PSYCH 1103 1st Edition Lecture 2 Outline of Last Lecture II. What is psychology?A. Science of mental processes and behaviorIII. Key approaches of PsychologyIV. Aims of PsychologyOutline of Current Lecture V. Research Methods in PsychologyB. Scientific methodVI. Research designs and CautionsVII. Analyzing DataCurrent LectureSmith’s suggestions- Get involved in research- Talk with someone in the career field you hope to pursue- Check out CLAS professional development sessionsResearch methods in Psychology- Science is a methodo It is not what you study but how you study it- Scientific method:o Observe some phenomenon Curiosity- Why do people drunk dial their exes? Theory Variableso Formulate hypothesis Testable prediction Derived from theoryo Test hypothesis through empirical research Operational definition of variablesThese notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute. Analyze data using statistical procedureso Draw conclusions Conclusions must be supported by findings Replication of results to determine reliabilityo Evaluate conclusions Implications?- Revise the theory? Peer review and publication Meta-analysis- Take several studies on topic and combine them together- Research methods: ways of collecting datao Observation Naturalistic- observing people in real-world environment, in their everyday life; i.e. mall- Pro: external validity (findings can be generalized to the real world)- Con: no experimenter control over variableso Cannot find what causes a particular behavior Structured- in the laboratory- Pro: controlled setting- Con: artificial, doesn’t show what REALLY occurso Physiological assessments Functional neuroimaging- measure brain activity- EEG- track electrical activity along the scalp- fMRI measure changes in blood flow to specific areas of the brain Saliva testing (cortisol)- measure of a stress response Pro: really give physical objectivity Con: expensiveo Surveys and interviews- less objective Structured- every participant get asked the same questions and in the same order Unstructured- depends on participants response to preview questions rather than sticking to one direction Forced choice- yes/no, scale Open-ended- view attitudes on certain questions Pro: a lot of data in short about of time from many participants. Access info only P is privy to Con: social desirabilityThese notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.- Can answer in a way that is socially acceptable rather than how they actually feelo Case studies Gather a lot of information about one particular individual Pro: a lot of in-depth information about that person Con: low generalizability (not duplicated in other people)- What they are experiencing most likely is not similar to what otherpeople are experiencing- Research designso Descriptive research Goal: describing some phenomenon- Tells what it is but not how and why it became that way or how it might changeo Correlational research Goal: identifying relationships between two different variables- Studying factors as they naturally occur- Does not answer questions about causationo Doesn’t tell whether variable A causes variable B (vise versa) or whether there is any relationships between them at allo Experimental research Goal: determine causation Variables:- Independent- variable that is manipulated. (The cause)- Dependent- what is measured to see if there has been some change based on manipulation of independent variable. (The effect) Experimental group- Independent variable is manipulated Control group- Treated equally except no manipulation of independent variable Random assignment commonly used Cautions- Internal validity- Are dependent variable changes the result of independent variable manipulation?- Logical errors?- Bias? Experimenter biasThese notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute. Its easy to miss what you’re not looking for Conformation bias- interpret results as support for hypothesis, even if ambiguous; ignore alternativeso Research participant bias- behavior influenced by how they believe they are supposed to behave Demand characteristics: cue that makes participants away of what the experimenter expects to find Social desirabilityo Placebo effect Participant expectations produce experimental outcome, even though there is no manipulation- Double blind experimento Both the experimenters are “blind” to which is the control/experimental groupResearch example- Populationo Entire group about whom conclusion is drawn- Sampleo Portion of population actually observed- Random sampleo Equal chance of being selected- Representative sampleo Characteristics similar to populationAnalyzing and interpreting data- Statisticso Mathematical methods used to report data- Descriptive statisticso Describe and summarize data- Inferential statisticso Draw conclusions about dataDescriptive statistics- Measure of central tendencyo What the data looks like on averageThese notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute. Calculate mean: numeric average of responses Calculate mode: most common response Calculate median: central response- Measures of dispersiono How spread out the scores are around the mean Range: distance between highest and lowest score Standard deviation: how spread out on average the scores are around themean- Correlationso Description of relationship between variables that occur together. How are they associated  Correlation coefficient: r- Ranges between -1.00 < r <1.00 Strength of relationship- Magnitude Direction of the relationship- +/-- Correlation and causationo Correlation does not cause causationo Problems with correlations: Direction of causation: x causes y? Or y causes x? Third variable problem?o Still benefits of correlational designs Some variables cant be manipulated In some cases it is unethical to conduct an experimentInferential statistics- Does data confirm hypothesis?- Statement of