Psychology2016

The Science of Psychology 33

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can lead to

formation of

hypotheses

that can later

be tested

Scientific Research

(psychology uses the scientific approach to try to determine facts and reduce uncertainty)

steps in the

scientific approach

perceiving the question about some empirical event for which you would like

an explanation; can be derived from the goal of description: What is happening here?

forming a hypothesis, a tentative explanation about an event

testing the hypothesis by collecting data, analyzing results

drawing conclusions about investigation's success or failure to explain event

reporting your results; share exactly what, why, and how you did it, which provides means

for replication

descriptive data

collection methods

naturalistic observation: observe people or animals in natural environment

laboratory observation: observe people or animals in laboratory setting

case studies: individual is studied in greater detail, researchers

try to learn everything they can about the individual

surveys: ask questions about topic researchers are studying via telephone, Internet,

or a questionnaire

psychology has four

primary goals

describe

explain

predict

control

random assignment to

conditions is the best way

to assure control over

extraneous variables or

confounding variables,

variables that interfere with

each other, and/or on

the variable of interest

is a measure of relationship between two or more variables (anything that can change or vary)

produces a value called the correlation coefficient that represents both direction and strength of relationship

does not prove causation—variables can be related but you

can not assume that one of them causes the other to occur

independent variable is the variable

that is manipulated, it is independent

of anything participants do

dependent variable is the measure

used to evaluate the manipulation

of the independent variable

experimental: gets the

independent variable or

experimental manipulation

control: receives no

treatment or treatment that

should not have an effect

placebo effect: beliefs or

expectations about a study

can influence their behavior

experimenter effect:

experimenter’s biases

can affect or influence

participants’ behavior

the process of operationalization

specifically names the steps or procedures

used to control or measure the variables in

the experiment

selection researchers often aim to

identify participants through random

selection of a sample from the

population of interest

groups

hazards

(the only research method

that will allow researchers

to determine the cause

of a behavior by

deliberately manipulating

some variable and

measuring changes

in the variable of interest)

can be controlled through

single-blind (participant “blind”

to treatment/condition) and

double-blind studies where both

the participants and the experi-

menter measuring the dependent

variable do not know the

treatment/condition associated

with the data

Correlations

The Experiment

Practice Quiz How much do you remember?

Pick the best answer.

1. Dr. White noticed something odd happening to the behavior of
   his students as midterm exams neared. He decided to take notes
   about this behavior to find out exactly what was happening and the
   circumstances surrounding the behavior. His goal is clearly
   a. description. c. prediction.
   b. explanation. d. control.


2. Which of the following is an example of observer bias?
   a. You ask your fellow students to be participants in a study of
   adult memory.
   b. You ask people from your church to participate in a study of
   family values.
   c. You develop an opinion of what you expect to see in an
   experiment.
   d. You allow a student to quit an experiment simply because he or
   she is bored.


3. The main advantage of a survey is that
   a. only a small number of subjects need to be accessed.
   b. a large amount of data can be gathered.
   c. the chance of experimenter error is removed.

d. subjects will not know if they are part of a control or experimental

group.

4. Which of the following would indicate the weakest relationship and
   thus be close to complete randomness?
   a. +1.04 c. +0.01
   b. −0.89 d. −0.98


5. In an experiment to examine the effects of sleep deprivation on
   completion of a puzzle, one group is allowed to sleep 8 hours while
   another group is made to stay awake. In this experiment, the control
   group is
   a. the group that gets to sleep.
   b. the group that remains awake.
   c. the puzzle.
   d. the difference in time for each group to complete the puzzle.


6. In a __ study, the participants do not know if they are part
   of the control group or the experimental group. Only the experi-
   menter knows who is in each group.
   a. placebo c. double-blind
   b. single-blind d. triple-blind