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Methods in Psychology (Goals of psychology (Explanation - why a behavior…
Methods in Psychology
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Empiricism: the belief that knowledge can be acquired through observation (essential element of the scientific method)
Scientific method: a set of principles about the appropriate relationship between ideas and evidence
1) Literature Review ; 2) Operationally defined hypothesis ; 3) Research design ; 4) Statistical analysis ; 5) Peer-reviewed scientific journal ; 6) Theory
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Ethics
Research must be beneficent, just, and have a respect for persons
Informed consent, freedom from coercion, protection from harm, risk-benefit analysis, deception must be justified (debriefing), confidentiality
Research methods
III. Experimentation (determines cause & effect, goal of explanation)
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Steps
- Perform a manipulation on a variable (independant variable)
- Measure the second variable (dependent variable)
- Check to see whether the manipulation produced changes
Experimental group: group of people who are treated a particular way (as opposed with a control group)
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Self-selection: a problem that occurs when anything about a person determines whether he or she will be included in the experimental or control group (should do random assignment)
I. Descriptive research
Types:
Naturalistic Observation - no attempt to manipulate environment, natural behavior (not in lab setting), but difficult/time-consuming and lack of controls
Laboratory Observation - observing behavior in controlled setting (generally observed while hidden from view)
Surveys - measure a variety of behaviors, can gather data from large amounts of ppl, but most rely on self-reported data and volunteer effect is a problem
Case Studies - in-depth studies of a single participant (difficult to find a population group to study), for rare disorders or phenomena, but lack of generalization and inadvertent bias
Purpose: Observe, collect, and record data (description)
Advantages: easy to collect data, minimized artificiality, description of behavior/mental processes as they occur
Disadvantages: little to no control over variables, biases, cannot explain cause/effect
II. Correlational research (determines what the degree of relationship is between two variables - goal of prediction)
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Third variable correlation: two variables are correlated only because each is causally related to a third variable
Third variable problem: A causal relationship between two variables cannot be inferred from the naturally occurring correlation between them because of the ever-present possibility of third-variable correlation. CANNOT IDENTIFY CAUSE/EFFECT.
Drawing conclusions
Internal validity: the characteristic of an experiment that establishes the causal relationship between variables
External validity: a property of an experiment in which variables have been operationally defined in a normal, typical, or realistic way
Observation
Measurement
Every unit has an operational definition - a description of a property in concrete, measurable terms
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Demand characteristics: those aspects of an observational setting that cause people to behave as they think they should - to avoid, use naturalistic observation
Observer bias: expectations can influence observations & reality - to avoid, use double-blind observation