UMass Amherst PSYCH 241 - Psych 241 Study Guide Exam 1 (3 pages)

Psych 241 Study Guide Exam 1 What does the APA code of ethics provide and to whom does it apply The Ethics Code is intended to provide guidance for psychologists and standards of professional conduct that can be applied by the APA and by other bodies that choose to adopt them states that psychologists may dispense with informed consent when research involves naturalistic observation All psychologists including students What are the IRB and IACUC and who are they designed to protect respectively IRB Institutional Review Board committee established to review and approve research involving human subjects ensures that all human subjects research will be conducted in accordance with all federal institutional and ethical guidelines IACUC Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee to keep animals used in research safe keep the research itself ethical for animal use What do we mean by risk benefit ratio and who is considered in this ratio Costs and benefits of a research project to the participants society the researcher and the institution Is the research worth it Are the benefits greater than the risks Will the study produce valid and interpretable results Researcher subject institution society What do we mean by minimal risk What other types of risk must be considered Harm or discomfort is not greater than that experienced in daily life or during routine physical or psychological tests Physical injury bodily harm psychological injury mental or emotional stress social injury embarrassment exclusion What do we mean by informed consent and why is this important for psych research A social contract between research and participants make clear to participants the nature of the research what they will do and possible risks of participating What needs to be done when a participant can t provide informed consent Obtain legal guardian s consent Which dimensions are important in determining if informed consent is required Required when risk is greater than minimal Level risk nature of behavior sensitivity sharing setting What do we mean by privacy and what do participants have a right to know The right of individuals to decide how information about them is communicated to others How their information is protected and how their confidentiality will be protected What three dimensions need to be considered when thinking about private vs public behavior 3 S s Sensitivity of information setting where data collected method of dissemination of the information sharing When is it unacceptable to include deception in psychological research The researcher should avoid deceiving participants about the nature of the research unless there is no alternative and even then this would need to be judged acceptable by an independent expert However participants must be deceived as little as possible and any deception must not cause distress If you have gained participants informed consent by deception then they will have agreed to take part without actually knowing what they were consenting to What are the pros and cons of deceiving research participants Pros deception is necessary the intentions are generally good the ends can really justify the means a lack of deception can sometimes ruin everything Cons even the best of intentions can go wrong the potential for abuse still exists the risk factors remain the morality of the whole concept is extremely complex When is it acceptable to include deception and what must the researcher provide in the end Without question when it comes to psychological or sociological experiments there are going to be situations in which you do not want the subject to know everything In order for the experiment to be effective and meaningful you are going to want to keep certain things from the patient at certain times during the experiment Must provide a debriefing at the end that explains the study and what the participant was just a part of Be prepared to identify and sequence the steps of the research process 1 Theory or general problem of interest research question 2 Generate specific testable hypothesis 3 Design study and evaluate ethics 4 Conduct study so as to achieve unambiguous results evaluate internal and external validity 5 Collect and summarize data descriptive statistics Draw conclusions from these analyses inferential statistics Reject modify support original hypothesis Be prepared to distinguish between inductive and deductive theorizing Inductive theories to help organize empirical knowledge these results suggest X may be key Deductive theories guide research by suggesting research hypotheses this theory suggests X will happen if Y Be prepared to list and describe the four main goals of scientific research 1 Description events and their relationships are defined classified organized etc 2 Prediction based on observed correlations among 2 variables we are able to predict behavior and mental processes 3 Explanation we can understand and explain a phenomenon when we can identify its causes make a causal inference 4 Application applied research often designed to solve a problem What are the two of the main reasons we conduct experimental research 1 To test hypotheses about the causes of phenomena 2 To determine the effectiveness of a treatment program What is the logic of experimental research and why is control important To manipulate independent variable to observe effect on dependent variable control is essential and is achieved through manipulation of IV holding other variables constant balancing Appropriate control allows researcher to eliminate plausible alternatives make a causal inference IV caused change in DV Without control confounding may occur presenting a plausible alternative that caused change in DV What are the three conditions that need to be met for internal validity Co variation of events time order relationship elimination of plausible alternatives What are the three main types of variables in any experiment Independent variable dependent variable secondary variables What do we mean by individual difference variables and why are they interesting Characteristics of subjects that have potential for confounding secondary variables reduce internal validity and the causal inference What are the three main types of independent group designs Random groups design matched groups design natural groups design Be prepared to identify strengths weaknesses of each type of group design Random strength balance secondary variables weakness large number Matched