Module 3 Scientific Research Ethics What are some examples of how early psychologists failed to support their assumptions with legitimate research Gall 1790 believed you could measure a person s character by the bumps on their head He based his observations off of a few less intelligent people he knew who had bumps under their ear He did not have substantial evidence to actually prove his idea of phrenology and many other scientists debunked his theories What are the core principles of modern psychological science Empirical Evidence o Refers to data being collected through direct observation or experiment o Empirical evidence does not rely on argument or belief o Instead experiments and observations are carried out carefully and reported in detail so that other investigators can repeat and attempt to verify the work Objectivity o Researchers should remain totally value free when studying they should try to remain totally unbiased in their investigations I e Researchers are not influenced by personal feelings and experiences o Objectivity means that all sources of bias are minimized and that personal or subjective ideas are eliminated The pursuit of science implies that the facts will speak for themselves even if they turn out to be different from what the investigator hoped Control All extraneous variables need to be controlled in order to be able to establish cause IV Predictability o We should be aiming to be able to predict future behavior from the findings of our and effect DV research Hypothesis testing o E g a statement made at the beginning of an investigation that serves as a prediction and is derived from a theory There are different types of hypotheses null and alternative which need to be stated in a form that can be tested i e operationalized and unambiguous Replication o This refers to whether a particular method and finding can be repeated with different same people and or on different occasions to see if the results are similar o If a dramatic discovery is reported but it cannot be replicated by other scientists it will not be accepted o If we get the same results over and over again under the same conditions we can be sure of their accuracy beyond reasonable doubt o This gives us confidence that the results are reliable and can be used to build up a body of knowledge or a theory vital in establishing a scientific theory What makes something a scientific theory A scientific theory is a series of observations about a particular phenomenon that provide explanations and predictions that can be tested What is null hypothesis testing The null hypothesis is the default position that the effect you are looking for does not exist What is the difference between a one tailed and two tailed test A one tailed test means the hypothesis has an implied direction For example a null hypothesis saying Physical exercise does not increase mood would be one tailed since it refers to an increase in mood A two tailed test means the hypothesis does not imply a direction For example exercise has an impact on mood would be two tailed because we suspect there is a relationship between exercise and happiness but we re not sure if the impact will be positive or negative What does it mean for a result to be statistically significant Statistical significance means that the differences seen between sets of measurements are unlikely to be due to random variation What is the difference between Type I and Type II error Type I Falsely rejecting the null hypothesis In other words the effect you are looking for does not exist in reality but the conclusion of your study is that the effect is real Type II Falsely accepting the null hypothesis In other words the effect you are looking for is real but the outcome of your research is that there is no effect What is the difference between a research population and a research sample A research population includes a large group being studied Researchers usually cannot make direct observations of every individual in the population they are studying so they collect data from a subset of individuals or a sample What is the difference between probability and convenience sampling With probability sampling all elements in the population have some opportunity of being included in the sample and the mathematical probability that any one of them will be selected can be calculated A convenience sample not because such samples are necessarily easy to recruit but because the researcher uses whatever individuals are available rather than selecting from the entire population When would we need to use random sampling in order to answer our research question Random sample occurs when all elements in the sampling frame have an equal chance of selection and sampling is done in a single stage with each element selected independently How might selection biases influence our results Be prepared to define and provide examples of Undercoverage occurs when some members of the population are inadequately represented in the sample Voluntary response bias occurs when sample members are self selected volunteers Nonresponse bias occurs in statistical surveys if the answers of respondents differ from the potential answers of those who did not answer How do researchers use each of the following methods to collect data o Naturalistic observation A researcher unobtrusively collects information without o Structured observation Researchers can set up a situation and observe that the participant s awareness participant s behavior on a survey or structure assessment them for an extended period of time for differences between the groups o Self report Participants are asked to provide information or responses to questions o Longitudinal study This approach is to recruit a sample of participants and track o Cross sectional study Researchers can gather participants of different ages and look o Case study Research can conduct a detailed analysis of a particular person group business event etc We tend to fuse this approach to learn more about especially interesting or rare examples with the goal of describing that particular thing o Archival Researchers can examine data that has already been collected for other purposes o Controlled experiment Researchers create a controlled environment in which they can carefully manipulate at least one variable to test its effect on another The key here is that the researchers can cause a change in one variable What are some of the most common ways that mistakes in
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