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Psychological research - Coggle Diagram
Psychological research
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Approaches to Research
Definition
Based on observational techniques, interaction with studied individuals and most are correlational.
Correlational data cannot be used to make claims about cause-and-effect relationships without performing experiments.
Experimental research in psychology is hard to do because of ethical concerns.
Clinical or Case Study
Collect and analyze range of data from individuals, group or institution mainly by interviews and observations.
Conduct on: Psychologically unusual individuals, unusual events, organizational practices, typical individuals within a demographic.
Can be used to generate a hypothesis that can be tested experimentally.
Pros: Holistic approach that gives enormous information allow researcher have a very deep understanding of the case.
Only way to investigate unusual cases.
Cons: Interview depends on memories which are inaccurate by nature.
Difficult to generalize.
Difficult to replicate => Low reliability.
Researcher bias.
Naturalistic Observation
Observe humans or animals in their natural environment.
No attempt to manipulate the environment or interact with the subjects.
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Cons: Difficult to set up and control (environment, type of behaviors).
Privacy: Can only conduct in public.
Great at describing behavior, limited in explaining it.
Observer bias.
Survey
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Cons: Inaccurate data.
Data is not in-depth.
Data quality depends on how questions are constructed => Researchers bias.
Sampling bias => Need random sample and large sample sizes.
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Analyzing Findings
Correlational Research
Concept
- Correlation: A relationship between two or more variables, but not necessarily imply cause and effect.
- Correlation coefficient: A number from -1 to +1 that indicates the strength and direction of the relationship between variables. Represented by letter r.
- Positive correlation: The variables move in the same direction.
- Negative correlation: The variables move in opposite directions.
- Negative correlation is not the same as no correlation.
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Causality
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Designing experiment: Involve experimental group and control group.
Experimental group gets the experimental manipulation.
Control group does not.
Any differences between 2 groups are due to experimental manipulation rather than chance.
Operational definition: Define how we will measure our variables.
Experimenter bias: Researcher’s expectations might effect the results of the study.
Single-blind study: Participants do not know which group they are in while researchers know.
Double -blind study: Both of them do not know.
Independent variable: Is manipulated or controlled by the experimenter.
Dependent variable: What the researcher measures to see how much effect the independent variable had.
Select and assign participants.
- Random sample: Subset of large population. Any members of the population have same chance to be selected into the subset.
- Random assignment: Same.
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Interpret findings: Use statistical analysis.
Statistical analysis determines how likely any difference found is due to chance.
Report: Publish journal articles to be peer-reviewed.
Peer review could ensure the research is described clearly enough to allow other scientists to replicate it.
Reliability: The ability to consistently produce a given result.
Validity: The extent to which a given instrument or tool accurately measures what it’s supposed to measure.
Ethics
Human
- Informed consent form: A written description of what participants can expect during the experiment (risks, implications).
- Risk and benefit analysis.
- Freedom from coercion.
- Protection from harm.
- Deception: Purposely misleading participants to maintain the integrity of the experiment but not to the point of harming.
- Anonymity/Confidentiality.
- Debriefing: Give complete and honest experiment information to participants at the end of the experiments.
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