Ch. 2 Research Methods - PowerPoint Presentation

Ch. 2 Research Methods

Terms used in Research: Hypothesis: we are moving from an educated guess to expresses a relationship between two variables . Example: (not the one you can use). Music influences concentration in study halls.

Operational definition: is one makes it clear how the Researcher should go about measuring the process, activity, or thing. EG. Hunger for example might be defined as “ hours without eating ” When you word statements carefully with an operational definition you make it possible for others to replicate your study.

Provide an operational definition for the underlinedwords 1. The experimenter wants to determine how recreational drugs affect a person's sense of humor. Possible Answer: How many times the person laughs 2. The teacher wants to find a way to help make Billy act more friendly toward the other children. Possible Answer: How many times Billy helps someone else

The null hypothesis states that there is no relationship or difference between two sets of data. When conducting a psychology experiment, you can either not reject the null hypothesis (suggesting that there is no relationship between the variables) or reject the null hypothesis (suggesting that there is a relationship between the variables). For example, let's suppose that you are conducting an experiment on the effect of sleep deprivation on math scores. Your hypothesis is that students who receive less than five hours of sleep the night before a mathematics exam will do worse than students who sleep for more than five hours. After performing your experiment, you find that there is a statistically significant relationship between sleep deprivation and math scores, which means that you can reject the null hypothesis.

Theory: explanation of some aspect of the natural world that is acquired through the  scientific method , and  repeatedly confirmed  through observation   and  experimentation … Aims to explain http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lXh2n0aPyw

Variables are what you are manipulating in your experiment. http://tytusblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/engineers-make-better-models-of.html

Independent variables: What you are controlling in the experiment. Dependent variable: outcome that is affected by independent variable.

Experimental Group: Receives Treatment Control Group: receives no treatment

Validity and Reliability Valid : it is accurate Reliable: It can be replicated

Double Blind vs. Single Blind

Placebo : “ sugar pill” that is given and the patient believes to be the real thing.

Sampling six-sigma-material.com http://mips.stanford.edu/courses/stats_data_analsys/lesson_1/234_0_a.html When conducting research, it is almost always impossible to study the entire population that you are interested in. As a result, researchers use samples as a way to gather data. A sample is a subset of the population being studied. It represents the larger population and is used to draw inferences about that population.

A BAD SAMPLE Finding the average height of men or women by using basketball players for your sample. Give me a few more.

Random Sample: equal chance of being picked.Random Assignment: Equal chance of being assigned to a group.

Hurdles we have to overcome in research.

Confirmation Bias: A tendency for people to accept information that confirms what they want believe http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fc0tiNGi8jw&feature=related Psych335 - Confirmation Bias - Team 16

Overconfidence: We tend to think we know more than we do . Some quizzes, people rate their answers as "99% certain" but are wrong 40% of the time. A person who thinks his sense of direction is much better than it actually is.  A person who thinks he is much smarter than he actually is. For Example:

Hindsight Bias http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.nixlab.net/blog/IMG/Hindsight.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.nixlab.net/blog/&usg=__f8Bb5dXyhMSq_cgPTXQXgLeZGYM=&h=366&w=500&sz=24&hl=en&start=256&zoom=1&tbnid=H0aVbz2SW4ftPM:&tbnh=113&tbnw=149&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dhindsight%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1T4ADRA_enUS376US377%26biw%3D1899%26bih%3D922%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=371&oei=Gg-FTIWGEoTAsAOiuMn2Bw&esq=undefined&page=8&ndsp=36&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:256&tx=85&ty=51 Hindsight bias : refers to the tendency people have to view events as more predictable than they really are. After an event, people often believe that they  knew  the outcome of the event before it actually happened.

Examples of Hindsight Bias Imagine that you receive a letter from a publisher that states that the publisher is going to publish your short story.  You tell a friend that you knew that they would publish it.

Hawthorne Effect: Experimenter Bias: Just knowing you are participating in a study can change the outcome. Pg. 43 http://www.propagandaposters.us/poster11.html http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxZoxN5IjFE

Can I just start any old research project I want to? No, I need permission from the IRB first. Institutional review board . They make sure you are following all ethical guidelines. Why do we have to have this? There have been many unethical studies done.

During WWII the Nazi’s conducted some very unethical studies. Many of their subjects died during theses experiments. What you need to know is: 1. These people were denied the principles in the Belmont Report including being asked to participate.

