characteristic of an object, event, or a person
which can take two or more values.
What is an Independent Variable?
The factors experimenters manipulate to
see if they affect the dependent variable
What is a Dependent Variable?
The factors experimenters measure to see
if they are affected by the independent variable.
What are Subject Variables?
Variables that characterize pre-existing differences among study participants (e.g. gender, race, culture, etc).
What is a Independent Measures style experiment?
Between-subject design
- Where a group of participants are recruited then split into 2 groups
- Each group receives different independent variable conditions (e.g. placebo vs an actual drug)
- The dependent variable is then measured for each group and compared
What is a Repeated Measures style experiment?
Within-subject design
- A group of participants are recruited
- All members of the group experience the same conditions of the independent variable (both do condition 1 & 2)
- Compare the results for the two conditions
What is Counterbalancing and what is its purpose?
Manipulating order of presentation of materials
- Helps to control for order effects
- Especially important in repeated measures design
e.g. Half the participants in a repeated measures experiment receive drug A then B, the other half receive drug B then A.
• Random Assignment to the Order conditions
What is Internal Validity?
Degree to which there can be reasonable certainty that the independent variables caused effects obtained on the dependent variables
• Control groups are important in ruling out alternative explanations.
What are Confounds?
Variables confounded when two or more variables are manipulated simultaneously in such a way that we are unable to distinguish the effect of each on the dependent measure.
What is External Validity?
The degree to which results of a specific study can be generalised to other people, places, times, or operational definitions of the IVs.
External validity considerations:
• Representative vs. convenience samples.
• The setting in which the research is conducted.
What are variables that psychologists measure (tool kit)?
- Self-Report
- Reaction Times
- Virtual Environments
- Actual Behaviour
- Brain-imaging technology
- Social Media
- Archival Records
Measuring Variables: Self-report
• Participants disclose
thoughts, feelings, and desires.
- Convenient and can provide easy data.
- However, not always accurate and affected by the way in which questions are asked.
