Unit 1: Chapters 1 and 2

Can Human Behaviors be Explained through Scientific Study?

What Makes scientific research ethical or unethical?

Naturalistic Observation MethodThe researcher observes the subject in a

natural setting without interfering

Case-Study Method Research method that involves an intensive

investigation of one or more participants

Cross-sectional Studies Research method in which data is collected from

groups of participants of different ages and

compared

This way, conclusions can be drawn regarding

differences due to age

Experiments in PsychologyA test under controlled conditions

that is made to examine the validity of a hypothesis

A hypothesis: is an educated guess about the relationship between two variables, such as study time and test scores

Descriptive Statistics A collection of data used to organize and summarize

information. Charts, Tables, Diagrams, etc.

Correlation How much two variables are related to each other.

**Correlation is NOT Causation!!!

Confounding Variables A 3rd Variable that may

be actually causing a change in the variable being studied

Two variables that are linked together that make it difficult to sort out their effects.

Placebo EffectA change in a participant’s behavior or

illness resulting from a belief that the treatment will have an effect, rather than the actual treatment given

Inferential StatisticsNumerical methods used to determine

whether research data support a hypothesis or whether the results were due to chance

Correlation Coefficient A number between 1.0

and -1.0 that describes the relationship between two variables.

r

Survey MethodA research method in which

information is obtained by asking many individuals a fixed set of questions

Experimenter Bias

When the researcher impacts or effects the outcome of the results of the study.

RESEARCH METHODS in PSYCHOLOGY

Psychology is an EMPIRICAL science

Psychology follows the SCIENTIFIC METHOD A General Approach to systematically and scientifically

discover new knowledge

Some of you Favorite Experiments????

Research Methods or Designs 3 Broad Research Categories:

1) Descriptive Research

Naturalistic Observation

Case Study

Survey Method

2) Correlational Research

3) Experimental Research

CORRELATIONNATURALISTIC OBSERVATION

researchers measure the relationship between two variables or sets of data

What is the direction and Strength of the Relationship

Direct: or

Indirect: or

psychologist studies the subject in a natural setting without interfering

EX: Jane Goodall; Reality TV; etc.

CASE STUDY SURVEY

A psychologist is interested in an in-depth study of behavior for one or very few number of cases

EX: “Super Size Me” –Morgan Spurlock

The use of questionnaires or interviews to quickly gain the answer to wide range of questions

LONGITUDINAL STUDY CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

a group of participants is studied over several years to assess certain characteristics or changes during development

data is collected from groups of participants of different ages and compared so that conclusions can be drawn about differences due to age

**WHICH WAY TO RESEARCH??

Experiment = manipulation of one variable under controlled conditions so that resulting changes in another variable can be observed

Detection of cause-and-effect relationships

Independent variable (IV) = variable manipulated

Dependent variable (DV) = variable affected by manipulation

COFOUNDING VARIABLES

A 3rd variable other than the independent variable that may be influencing the dependent variable

Experimental Research: VARIABLES

Experimental group –

subjects who receive some special treatment in regard to the independent variable

“Treatment Group”

Control group –

similar subjects who do not receive the special treatment Group that would likely

receive the PLACEBO

Experimental and Control Groups: DIVIDING PARTICIPANTS INTO

GROUPS

*ID the Parts of the Experiment Practice Problems!

Placebo effects Believing you benefiting from a drug or treatment when no

actual drug or treatment is being administered Sampling bias

The number of people participating in the experiment is not sufficient to match results to the whole population

Self fulfilling Prophecy Answering survey questions in a way that gives you the result

you desire Social Desirable Responding

Answering in a way that does not make you sound bad to others

Experimenter bias The Experimentor indicates to the participants their

desired results and in turn receive those results from their participants Single Blind/Double Blind

Pitfalls in Experiments

•Single-blind experiment•An experiment in which the participants are unaware of which participants received the experimental treatment is known as a:

•Double-blind experiment•An experiment in which the neither the experimenter nor the participants known which participants received the experimental treatment is called a:

Ethics in Psychological Research: Do the Ends Justify

the Means?

What is Ethically Acceptable and What is NOT???

What does it mean for something to be unethical or ethical?

Who should decide this?

*Questionable Studies……

Questionable Experiments Brown-Eyed, Blue-Eyed Experiment

Identical Twin Studies

Stanley Milgram Experiment on Obedience to Authority

The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment

Twin Studies— Seperated at Birth

Milgram Study on Obedience to Authority

Tuskegee Experiment

ETHICS REQUIREMENTS IN PSYCHOLOGY—Set by The APA!

Welfare/dignity of participants: free from psychological or physical harm

Legal: approval must be obtained by the institutional review board (APA)

Anonymity: rights to privacy, confidentiality must be observed for participants

Deception: must be necessary for the experiment and misunderstandings must be cleared up in a debriefing

Debriefing: following an experiment, participants must be debriefed to rectify any misconceptions

____________________A branch of mathematics that enables researchers to organize and evaluate the

data they collect .

Why is EVALUATING your data so important?

Why should you know the statistical procedures?

STATISTICS

STATISTICS Descriptive Statistics Inferential Statistics

The listing and summarizing of data

in a practical, efficient way.

EXAMPLES:

Frequency Distributions

Frequency Polygons

Histograms

Numerical methods used to determine

whether research data support a hypothesis

or whether results were due to Chance

STATISTICS—Frequency Distributions

an arrangement of data that indicates how often a particular score or observation occurs

STATISTICS--Histogramsa good, old-fashioned bar graph, which in statistics

is called a HISTOGRAM

0 2 4 6

Category 1

Category 2

Category 3

Category 4

Series 3

Series 2

Series 1

STATISTICS—FREQUENCY POLYGONS

Or a frequency curve: graph comparing the frequency of occurrences to each score or

observation

The dots on the graph are connected by a line—straight (polygon) or curved

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Category 1 Category 2 Category 3Category 4

Series 1

Series 2

Series 3

Measures of Central Tendency

Definition: _________________A number that describes information about the “average” score of a distribution of scores. Examples:

____________: score that occurs the most frequent

____________: the middle score

__________: the arithmetic average score

These scores give us information about the “average.”

RANGE—The Spread of Scores from highest to lowest

CENTRAL TENDENCY

MODE

MEDIAN

MEAN

+ -

Statistical Significance Scientists have concluded that if the probability

that their results were due to chance is less than _______, then they are confident that their results did not happen because of chance

This is called being statistically ___________________

Some researchers demand that this number be as low as 1% or .01

0.05 (5%)

SIGNIFICANT