PSYC 1001 1st Edition Lecture 10 Outline of Last Lecture I. CorrelationsII. Experimenta. Independent Variableb. Dependent VariableIII. Statistical SignificanceOutline of Current Lecture I. Experimentsa. ProblemsII. Report FindingsCurrent LectureI. Potential problems with experiments:a. Selection biasi. Results are not generalizable.b. Experimental and control conditions may have different types of subjects.c. Not always reduced to one variable because you can have a compound variable.i. You have to look at the broad picture like what is happening due to the experiment?d. Placebo Effect: Experimental results are caused by subject’s expectations.i. Placebo: Inert substance that has medicinal value because of a person’s belief in a drug.These 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.1. ‘SugarPill’Placebo Drug01020304050607080Actual Drug EffectSeries 12. The y axis is the reduction in pain reported by the subjects.3. Then you take the reported number from the actual drug and subtract the reported number from the placebo and that gives you the drug’s actual effect.4. In this example the actual drug effect is 40%.e. Experimental bias: A researcher’s expectations about the experiment affect the outcome unconsciously.i. Example: Treating the control and experimental group differently withoutnoticing.ii. Solution to placebo effect and experimenter bias is:1. Double-Blind Study: Both the research subjects and research staff are ignorant (blind) about whether the research subjects have received the treatment or placebo.2. Can give them an active placebo, which does not give you the medicinal effects but does give you the side effects like the real drug so you cannot tell.a. But this just increases the placebo effect most of the time.f. Sometimes scientists will compare a new treatment to an old treatment that works. g. Advantages to experiments:i. Can validly draw cause-and-effect conclusions.h. Disadvantages:i. Often expensive (equipment, researchers, etc.)ii. Often time consumingiii. Can be artificial (Does this apply to real life?)II. Report Findings:a. ‘Published in a peer review journal’:i. A periodical that uses researchers to judge whether another researcher’s work is worth publishing.1. Often do not put your name on your research so there is no bias, but in a small community people usually know whose experiment it is.2. The research article goes through several peer-reviews before
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