Admit SlipList 5 things that come to mind

when you think of research.

Psychological Experimentation

General Procedures

• Step 1– Ask Research Question:

• Does watching violence on TV lead to aggressive behavior?

• Step 2– Form a Hypothesis:

• People who watch violent TV programs will engage in more acts of violence than people who don’t.

General Procedures

• Step 3– Determine Variables:

• People watch violent TV programs (independent variables:

• People engage in aggressive acts (dependent variables:)

• Step 4– Experiment (Testing):

• A. Participants (randomly assigned to groups)– Experimental group

» Spends four hours a day watching violent TV.

General Procedures– Control Group

• Spends four hours a day watching nonviolent TV.B. Measure aggressive behavior(dependent

variable)of experimental and control groups.

• Step 5– Compare Measurements

• Step 6– Interpret Results and Draw Conclusions

Scientific Attitude

• 1. Curiosity about the world.– As psychologist we must be observant of our

surroundings.– Ask questions about who, what, when, where

and why.

2. Seek data driven answers.– Answer the Who, what, when, where and why

questions by using collected data

Scientific Attitude

• 3. Be humble about all we don’t know.– It’s ok to say we do not know how to answer a

questions or where it derived or why.– Part of learning

4. Don’t take things at face value.– Question everything, even if you collected

the data yourself.

Steps to Successful Research

1. Define your population

• Population = the group you are interested in. – all humans?– people with depression?– Adolescents?

2. Obtain a sample to study• Sample – a subgroup of

your population• In order for results to be

generalizable to a population (able to infer that it is true for all members of the population), you need to obtain a representative sample.

• Random sample – everyone in the population has an equal chance of being in your sample.

3. Operationally define variables• Definitions should be quantifiable when

possible.• Reduces subjectivity and expectancy

effects.

4. Manipulate the independent variable (control all other variables)

• This is easier said than done. – Confounding

variables – variables in a study that are not controlled for.

How do we control for confounding variables?

• Large sample size (more likely to be representative)

• Random assignment to groups (control and experimental)

• Blinding– Single vs. double– Controls for

expectancy effects– Placebos or sham

treatment

5. Collect and analyze data• Do basic statistics

(mean, median, mode, standard deviation) to simplify data.

• Compare control and experimental groups.

• Run inferential statistical test (more on this later)– T test, chi squared,

ANOVA