Psych 380 1st Edition Lecture 7 Current Lecture Chapter 4 Research Methods in the Study Psychopathology I Science and Scientific Methods II Approaches to Research on Psychopathology III Integrating the Findings of Multiple Studies Statistical and Clinical Significance Statistical significance Probability 05 Can be influenced by number of participants Larger samples increase likelihood of significance Clinical significance Is the association meaningful as well as statistically significant Reducing purges from 4 times a week to 3 times a week may not be meaningful Threats to external validity Setting Limitations of experimental setting Was there something odd about the time period duing which the data was collected Unique history accompanied treatment e g Surgeon general s report on smoking issued during course of smoking cessation treatment Is there something unique about the experimental setting Context effects rural vs urban site doctor s office vs experimental lab PROBLEM Will Tx only generalize to sites with same history or same setting context SOLUTION conduct replications at different sites at different times Threats to external validity Limitations of sampling Selection factors limiting generalizability Will results generalize to other groups College students Higher SES IQ more psychologically minded personality differences ambition Type A openness Volunteers More likely to be female compliant in need of incentive interested in topic Should SONA include titles when recruiting subjects Treatment seeking vs self care Treatment seeking tend to be female have more intractable problem less natural support have more more favorable attitudes toward seeking help Experimental Research Treatment Outcomes Research designed to answer the question Does treatment work Empirically supported treatments Efficacy and Effectiveness Established protocol Treatment Manuals Need for dissemination Evidence based practice Definition An EBP is an intervention for which there is strong research demonstrating effectiveness in improving client outcomes Effectiveness refers to demonstration of helpfulness in the applied setting not just in strictly controlled research settings Problem No single agency like FDA is for drugs to decide what is evidence based Analogue Experiment Experiments not always possible in psychopathology Ethical or practical constraints Examine related or similar behavior in the lab Induce temporary symptoms Recruit participants with similarities to diagnosable disorders College students who tend to be anxious or depressed Animal research Single Case Experimental Research Examine how individual participants respond to changes in the independent variable Reversal ABAB Design The reversal technique not always possible Initial state may not be recoverable Integrating Findings from Multiple Studies Meta analysis Identify relevant studies Compute effect size Transforms results to a common scale Smith et al 1980 Meta analyzed 475 outcome studies Involved 25 000 subjects Results Psychotherapy is effective