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SU PSY 274 - Scientific Method
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PSY 274 1st Edition Lecture 1The Scientific Method1. First the researcher states a problem for study: (can be done in these 2 ways) Inspiration from previous theories and research: After reading another’s work, a researcher may believe that he or she has a better way of explaining people’s behavior and can extend findings.Ex. Behaviorism vs. Festinger(Festinger came up with cognitive dissonance theory, after doing a participant observation studyof a cult that believed that the earth was going to be destroyed by a flood, and then what happened once they realized the flood didn’t happen. The less committed members were more likely to admit they were wrong while the more committed members re interpreted the situation to say they were right all along. According to the theory people have many cognitions about the world and ourselves but when they clash, there is a discrepancy resulting in a state of tension known as cognitive dissonance. Because we don’t want this to occur we are motivated to reduce or eliminate it to be in agreement once again.). Inspiration from personal observations: Researchers encounter things in theireveryday lives that they find curious and interesting.Inspiration from life or personal observations: Researchers encounter things in their everyday life or the lives of others that they find curious and interesting prompting them to theorize about why this phenomenon occurred. Ex. Kitty Genovese – 37 people saw a woman get stabbed, the killer came back three times, and still no one called the police. After reading about this case, researchers become involved and developed ‘bystander effect’ which is a social psychological phenomenon that refers to situations in which individuals do not help victims when other people are present because they assume someone else will. This phenomenon is more likely to happen if the number of people present is large.2. Researcher formulates a testable hypothesis as a tentative solution to the problemThese 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. Theories are composed of c onstructs (i.e., abstract ideas like the words marriage, anger, gender, racism) that are linked together in some logical way, but cannot be directly observed therefore we must add meaning to them through operational definitions. - Operational definition: Classifies theoretical constructs in terms of observable operations, procedures, and measurements.- Ex. Defining aggression: there are many definitions of aggression and many ways of measuring: Some ways of measuring aggression include(evoking it through noise blasts/ for example to upset the participant with a loud noise or adding hot sauce on their favorite food so that they become upset, or asking them to punch a bobo doll)3. Researcher designs a study to test the hypothesis & collects dataObservational Method (almost never used anymore)- Goal: describe what a particular group of people or type of behavior islike.- Method: researchers observe people and records measurements or impressions of their behavior. The goal is not to see what causes a result between two things but just to DESCRIBE- Examples:o Ethnography – describing a culture(Researcher joined a cult that believed the world was going to end yet he did not influence the cult in any way. Instead he just wanted to see what happens when they realize that the world didn’t end – Cognitive dissonance)Archival analysis: refers to a form of the observational method whereby the researcher examines the accumulated documents, or archives, of a culture(e.g., diaries, novels, magazines, and newspapers).- Limits: - Event must naturally occur with enough frequency to capture it.- Cannot predict behaviorCorrelational Method:- Goal: understand associations/ relationship between variables and be able to predict when different kinds of social behavior will occur. Correlation DOES NOT mean Causation.- Method: 2 variables are systematically measured (NOT manipulated) and the association between them is assessed- Examples:o Cross-sectional studies /Surveys: researchers record information about their subjects without manipulating the study environment. The defining feature of a cross-sectional study is that it can compare different population groups at a single point in time. The benefit of a cross-sectional study design is that it allows researchers to compare many different variables at the same time. We could, for example, look at age,gender, and income. However, cross-sectional studies may not provide definite information about cause-and-effect relationships.o Longitudinal studies : Researchers do not interfere with their subjects. However, in a longitudinal study, researchers conductseveral observations of the same subjects over a period of time, sometimes lasting many years. The benefit of a longitudinal study is that researchers are able to detect developments or changes in the characteristics of the target population at both the group and the individual level.- Correlation coefficients:- Range from +1 to -1- Absolute value of correlation represents strength of association- The closer it is to 1 the stronger it is. 0 means no association. o Can be positive or negative- Positive correlation: as one increases so does the other one. /- Negative Correlation: one variable increases the other variable decreasesEX. A -0.83 on a graph would show a negative correlation because line is going down and this is pretty close to 1 so the points on the graph should be very close to the line.- Limits of Correlational Method: o Correlation does not equal causation Spurious correlations Reverse-causality: what is believed to be the cause may actually be the effect but you cant be sure. Third variables: A type of confounding variable in which a third variable leads to a mistaken causal relationship between two others. For instance, cities with a greater number of churches have a higher crime rate. However, more churches do not lead to more crime, but instead the third variable population leads to both more churches and more crime.o Experimental Method:- Goal: determine causal associations between variables- Method: research systematically orchestrates the event so that people experience it in one way or another way.EX. Speed Dating- Research on dating brought people


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SU PSY 274 - Scientific Method

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