Content of State Mandated Quiz for Research Methods in Psychology 1 Scientific Method Items will assess knowledge of the scientific method as it is applied in psychological research This includes knowing how to formulate testable research hypotheses how to evaluate plausible alternative hypotheses for one s findings the importance of replication identifying the differences between science and pseudo science and the differences between experimental and correlational studies Psuedoscience a domain of inquiry that has the superficial appearance of being scientific but that does not rely on the critical scientific principles of objectivity verifiability empiricism and being public It is this when it claims that its knowledge derives from scientific research but fails to follow the basic principles of science parapsychology is seen this because it links our scientifically oriented discipline with pseudoscience Pseudosciences are characterized by resilience on flimsy and questionable evidence a resistance to change or further development of theory a lack of ways to these ideas avoidance of contradictory information and a lack of critical though about ways to develop the theory Items will assess knowledge of how statistical tests are commonly used in psychological research This includes choosing the appropriate statistical test for a particular research design and interpreting the results of statistical tests such as a correlation t test and Analysis of Variance Items will assess knowledge of measurement principles including the different types of scales ratio interval etc that can be used in research and the concepts of reliability and validity Items will assess knowledge of what is involved in being a good consumer of research This includes knowing how to locate within the scientific literature existing research on a psychological topic and knowing what is included in the important elements Introduction Methods etc of scientific articles 2 Statistical Applications 3 Measurement Principles 4 Consumers of Research 5 Research Ethics Items will assess knowledge of what constitutes ethical treatment of human and animal research subjects as well as procedures for insuring that researchers comply with these principles Content Outline for State Mandated Quiz 1 Scientific Method The primary goal of scientific inquiry is to arrive at an understanding or reality and the people in it that is true The way in which you go about formulating this understanding makes the endeavor scientific or not it is a process Scientific claims must be subject to empirical tests that produce empirical evidence an observation or measurement that contributes to either verifying or falsifying a claim about what s true independent of the observer objective The evidence will be the same no matter who observes it Empirical testing any situation or procedure that creates empirical evidence which allows a claim on truth to be verified or falsified empirical The Cycle of Scientific Progress The process is the way and process that should happen for valid and reliable studies opposite of pseudoscience 1 Observation recognizing new phenomena new patterns or new relationships that have yet to be accounted for research starts with seeing the world in a way other don t to seeing things others haven t seen in the world observation 2 Building Theories Organizing particular findings and observations into a coherent system that 1 explains relations between parts 2 explains why such relations exist 3 Empirically testing propositions Theoretical propositions must be testable and falsifiable Theories must be updated to account for empirical outcomes Empirical tests provide the raw observations for new theories At the end if results confirm theory then we have faith in it If they don t then we modify the theory o Induction Deduction Induction is going from step 1 observation to step 2 building theories Deduction is going from step 2 building theories to step 3 empirically testing propositions However with deduction you can go back and forth between step two and step three It does not just have to be from step 2 to 3 it can be back from 3 to 2 It is an if then process if this happens then this might o Theory Modification based on findings results confirm the theory then we have faith in it If they don t then we modify the original theory because we can t confirm that the theory was accurate At the end of the scientific process cycle if o Null Hypothesis Testing tests the hypothesis and the alternative hypothesis the null to find out what the accurate explanation of the findings are either the IV caused a change in the DV hypothesis or it happened by random chance null hypothesis Quiz uses the phrasing Fail to Reject the Null instead of Accept the Null If our significance level is less than 05 than we fail to reject the null this means the outcome happened because the IV affected the DV the hypothesis you predict to find The role of replication in research You use replication to ensure your results did not just happen by chance Need to Replication is necessary to ensure validity and reliability repeat replicate experiments Types of Research Designs o Descriptive descriptive or frequency claims claims about what things people nature tend to be like and how frequently certain values or scores on a variable occur These are claims about a single measured variable Ex Median of family income in the U S is 51 900 these income is a claim that describes typical income Ex Lifetime frequency of mood disorders in the US is 20 Anxiety Disorder 39 these are usually things we are already familiar with claim describes the median and the frequency o Correlational these are association claims successfully describe what the world is like if there is a relationship between things claims about the purported relationship between two measured variables LOOK AT RELATIONSHIPS DO NOT PROVE ANYTHING Ex Time spent playing videogames is positively correlated with creativity Ex The SAT exists because it is a moderately strong predictor of 1st year GPA Ex In the US Income Happiness have a curvilinear relationship When are correlational studies valuable 1 When identifying or exploring potential causal relationships that we were unaware of It can help us avoid looking for causal relationships that are unlikely to exist 2 When simply trying to determine the truth or falsehood of descriptive claims made b out two continuous variables 3 When providing converging evidence
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