Critical Thinking & Research
Strategies
Outline
• Critical Thinking
• Research Strategies
What is Research?
Research: The methodical
scientific investigation of a
phenomena
Research is also…
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•
•
•
•
•
Fun & Entertaining
Enlightening
Challenging
Time Consuming
Susceptible to error
Something most
psychologists engage in
Why do psychological research?
•
•
Purpose of Research: To differentiate
between uniformed opinions and examined
conclusions
Leads to our understanding of how people
feel, think, and act as they do
Hindsight Bias
• The “I-could-have-told-you-that” effect
• There is always a common sense way to
explain findings (hindsight bias)
• Do “opposites attract”
Or
• Do “birds of a feather flock together”
• Psychological research methods help us avoid
the hindsight bias
• I will provide a 3 number sequence
based on a rule…
• Your task: Guess my rule
• My Sequence: 2, 4, 6
• Provide another 3 number sequence
that will test my rule (Write it down)
• When you think you have the rule I
used figured out, raise your hand.
Confirmation Bias
• The tendency to search for information
that confirms one’s preconceptions.
• Looking only for confirming evidence
ignores all other evidence
Confirmation Bias
• Some real world examples of
confirmation bias…
• People on welfare are lazy.
• Bill Gates is greedy.
• Women are bad drivers.
• People are smarter than dolphins.
• That person is attracted to me!
Confirmation Bias
• The tendency to search for information
that confirms one’s preconceptions.
• Looking only for confirming evidence
ignores all other evidence
• To be scientific you must try to find
disconfirming evidence
Critical Thinking
• Prevents us from
accepting arguments
and conclusions
blindly
• Forces us to examine
assumptions and
evaluate evidence
Critical Thinking, Cont.
• Helps us to avoid
hindsight bias,
confirmation bias, &
false uniqueness
• Is an essential
component of
psychological research
Critical Thinking Summary
• What is research?
• Purpose of research
• Bias in research
• Hindight Bias
• Confirmation Bias
• False Uniqueness
• Critical thinking as a way to
avoid bias in research
How Psychologists Ask and
Answer Questions
Scientific Method
Scientific Method
What is the scientific method?
• A recipe for conducting
research
• Progresses logically
• Extends knowledge base
• Used to create theories that organize,
summarize, and simplify observations
The Research Process
(Scientific Method)
Research
Question
Step 1: Establish a research question
• We often begin with a general question
Example: Is introversion related to
intelligence?
The Research Process
(Scientific Method)
Research
Question
Develop
Theory
Step 2: Develop a theory to answer your
research question
• Theory: General explanation of how variables
relate to one another (an answer to our research
question)
Example: Introverted people are smarter than
extroverted people.
The Research Process
(Scientific Method)
Research
Question
Develop
Theory
Derive
Hypothesis
Step 3: Derive a hypothesis
• A hypothesis is a more specific prediction
of the relationships you expect to observe
between the variables (if your theory is
correct)
Example: People who score higher on an
introversion scale will score higher on a
measure of intelligence
Theory vs. Hypothesis
• Theory
• Broad
• Large picture view
• Unobservable
constructs
• Hypothesis
• Specific
• Specific prediction
about what we expect
to observe
• Observable variables
• Testable prediction
that enables us to
accept, reject, or
revise the theory
Theory vs. Hypothesis
Theory
1. Drinking water reduces
stress
Hypothesis
1. People who drink at
least 1 liter of water a
day will have fewer
headaches than people
who drink less water.
2. Aggressive people
engage in more
moving traffic
violations
2. People high on
Winterrowd’s hostile
aggression scale will
receive more tickets
for speeding.
