PSY-101 1st EditionLecture 4Outline of Last LectureI. Goals of Psychological ScienceII. The Scientific Attitude and Critical ThinkingIII. The Scientific MethodIV. Building TheoriesOutline of Current Lecture I. Case Studies and Surveys Current LectureI. Case Studies and Surveysa. Naturalistic Observation- studying a group of people.b. Participant Observation- you participate in the group you are studying.c. Case Studies- highly detailed description of a single individual.i. Generally used to investigate rare, unusual or extreme conditions.ii. Quite useful in clinical, neurological, and neuroscientific areas.d. Surveys- designed to investigate opinions, behaviors, or characteristics of a particular group.i. Usually in self-report form.ii. Problems:1. Do people answer honestly?a. One strategy is to ask the same question in different manners.b. Computer surveys may elicit more honesty.iii. Important Terms for Survey Design:1. Sample- a selected segment of the population used to represent the group that is being studied.2. Representative sample- a selected segment that very closely parallels the larger population being studied on relevant characteristics.3. Random selection- process in which subjects are selected randomly from a larger group such that every group member has an equal chance of being included in the study.iv. Correlation1. Correlation Study- a research strategy that allows the precise calculation of how strongly related two factors are to each other.2. Correlation Coefficient- numerical indication of magnitude and direction of the relationship between two variables.a. Correlation coefficients always fall in the range from -1.00 to +1.00.i. The closer the absolute value of the correlation coefficient is to 1.00, whether positive or negative, the stronger the correlation or association is between two factors.ii. The number indicates strength of the relationship.iii. The sign indicates direction of the relationship between two variables.1. For example, a positive coefficient means both variables increase or decrease. A negative coefficient means the variables go in different directions/are inverse.b. Correlations do not necessarily indicate causality!! Only experiments allow for cause and effect