Psychology as a science &
Getting Research Ideas
Psych 231: Research
Methods in Psychology
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This week’s labs are at the library.
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Milner 164d computer lab & Milner Floor 3 Northeast
for use by the sections when not meeting in the
computer lab (so groups can get together and
discuss their research ideas).
Reminders
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Think of a famous psychologist
Dr. Sigmund Freud
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Dr. Phil (McGraw)
Do they represent the standard psychologist?
• NO!
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Psychology is a diverse discipline
• ISU’s Psych Dept has 6 different groups
• APA has 54 different divisions of psychology
Psychology as a science
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What is science?
What are the goals of science?
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Is psychology a science?
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Yes
• Studies the full range of human behavior using scientific
methods
• Applications derived from this knowledge are
scientifically based
• Researchers
• Practitioners
Psychology as a science
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Psychology’s goals are similar to the goals of the
physical sciences (e.g., physics and chemistry)
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Psychologists are concerned with the behavior of people (and
animals) rather than the physical world.
How is psychology different from the physical
sciences?
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Human (and animal) behavior is typically much more variable
than most physical systems.
• Statistical control
• Methodological control
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Often the thing of interest requires indirect measurement (and
thus underlying assumptions)
Psychology as a science
Simplest
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Description of behavior
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Prediction of behavior
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Complex
For the purpose of interventions (e.g., how do we prevent
violence in schools)
Causes of behavior
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Given X what will likely happen
Control of behavior
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Describe events, what changes what might affect change,
what might be related to what, etc.
Sometimes predictions aren’t enough, want to know how the
X and the outcome are related
Develop specific theories
Explanation of behavior
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A complete theory of the how’s and why’s
5 Goals of psychology
Great research
ideas
You
Barriers
Where do research ideas come from?
You
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“I’m not smart enough.”
“Somebody else must have already done this.”
“I don’t know how to pursue the idea.”
“It’s too simple, something must be wrong.”
“The idea will take too much work.”
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Great ideas
Do consider the practicality of the work load, but
don’t be afraid of hard work.
“I’m not interested in the topic.”
Glued to your first idea.
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Be flexible, adjust your idea as you learn more
Where do ideas come from? Classic barriers
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Research is often driven by curiosity.
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We typically study things that interest us.
Continuum of the development of research ideas
Informal
“This is
interesting.
I’d like to
know more.”
Formal
“We’ve got a
problem to
solve.”
“We understand
some things, but
there are still
questions.”
“The theory
says X. Let’s
test the theory.”
Where do ideas come from?
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Observation
• Direct observation - things that you observe: includes
public observation, self observation, observing children,
observing animals
• Vicarious observation - what somebody else has
observed and reported
Where do ideas come from?
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Observation
Common Sense - things that we all think are
true
• “Opposites attract”
• But note: a lot of our common sense is
contradictory
• Absence makes the heart grow fonder
• Long distance affairs never last
Where do ideas come from?
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Observation
Common Sense
Past research – find out what research has
already been done and ask yourself “what don’t
we know still”
• Follow-up studies, expanding the past
research in more detail or new directions
• Improvements on past research studies,
maybe you think the past research had some
serious flaws or limitations
Where do ideas come from?
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Observation
Common Sense
Past research
Identify a problem – perhaps there is an
important problem or issue that needs a (or
some) solution(s).
• WWII - why did airplanes
keep crashing?
• Led to development early
cognitive theories of
attention
Where do ideas come from?
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Evaluating your research ideas
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Focus: Is your idea specified enough to be
manageable
ROT rule:
• Replicable - one time deal?
• Observable - can you measure it?
• Testable - can you test it & can you falsify it?
Are my ideas good?
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Many interesting results are not accepted until
they are replicated
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Cold fusion - a potential answer to our energy needs
• The results were never replicated and are not generally
accepted by the scientific community
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Extrasensory perception (ESP)
• Some proponents claim that ESP only occurs under
certain unknown conditions and that it is impossible to
predict when the conditions are right.
Replication
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Many interesting questions may not be
examined experimentally because they aren’t
observable (either directly or indirectly).
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Do dogs think like humans?
• Since we can’t directly observe a dog’s thoughts, we can only
make inferences about their thoughts via their behavior
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Is my experience of the color blue the same as
yours?
Observable
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Other hypotheses may not have objective
testability (e.g., imaginary events)
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What if the dinosaurs hadn’t become extinct?
Testable
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Getting the idea
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How do people remember things?
• This is a pretty big question
• To begin to answer it we’ve got to FOCUS
• Break the general idea down into smaller more specific ideas
• Develop theories as to how & why
• Then we can begin using experiments to test parts of the
theories
Example: A research idea
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Focusing the idea
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What does memory involve?
• Encoding - getting the memories in
• Storage - keeping the memories
• Retrieval - getting the memories out
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Are all kinds of memory the same?
• Procedural vs. declarative memories
• Pictures vs. words
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How long do memories last?
Example: A research idea
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Evaluating the idea (ROT)
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Can we re-do the experiments, do we get similar
results?
How do we observe memory?
• Recall tests, recognition tests, “brain waves,” ,,,
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Are our predictions testable?
Reading the literature will help greatly with
evaluating research ideas
Example: A research idea
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Why do a review of the literature?
What is the literature?
How do you search the literature?
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Guest lecturer: Bruce Stoffel, psychology librarian, in labs Th &
Fri
Reviewing the literature
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What are the underlying motivations for doing a review
of the literature?
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Getting ideas.
What has been done, what hasn’t been done?
Understanding the relevant theories.
What variables are important?
Avoid past mistakes.
Why review the literature
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Primary Sources - essentially reading the original
report
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Journal articles
Edited books (sometimes)
Professional meetings
Electronic publishing (fairly new, pluses and minuses)
Faculty members & other personal communications
Secondary Sources - reading a report of the report
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Literature Reviews
 Psychological Bulletin, Annual Review of Psychology
Text books
Citations in books and articles
What is the literature?
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Secondary Sources:
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Advantages:
• Good starting place
• Often reviews a lot of relevant literature
• Relatively brief descriptions
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Disadvantages:
• Somebody else’s description
• May be incorrect
• May be biased
• Not enough detail
What is the literature?