From Theories to Hypotheses
• Operational Definition: Narrowly
defines variables
Theory
Operational Definition
• Drinks Excessively
• Hard Worker
• Is Aggressive
• Is Intelligent
• Reads a lot
>5 drinks/nt for 5 nts/wk
In office > 70 hrs/wk
Scores above 57 on AQ
Scores > 110 on WAIS
Completes > 10 books/yr
The Research Process
(Scientific Method)
Research
Question
Develop
Theory
Derive
Hypothesis
Step 3: Derive a hypothesis
• A hypothesis is a more specific statement
of the relationships you expect to observe
between the variables (if your theory is
correct)
Example: People who score higher on an
introversion scale will score higher on a
measure of intelligence
The Research Process
(Scientific Method)
Research
Question
Develop
Theory
Derive
Hypothesis
Design
Research
Step 4: Design the research
• Figure out how we are going to collect data
Example: Find scales (extroversion,
intelligence), recruit participants, etc.
The Research Process
(Scientific Method)
Research
Question
Develop
Theory
Derive
Hypothesis
Design
Research
Interpret
Data
Evaluate
Data
Collect
Data
Step 5: Collect Data
Step 6: Evaluate data
Step 7: Interpret data with respect
to our theory
The Research Process
(Scientific Method)
Research
Question
Develop
Theory
Derive
Hypothesis
Design
Research
Interpret
Data
Evaluate
Data
Collect
Data
Step 8: Loop! (replication)
Summary so far…
• Scientific method
• Theory vs. Hypothesis
• Operational definitions
How Psychologists Ask and
Answer Questions
Methodology
Methodology Outline
• Naturalistic Observation
• Survey
• Case Study
• Correlation
• Experiment
Naturalistic Observation
Observing and
recording behavior in
the natural
environment
No attempt to control
or manipulate the
situation
Survey
A form of
descriptive
research used to
examine a
phenomenon
Two common
methods:
questionnaires &
interviews
Case Study
• One subject studied
in depth to learn or
discover universal
principles
Methodology: Correlation
Correlation
When one trait or behavior accompanies
another, we say the two correlate.
Correlational research: Examination of
how scores on one variable relate to
scores on another variable for the same
group of people
Example: Smoking and cancer
Correlational Research
• The relationship between variables (i.e., the
correlation) can be described in terms of…
• Direction
• Positive relationship
• Negative relationship
• No relationship
• Strength
• Correlation coefficient (r)
Correlational Research - Direction
30
• Positive Relationship
• As one variable increases,
so does the other variable
25
20
15
10
5
Ex. Height & weight
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
30
• Negative Relationship
• As one variable increases,
the other decreases
25
20
15
10
5
Ex. Self-esteem & depression
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Correlational Research - Direction
• No relationship
• Changes in one
variable are unrelated
to changes in the
other variable
25
20
15
10
5
0
1
Ex. Extroversion and
emotional stability
2
3
4
5
6
Correlational Research ‐ Strength
• Strength
• Correlation coefficient (r)
• Ranges from -1 to +1
Correlation
coefficient
Correlation Coefficient
is a statistical measure
of the relationship
between two variables.
Indicates strength
of relationship
(0.00 to 1.00)
r = + 0.37
Indicates direction
of relationship
(positive or negative)
Correlational Research
Correlation does
not equal
Causation!!!
Correlation and Causation
Correlation does not mean causation!
or
Correlation and Causation
Ice Cream
Sales
r = ++
r = ++
Murder
Rate
r = ++
Third
Variable
Methodology: Experiment
Experiment
• A method where researchers manipulate
one or more variables to observe the effect
• Often while other
factors are controlled
Advantage: Causality
can be concluded
Experimentation
A summary of steps during experimentation.
Independent Variable
An independent variable (IV) is the
factor manipulated by the experimenter
Example: Breast feeding
Dependent Variable
A dependent variable (DV)
is the factor measured in
response to manipulation of
the independent variable
• Effect: Typically a behavior or
a mental process
Example: Intelligence
Experimentation – Key
Characteristics
• Control Group
• Group that serves as a
comparison to allow for
evaluation of treatment
• Random Assignment
• Assignment to condition by
chance event
• Height example - grades
Experimentation
A summary of steps during experimentation.