Milgram Study (1963): The Milgram study involved instructing subjects to administer electric shocks to a study confederate in response to poor performance. The subject believed that he/she was involved in a study about learning and memory with each shock intended to affect the learning process. The confederate pretended to be hurt by the shock - in some cases, to the point of losing consciousness; however, he/she did not really feel any shock. The study objective was to assess obedience to authority . This study resulted in significant psychological stress for some subjects including sweating, trembling, stuttering and serious seizures in three subjects. The question of whether this study was ethical remains open to debate among scholars today. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcvSNg0HZwk

The Monster Study http:// www.highestfive.com/mind/5-unethical-psych-experiments/ A Speech Experiment where Wendell Johnson rounded up some orphans and separated them into two groups. There were 22 young subjects, 12 of whom were non-stutterers. Half of the group experienced positive teaching whereas the other group dealt with negative reinforcement.  No one in either group became stutterers at the end of the experiment, but those who received negative treatment did develop many of the self-esteem problems that stutterers often show.

Stanford Experiment A group of men volunteered for a study and were given the roles of prisoners or guards. In a short time the guards took it upon themselves to start trouble with the prisoners and the experiment got out of hand. Lesson in “the Lucifer” Effect. How good guys turn bad. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKW_MzREPp4

Robbers Cave Experiment (Lord of the Flies) 22 eleven-year old boys were randomly separated into two groups and taken to a summer camp in Robbers Cave State Park, Oklahoma. The groups were housed in separate cabins and neither group knew of the other’s existence for an entire week. The boys bonded with their cabin mates during that time. When the two groups were introduced, they began to exhibit signs of verbal abuse. To increase the conflict between the groups, the experimenters made them compete against each other in a series of activities. More hostility ensued until the groups refused to even eat in the same room. The final phase of the experiment involved turning the rival groups into friends. The fun activities the experimenters had planned like shooting firecrackers and watching movies did not initially work, so they created teamwork exercises where the two groups were forced to collaborate. At the end of the experiment, the boys decided to ride the same bus home, demonstrating that conflict can be resolved and prejudice overcome through cooperation.

Tuskegee Syphilis Study : In 1932, the Public Health Service enrolled several hundred syphilitic black males to document the effects of the untreated disease over time. Tuskegee was chosen because approximately 40% of the male population of the town was infected with the disease. Treatment was withheld from study subjects when penicillin was accepted as the treatment for syphilis in 1943. This study was stopped in 1973 but not before many subjects became seriously ill, transmitted their disease to others or died. This study exemplifies unfair subject selection practices (syphilis can potentially affect all human beings and is not limited to African American males), denial of informed consent and excessive risk in relation to study benefits.

When doing a Research study the first step is to get permission from the IRB: Protection of Participants P rivacy C onsent W ithdrawal, Confidentiality Deception Debriefing Write a brief description of each: 1. Protection from Harm:2. Debriefing: 3. Privacy: 4. Informed Consent: 5. Deception:6. Right to Withdrawal:Animal Research: YES: Otherwise important issues could not be investigated. Relativity little animal research involves pain or harm. NO: Animals are entitled to the same rights as humans. Animal studies are often trivial or may not apply to humans.

Methods of Research

Experimental Method Done in a lab. Good: You have control over your environment, can determine the cause and effect of an experiment. Bad: You don’t see behaviors in their natural surroundings. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EjJsPylEOY

Correlational Research Research project that investigates the degree to which two variables are related to each other. Does NOT say that one variable causes another. There is a positive correlation between ice cream and murder rates. Does that mean that ice cream causes murder ? Correlation does NOT mean Causation!! Good: Determines relationship between 2 variables. Predicts future behavior. Bad: Will uncover a relationship but that does not mean it is the cause

Jane Goodall Naturalistic Observation: Research tool in which a subject is observed in its natural habitat without any manipulation  Good: Let’s you observe in a participants natural setting. BAD: you have to avoid disturbing what you are studying. Experimenter Bias. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5Q6-hh49mU

Case Studies An intense study of a person or group. Diaries, Tests, and interviews. Pros: Rich description of subject, easy to control Cons: Observer bias, difficult to summarize subject's experience

Survey Says… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iejf3YZboQ8 We like Survey’s because: 1. They are cheap 2. you can get a large amount of information quickly. We don’t like Survey’s because: 1. Danger of participants putting the wrong answers.

Longitudinal Studies http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.cfr.nichd.nih.gov/images/children_linedup2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.cfr.nichd.nih.gov/longitudinal.html&usg=__w_lHT2-TFLy8l_gLnyOF-8W7ctE=&h=364&w=589&sz=68&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=J01pJhEZ4Am-eM:&tbnh=99&tbnw=160&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dlongitudinal%2Bstudies%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26rlz%3D1T4ADRA_enUS376US377%26biw%3D1899%26bih%3D922%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=334&ei=OheETPijDIn4swPDutH2Bw&oei=OheETPijDIn4swPDutH2Bw&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=37&ved=1t:429,r:10,s:0&tx=61&ty=59 Data is taken from a group over a period of time . Good: allows researchers to look at changes over time. Bad: require enormous amounts of time and are often quite expensive. Because of this, these studies often have only a small group of subjects, which makes it difficult to apply the results to a larger population.

