Please review this power point presentation after reading Chapter 1 in the text – you will have quiz questions
that pertain to this material.
Definitions
Psychology: The scientific study of behavior and mental processes.
Scientific Method: A set of assumptions, attitudes and procedures that guide researchers in creating
questions to investigate, in generating evidence and in drawing conclusions.
Empirical Evidence: Evidence that is based upon objective observatio, measurement, and/or
experimentation.
Hypothesis: A tentative statement about the relationship between two or more variables. (Educated
guess)
Variable: A factor that can vary, or change, in ways that can be observed, measured, and verified.
Operational Definition: A precise description of how the variables in a study will be manipulated or
measured.
Replicate: To repeat or duplicate a scientific study in order to increase confidence in the validity of the
original findings.
Theory: A tentative explanation that tries to integrate and account for the relationship among
behaviors and events.
Scientific Method Steps
1.
2.
3.
4.
Formulate a specific question that can be
tested.
Design a study to collect relevant data.
Analyze the data to arrive at conclusions.
Report the results.
(Read pages 14 – 19 in the text)
Descriptive Research Methods
Naturalistic Observation involves the observation
and recording of behaviors in a natural setting.
This can be used in observing behaviors that
can not be replicated in a laboratory.
Consider this: Would a researcher be able to
ethically study bullying in a laboratory by
causing an innocent person to become bullied?
Descriptive Research Methods
Cont …
Case Studies are intensive, in-depth
investigations of an individual or a small group of
individuals. This involves the compilation of a
great deal of information about the individual(s),
often from multiple sources. This type of study
can be used to investigate rare or unusual
circumstances.
Consider this: Would a researcher be able to ask
a volunteer to undergo brain damage in order to
study various regions of the brain? Would you
volunteer? If you were studying this topic, how
would you choose your participants in the study?
Descriptive Research Methods
Cont …
In a survey, people respond to a structured set of
questions about their experiences, beliefs, behaviors or
attitudes. An advantage of this type of research is that
information can be gathered easily from a much larger
group of people.
Terms:
- Sample: a segment of the larger group or population.
- Representative sample: closely parallels the larger
population being studied on relevant characteristics.
- Random selection: subjects are selected randomly;
every group member has an equal chance of being
selected.
Descriptive Research Methods
Cont …
Correlational studies examine how strongly two variables are related to, or
associated with each other.
Positive Correlation: two factors vary systematically in the same direction,
increasing or decreasing together. Example: More ice cream cones are
sold on hot days OR fewer ice creams cones are sold on colder days
(correlation between ice creams cones sold and temperature).
Negative Correlation: two factors vary systematically in opposite directions,
one increasing as the other decreases. Example: daily amount of
television viewing and grades. It may be found that the more television
viewing a child has the lower the grades in school. (Television viewing up,
grades down / or the opposite, television viewing down, grades go up).
CORRELATION DOES NOT MEAN CAUSALITY – the hot weather did NOT
make people buy ice cream cones and the television did NOT make grades
suffer. (Could it be that perhaps with the increased television viewing, the
children did not have as much time to study or perhaps they had parents
who weren’t as involved with making sure homework was completed every
day before watching TV?)
The Experimental Method
TERMS
Experimental Method: a method of investigation used to demonstrate causeand-effect relationships by purposefully manipulating one factor thought to
produce change in another factor.
Independent Variable: The purposely manipulated factor thought to produce
change in an experiment; also called the “treatment of interest.”
Dependent Variable: The factor that is observed and measured for change in
an experiment; thought to be influenced by the independent variable.
Random Assignment: The process of assigning participants to experimental
conditions so that all participants have an equal chance of being assigned
to any of the conditions or groups in the study.
Experimental Group or Experimental Condition: In an experiment, the
group of participants who are exposed to all experimental conditions,
including the independent variable or treatment of interest.
Control Group or Control Condition: In an experiment, the group of
participants who are exposed to all experimental conditions, except the
independent variable; the group against which changes in the experimental
group are compared.
Apply What You Have Learned
Brief synopsis of an experiment:
A researcher believes that learning a memory strategy called
“chunking” will result in individuals being able to remember more
numbers in a random string of numbers given to them to study.
One group will be taught the memory strategy, the second group
will not be taught the memory strategy. Every individual in each
group will be tested for how many numbers they can recall after
being given five minutes to study.
Questions:
1.
Which group is the control group?
2.
Which group is the experimental group?
3.
What is the independent variable?
4.
What is the dependent variable?
Answers on the next page
Answers
1.
2.
3.
4.
The control group is the group that did NOT
learn the memory strategy “chunking.”
The experimental group is the group that
learned the memory strategy.
The independent variable is the memory
strategy (remember the independent variable
is the variable that is thought to produce a
change)
The dependent variable is the score on the
memory test (influenced by the independent
variable).
Variations In Experimental Design
TERMS:
Placebo: An inert substance or a treatment that has no known effects. For
example, in an experiment that is testing how effective a new pain killer is,
one group may receive a “sugar pill” (a placebo) which should have no
effect in reducing pain. Researchers can then see if there is an expectancy
effect.
Placebo Control Group: A control group in which the participants are
exposed to a fake independent variable, or placebo. The effects of the
placebo are compared to the effects of the actual independent variable on
the experimental group.
Expectancy Effects: Changes in a subject’s behavior produced by the
subject’s belief that change should happen; also called placebo effects. (For
example, those who took the sugar pill reported claims of having reduced
pain because they thought they were taking the real pain killer).
Double-Blind Study: Experimental technique in which neither the participants
nor the researcher interacting with the participants is aware of the group or
condition to which the participants have been assigned.
Demand Characteristics: In a research study, subtle cues or signals
expressed by the researcher that communicate the kind of response or
behavior that is expected from the participant.