lOMoARcPSD 36406143 Chapter 2 Psychological Research Chapter 2 Psychological Research General Psychology Santa Monica College General Psychology Santa Monica College Studocu is not sponsored or endorsed by any college or university Studocu is not sponsored or endorsed by any college or university Downloaded by shashank misala misala shashank gmail com lOMoARcPSD 36406143 Chapter 2 Psychological Research Why is research important evidence Scientific research critical tool to gain an objective understanding of something through supporting The process of consensus by the scientific community can last a while there are always contradictive studies on the same topic It is important to have a critical eye when seeing a particular perspective there could be contradictory and more truthful ones Facts observable realities Opinions personal judgments conclusions or attitudes that may or may not be accurate Margaret Floy Washburn 1871 1939 first woman to earn a PhD in psychology researcher on animal behavior and cognition Mary Whiton Calkins 1863 1930 first generation American psychology opposed to the behaviorist movement significant research into memory established one of the earliest experimental psychology labs in the US Francis Sumner 1895 1954 Father of Black Psychology first African American to receive a PhD in psychology 1920 focus on psychoanalysis on racial bias and on educational justice one of the founders of Howard University s department of psychology Inez Beverly Prosser 1895 1934 first African American woman with a PhD in psychology research on education in segregated VS integrated schools segregation of public schools is unconstitutional Horatio Pi ero 1869 1919 founder of the first experimental psychology laboratories in South Gunamudian David Boaz 1908 1965 first independent department of psychology in the University Narendra Nath Sen Gupta 1889 1944 first independent department of psychology in the University America of Madras of Calcutta Mary Whiton Calkins first female president of the APA 1905 by 1946 nearly one quarter of American psychologists are female Increasing diversity of contributors to the field of psychology Scientific method process that advances scientific knowledge Theories and hypotheses are tested against the real world in form of empirical observations Empirical observations lead to more ideas that are tested against the real world Circularity of the scientific process Deductive reasoning ideas are tested in the real world A generalization hypothesis is used to reach logical conclusions about the real world If the hypothesis is correct then the logical conclusions should also be correct Downloaded by shashank misala misala shashank gmail com lOMoARcPSD 36406143 Ex all living things require energy to survive hypothesis ducks are living things therefore ducks require energy to survive logical conclusion Since the hypothesis is correct the conclusion is too however an incorrect hypothesis may lead to a logical but incorrect conclusion Inductive reasoning real world observations lead to new ideas opposite direction to deductive reasoning Empirical observations are used to construct broad generalizations The generalizations must be tested through deductive reasoning Ex since apples bananas and oranges grow on trees all fruit grows on trees false Scientific process formulation of a hypothesis through inductive reasoning test of the hypothesis through deductive reasoning complex to be tested all at once Theory well developed set of ideas that propose an explanation for observed phenomena too Hypothesis testable prediction about how the world will behave if our idea is correct if then statement gap between ideas and real world Created to test specific aspects of a theory As specific hypotheses are tested theories are modified and refined to reflect and incorporate the result of these tests Must be falsifiable being shown incorrect Scientific method deriving hypotheses from theories and then testing those hypotheses Approaches to research of research questions experiment problems with ethics Many research methods each with its strengths and weaknesses each appropriate for certain types Correlational research find a relationship between two variables cause effect by performing an Experimental research much control over the variables of interest artificial setting in some cases Clinical or case study studies that only focuses on one person or few individuals Allows to gain more insight Specific hard to generalize ability to apply the findings of a particular research project to larger segments of society Downloaded by shashank misala misala shashank gmail com lOMoARcPSD 36406143 Naturalistic observation observe a behavior in its natural context without the participants to be biased since when people know they are being watched they tend to not behave naturally The researcher avoids interfering with the subjects while observing them maintaining a distance Validity and accuracy of the information more realism Difficult to set up no control on when or if you have behavior to observe Significant investments of time money and good dose of luck Structured observation people are observed while engaging in set specific tasks Observer bias people who act as observers are usually closely involved in the research project and may unconsciously skew their observations to fit their research goals or expectations Protect against it by having clear criteria established for the types of behaviors recorded and how those behaviors should be classifies Inter rater reliability measure of reliability that assesses the consistency of observations by different observers comparison of observations of the same event by multiple observers to test it Surveys lists of questions to be answered by research participants easy collected data Gather data from larger samples subset of individuals selected from a population the overall group of individuals that the researcher is interested in Study of the sample and generalize the findings to the population Not able to collect the same depth of information on each person as in case studies Calculate various measures of central tendency from the collected data overall summary of the typical response Responses are not always accurate bias Mode most frequent response Median the middle of a given data set Mean arithmetic average of all data points most useful measure very sensitive to the effects of outliers Archival research use of existing records