5 15 Lecture The science game and the cycle of scientific progress The Science Game 3 non scientific modes of understanding their limits 1 Experience what seems to have been true for me in the past 2 3 Tradition authority what does my culture believe to be true Intuition what feels like the true answer The Golden Rule of science scientific claims bust be testable and able to produce answers 1 Empirical Evidence is An observation or measurement that contributes to either verifying or falsifying a claim about what s true Independent of the observer i e objective The evidence will be the same no matter who observes it 2 Empirical Testing is Any situation or procedure that creates empirical evidence which allows a claim on truth to be verified or falsified Empirical tests must be replicable and verifiable The Golden Assumption of the science game 1 If an object of study exists in nature it is Knowable i e its possible to fully DESCRIBE and EXPLAIN even highly complex things like brains beliefs time and love 2 All phenomena including psychological are Lawful If we could perfectly control all of the input variables we could perfectly PREDICT and CONTROL the outcome The Cycle of Scientific Progress 5 20 lecture Operationalizing measures Psychological construct Theory testing 1 Social Learning Theory Bandura 1977 We are conditioned by social norms to behave in certain ways 2 Parental Investment Theory Trivers 1971 The sex that bares the greater cost risk of pregnancy and child rearing will be biologically motivated to be choosier and more cautious Multiple Levels of Analysis to explain human behavior 1 From the biological up to the socio cultural Its not Nature vs Nurture its both 2 W E I R D samples 1 Stands for Western Educated Industrialized Rich Democratic 2 WEIRD is not necessarily the norm 3 The top 4 countries for psychology citations are English speaking 1 Any explanatory variable that is not directly observable or tangible He ate the cookie because he was hungry 2 To empirically study constructs we need to operationalize them Turning abstract constructs into specific measurable instances that are both reliable and valid It needs to be valid it needs to reliable Multiple ways to operationalize psychological constructs 1 Self Report Measures Verbal responses to Interview or Questionnaire items Ex Subjective Well Being Scale Pros Easy low cost Large anonymous samples can be quickly studied May be the most appropriate format i e the study of attitudes mood Cons Open to fabrication intentional or not Memory distortions Lazy or inattentive responding May not be useful for non conscious or non declarative constructs 2 Self Report bias Social desirability Bias aka Demand Characteristics a Giving socially acceptable responses in an actively deceptive way b Solution Anonymity and ask for honesty Order Priming Effects c Early responses can bias later ones d Ex Asking about racism then showing white vs black candidates for hire e Perhaps you may need to randomize order of questions Response set f When similar responses to a few initial questions establish or Mental Set g Ex Oh I m a 6 I ll just do all 6 s No need to pay close a pattern of responding attention 3 Observational Measures aka Behavioral Measures Recording observable behaviors Ex Measuring Happiness via of smiles Ex Counting the number of problems attempted to measure motivation Pros More shielded from respondent bias Can be recorded w less interference less obvious e g chair distance Sometimes most appropriate operationalization e g helping Cons Can be more complicated to collect Maybe experimenters see what they want to see interpretation issues Ethics ex Math cheating study Recording biological data believed to be associated with a construct Ex Dopamine Endorphin levels in the brain to measure happiness Ex Blood flow to the reward center nucleus accumbens in an fMRI Pros Hard to consciously control or fake Can be very precise Perceived as more credible Cons Can be expensive time consuming to collect May require technical expertise w machinery procedures May be most sensitive to uncontrollable sources of error Ethics e g reaction formation study fMRI lie detection 4 Physiological Measures Validity vs Reliability It needs to be Valid 1 o The operationalized measure is actually capturing what it claims to be measuring as best and completely as possible o Ex A 34 inch yard stick is an invalid measure of a yard 36 inches o Questionable Validity Traditional Lie Detectors Infant Looking 5 22 lecture Survey creation sampling o http fixingpsychology blogspot com 2012 05 what is wrong with infant looking html It needs to be Reliable 2 o The measure produces consistent scores when constructs are stable o And it captures changes when constructs change o In other words fluctuations in scores are not a mistake o Ex A 34 inch yard stick is reliable i e consistent but not valid o Ex A EEG machine may be valid but if glitchy its not reliable Population vs Sample vs Representative sample 1 Population the entire set of people of interest who share some criteria 2 Sample A subset of the population of interest we re typically interested in generalizing from a sample to the population 3 Representative sample 2500 people Probability sampling Ensures that every individual in a population has an equal chance of being sampled Examples random digit dialing database sampling and zip code sampling 1 Simple Random Sampling Every person has a specified probability of being included Example choosing 25 employee names out of a hat for a company of 250 2 Stratified Random Sampling Final sample reflects the proportions of subgroups represented in the population EX If FSU is X Christian Y Jewish Z Muslim W atheist out final sample of 100 students should reflect those same percentages Non Probability Sampling Issues of Generalizability 1 Convenience Sampling using whatever sample is accessible 2 Not appropriate when trying to generalize broadly or to make frequency claims Wording Survey Items Do s Don ts 1 DO use Clarity the meaning of all questions must be clear and unambiguous to all respondents Core Vocabulary Words and phrases used in casual speech such as using the word fossils instead of paleontology 2 DON T use Double barreled questions asking two things at once try to make them two separate questions Negative phrasing saying not or never makes it difficult to determine what agree and disagree means For example state the statement and then ask do you
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