Cross-Sectional Studies Data is collected from groups of individuals of different ages and compared. http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://goodhealth.freeservers.com/Indonesia_kids_smoking.jpg&imgrefurl=http://snus-news.blogspot.com/2009_06_07_archive.html&usg=__oeZOXLzTwb1zO0kgdosS5qe_rCU=&h=351&w=468&sz=29&hl=en&start=132&zoom=1&tbnid=229vf0XnoqVSUM:&tbnh=116&tbnw=152&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dkids%2Bsmoking%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26rlz%3D1T4ADRA_enUS376US377%26biw%3D1899%26bih%3D922%26tbs%3Disch:10%2C1185&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=1059&vpy=534&dur=2485&hovh=194&hovw=259&tx=140&ty=90&oei=wjGETOCOAYjksQOO1pj3Bw&esq=undefined&page=5&ndsp=36&ved=1t:429,r:7,s:132&biw=1899&bih=922 http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/image141306x.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/teen%2Bsmoking/default.aspx&usg=__NXRN3isiMRxtCyl-aCFg0QXJdIU=&h=278&w=370&sz=21&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=B1brJTNGGuPE1M:&tbnh=114&tbnw=156&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dteens%2Bsmoking%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26rlz%3D1T4ADRA_enUS376US377%26biw%3D1899%26bih%3D922%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=280&vpy=102&dur=349&hovh=195&hovw=259&tx=248&ty=96&ei=NTKETLKbOISesQPTo_z2Bw&oei=NTKETLKbOISesQPTo_z2Bw&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=37&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0 http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.lindsayheller.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/cigar_smoking_old-ladies_0.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.lindsayheller.com/%3Fpaged%3D11&usg=__FkMm0dRST9c9tJNK7B_LT22sqOE=&h=580&w=704&sz=70&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=JbiB_M2_DPBkCM:&tbnh=110&tbnw=133&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dold%2Bpeople%2Bsmoking%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26rlz%3D1T4ADRA_enUS376US377%26biw%3D1899%26bih%3D922%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=324&ei=wzKETN_CJI6isQOv3oD3Bw&oei=wzKETN_CJI6isQOv3oD3Bw&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=40&ved=1t:429,r:12,s:0&tx=124&ty=46 Pros: Much faster than a longitudinal study, and can be done with a much larger sample size. Cons: Not as much in-depth data can be obtained from each individual, different experiences from different people in the group may lead to conflicting data.

How can math and psychology be related?

Statistics: A branch of math that summarizes and makes meaningful inferences from the data. http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://pix.motivatedphotos.com/2009/8/26/633868570471027490-STATISTICS.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.motivatedphotos.com/%3Fid%3D34720&usg=__v2u198pP5mA5uxBs2v5cCmV4Szo=&h=600&w=800&sz=70&hl=en&start=70&zoom=1&tbnid=b5h6z3gr0US9OM:&tbnh=123&tbnw=163&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dstatistics%2Bfunny%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26rlz%3D1T4ADRA_enUS376US377%26biw%3D1899%26bih%3D922%26tbs%3Disch:10%2C663&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=1286&vpy=376&dur=2777&hovh=194&hovw=259&tx=140&ty=91&oei=QPuETPNJhNa1A7qDrPYH&esq=3&page=3&ndsp=34&ved=1t:429,r:19,s:70&biw=1899&bih=922

Mode the most frequently occurring score in a distribution Mean the arithmetic average of a distribution obtained by adding the scores and then dividing by the number of scores Media n the middle score in a distribution half the scores are above it and half are below it Measures of Central Tendency

Frequency of distributions: List of scores ordered from highest to lowest. Typically, made into a bar graph.

Measures of Variation. How do we determine the variation of a distribution of scores? Range the difference between the highest and lowest scores in a distribution Standard Deviation a computed measure of how much scores vary around the mean Statistical Significance a statistical statement of how likely it is that an obtained result occurred by chance

Much psychological data can be represented in a graph called a normal distribution that is shaped like a symmetrical bell. Most scores fall in the center with a few on the outside called outliers . Would you like for your for your grades to based on the “bell curve”? Why or why not? What does being “normal” mean to you? Do people who have always lived in the United States like being thought of as “normal”? Why or why not?