Welcome to Psyc 300A:
Understanding Psychological
Research I
Steven F. Bacon, Ph.D
Intro to the Course
• Significant achievements of last 100
years
• Psychology and science
• Syllabus
Assumptions of Scientists
• Nature is orderly and lawful.
• This order and these laws can be
understood.
• Apparent exceptions to the laws only
suggest that we don’t fully understand.
• Some things don’t lend themselves to
scientific understanding; this doesn’t
mean they are unimportant.
Goals of Science
• To understand nature
• Different levels of understanding
– Description
– Prediction
– Explanation (and control)
Attitudes of Scientists
• Open-minded
• Skeptical
– Data drives acceptance (public,
democratic)
– Authority doesn’t count (power rests with
ideas, not people)
• Objective
– We agree to play by rules, even if they
don’t support
Characteristics of Science
• Data driven (empirical)
– Drawing conclusions based on data, not
intuition
– Use of scientific method (systematic
empiricism):
• Observations
• Theory
• Predictions/hypotheses
• Testable and falsifiable hypotheses
• Replicable & public
Characteristics of Pseudoscience
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Not falsifiable
Results don’t replicate, especially by outsiders
Evidence tends to be anecdotal
Invokes mysterious forces
Challenges are interpreted as attacks
Theory is static
Doesn’t tie with other sciences
Doesn’t require specialized training
Why is Pseudoscience so Popular?
• Carl Sagan: “ Pseudoscience is
embraced … in exact proportion as real
science is misunderstood.”
• Pseudoscience is different than
erroneous real science
Approaches to Research
• Descriptive
– Observational studies
– Case studies
– Surveys
• Correlational
– Correlational studies
– Quasi-experiments
• Experiments
Observational Study
• Can be naturalistic or in lab
• Systematically observing behavior as it
occurs, without interfering
• Advantages
– Seeing “real” behavior
• Disadvantages
– No control, many influences on behavior
– Doesn’t address causation
Case Study
• Study a single person in great depth
• Advantages
– Costs little
– Study complexity of individuals
– Study rare phenomena
• Disadvantages
– Little control
– Don’t generalize well
– Doesn’t address causation
Survey
• Ask a group of people questions
• Involves sampling
• Advantages
– Can get lots of info
– Can compare with other studies
– Relatively easy to do
• Disadvantages
– Sampling must be done well
– Wording of questions can influence
– People don’t always tell the truth
Group Activity
• Describe how you could investigate the
relationship between wealth and
happiness using these research
approaches:
– Observational study
– Case study
– Survey
Correlational Study
• Measure at least two variables as they exist
within a sample to see relationships
• What is a positive relationship and a negative
relationship?
• Advantages
– Can be rigorous
– Can see natural behavior
– Can predict behavior
• Disadvantage
– Can’t get at causation
Experiment
• Manipulate one variable (IV) to see
effect on another variable (DV) while
controlling other variables.
• IV and DV, random assignment
• Advantages
– Can get at causation
• Disadvantages
– Artificial environment
– Sometimes can’t be done or unethical
IV/DV Practice #1
• In order to study the effects of noise on
worker productivity, researchers have
one group of research participants work
in a noisy room and a second group
work in a quiet room
• What is the IV? What is the DV?
IV/DV Practice #2
• In a study on the influence of selfesteem on interpersonal attraction,
college students were either insulted or
complimented about their physical
appearance just before they went on a
blind date. At the end of the date,
participants were asked if they’d like to
go out again with their date.
• What is the IV? What is the DV?
Group Activity: IV and DV (cont)
Twenty-nine female and 30 male students
listened to either a song with violent lyrics or
to a song without violent content. The
participants then completed the State
Hostility Scale, which indicates the degree of
hostility in a person. Higher scores reflect
higher hostility. The researchers discovered
that participants who listened to violent lyrics
showed a higher level of hostility than
participants who listened to nonviolent lyrics.
(Beins, Activity 4.1, p. 30)
Group Activity: IV and DV (cont)
A psychologist wondered how people would respond to
people with tatoos, so he studied how long people
helped a tatooed stranger who was dressed in jeans
and a sweatshirt or in a shirt, tie, and dress slacks. In
each dress condition, half of the time the tatoo was
not visible, and half the time it was visible. The
confederate asked for help in reading a map,
claiming he had forgotten his glasses. The results
showed that people spent the same amount of time
with the person when the tatoo was not visible,
regardless of attire. When the tatoo was visible,
however, people spent more time with the person in
sweatshirt and jeans than the person with shirt, tie,
and dress slacks.
(Beins, Activity 4.1, p. 30)
Feedback
• What was the most difficult or
confusing thing presented in today’s
lecture?
• Please write your thoughts on paper
and turn it in anonymously