WEEK 2.6

Question 1

psychology

Answer 1

scientific study of the mind and how it dictates and influences our behaviour

Question 2

what are the two major research design types?

Answer 2

• experimental studies: directly test law-like relationship between two variables by manipulating one
• observational studies: test law-like relationship between variables via passive observation

Question 3

variable

Answer 3

something which we can measure and whose values vary

Question 4

what do well-designed experiments seek to do?

Answer 4

keep confounding variables fixed, allowing only the manipulation of the independent variable

Question 5

Baumrind 1971 parental disciplinary style research

Answer 5

• looked at authoritarian, authoritative and permissive styles
• rated behaviour of children, e.g. friendliness
• found that authoritative families scored best
• suggests that authoritative style is better for psychological development
  
  • ALTERNATIVE EXPLANATIONS: children’s behaviour guides parental style or there is a common cause (e.g. living in a good neighbourhood)

Question 6

lab

Answer 6

area specifically contructed to:

• help researchers gather data
• shield study from unwanted sources of bias

Question 7

lab

1. advantage
2. disadvantage

Answer 7

• controlled and generally more uniform conditions
• artificial and therefore not generalisable

Question 8

‘natural habitat’

Answer 8

• any area other than a lab
• e.g. at home, in workplace

Question 9

‘natural’ habitat

1. advantage
2. disadvantage

Answer 9

• natural, therefore more generalisable
• uncontrolled and non-uniform conditions

Question 10

pros and cons of self-reporting

Answer 10

• pros:
  
  • provides info that researchers could not obtain by watching subject
• cons:
  
  • validity is limited by the subjects’ ability to observe and remember own behaviour/mood and their willingness to report observations frankly

Question 11

pros and cons of observation

Answer 11

• pros:
  
  • gives firsthand learning about natural behaviours
• cons:
  
  • limited by how long it takes, difficulty observing on going behaviour without disrupting
  • difficulty coding results in form that can be used for statistical analysis

Question 12

negative results

Answer 12

• data that fail to support a hypothesis
• support ‘null-hypothesis’

Question 13

why are many academics unwilling to publish negative results?

Answer 13

• these publications don’t garner much attention
• scientists unwilling to be associated with failure of hypothesis

Question 14

cons of not publishing negative results

Answer 14

• increases chance of repeatedly testing the same false hypotheses, wasting time and resources
• exaggerates estimates of effect size in meta analyses because mostly positive results pulled together
• discourages scientists from testing new hypotheses because may get nothing out of it