Midterm Exam Study Guide
Control of Extraneous Variables
The second fundamental feature of an experiment is that the researcher exerts control over, or minimizes the variability in, variables other than the independent and dependent variable. These other variables are called extraneous variables. This influencing factor can make it difficult to separate the effect of the independent variable from the effects of the extraneous variables, which is why it is important to control extraneous variables by holding them constant.
Validity
Validity is the extent to which the scores from a measure represent the variable they are intended to.
Intuition
sometimes decisions based on intuition are actually superior to those based on analysis (people interested in this idea should read Malcolm Gladwell's book Blink)1.
Examples of Ethical Issues in Psychological Research
1. Among the risks to research participants are that a treatment might fail to help or even be harmful, a procedure might result in physical or psychological harm, and their right to privacy might be violated. 2. Again, the example at the beginning of the chapter illustrates what can happen when this trust is violated. I n this case, other researchers wasted resources on unnecessary follow-up research and people avoided the MMR vaccine, putting their children at increased risk of measles, mumps, and rubella. Indeed, many people, including children have died as a result of parents' misinformed decisions not to vaccinate their children. 3. A particularly tragic example is the Tuskegee syphilis study conducted by the US Public Health Service from 1932 to 1972 (Reverby, 2009).3 The participants in this study were poor African American men in the vicinity of Tuskegee, Alabama, who were told that they were being treated for "bad blood." Although they were given some free medical care, they were not treated for their syphilis. Instead, they were observed to see how the disease developed in untreated patients. Even after the use of penicillin became the standard treatment for syphilis in the 1940s, these men continued to be denied treatment without being given an opportunity to leave the study. 4. . This means that researchers obtain and document people's agreement to participate in a study after having informed them of everything that might reasonably be expected to affect their decision. Consider the participants in the Tuskegee study. Although they agreed to participate in the study, they were not told that they had syphilis but would be denied treatment for it. Had they been told this basic fact about the study, it seems likely that they would not have agreed to participate. Likewise, had participants in Milgram's study been told that they might be "reduced to a twitching, stuttering wreck," it seems likely that many of them would not have agreed to participate. In neither of these studies did participants give true informed consent.
Carryover Effect
A carryover effect is an effect of being tested in one condition on participants' behavior in later conditions. One type of carryover effect is a practice effect, where participants perform a task better in later conditions because they have had a chance to practice it. Another type is a fatigue effect, where participants perform a task worse in later conditions because they become tired or bored. Being tested in one condition can also change how participants perceive stimuli or interpret their task in later conditions. This type of effect is called a context effect (or contrast effect).
Categorical Variables
A categorical variable is a quality, such as chosen major, and is typically measured by assigning a category label to each individual.
Confounding Variables
A confounding variable is an extraneous variable that differs on average across levels of the independent variable (i.e., it is an extraneous variable that varies systematically with the independent variable).
Field Studies
A field study is a study that is conducted in the real-world, in a natural environment.
Hypothesis
A hypothesis, on the other hand, is a specific prediction about a new phenomenon that should be observed if a particular theory is accurate. It is an explanation that relies on just a few key concepts. Hypotheses are often specific predictions about what will happen in a particular study. They are developed by considering existing evidence and using reasoning to infer what will happen in the specific context of interest. Hypotheses are often but not always derived from theories. So a hypothesis is often a prediction based on a theory but some hypotheses are a-theoretical and only after a set of observations have been made, is a theory developed.
Lab Studies
A laboratory study is a study that is conducted in the laboratory environment.
Quantitative Variables
A quantitative variable is a quantity, such as height, that is typically measured by assigning a number to each individual.
Theory
A theory is a coherent explanation or interpretation of one or more phenomena. Although theories can take a variety of forms, one thing they have in common is that they go beyond the phenomena they explain by including variables, structures, processes, functions, or organizing principles that have not been observed directly.
How to Quantify Variables
After the researcher generates their hypothesis and selects the variables they want to manipulate and measure, the researcher needs to find ways to actually measure the variables of interest. This requires an operational definition—a definition of the variable in terms of precisely how it is to be measured.
Context Effect
Again, this complexity can lead to unintended influences on respondents' answers. These are often referred to as context effects because they are not related to the content of the item but to the context in which the item appears ( Schwarz & Strack, 1990)3.
Cognitive Processes Involved In Responding to Survey Items
Although this item at first seems straightforward, it poses several difficulties for respondents. First, they must interpret the question. For example, they must decide whether "alcoholic drinks" include beer and wine (as opposed to just hard liquor) and whether a "typical day" is a typical weekday, typical weekend day, or both. Even though Chang and Krosnick (2003)2 found that asking about "typical" behavior has been shown to be more valid than asking about "past" behavior, their study compared "typical week" to "last week" and may be different when considering typical weekdays or weekend days). Once respondents have interpreted the question, they must retrieve relevant information from memory to answer it. But what information should they retrieve, and how should they go about retrieving it? They might think vaguely about some recent occasions on which they drank alcohol, they might carefully try to recall and count the number of alcoholic drinks they consumed last week, or they might retrieve some existing beliefs that they have about themselves ( e.g., "I am not much of a drinker"). Then they must use this information to arrive at a tentative judgment about how many alcoholic drinks they consume in a typical day. For example, this mental calculation might mean dividing the number of alcoholic drinks they consumed last week by seven to come up with an average number per day. Then they must format this tentative answer in terms of the response options actually provided. In this case, the options pose additional problems of interpretation. For example, what does "average" mean, and what would count as "somewhat more" than average? Finally, they must decide whether they want to report the response they have come up with or whether they want to edit it in some way. For example, if they believe that they drink a lot more than average, they might not want to report that for fear of looking bad in the eyes of the researcher, so instead, they may opt to select the "somewhat more than average" response option.
Wait-List Control Condition
An alternative approach is to use a wait-list control condition, in which participants are told that they will receive the treatment but must wait until the participants in the treatment condition have already received it.
External Validity
An empirical study is high in external validity if the way it was conducted supports generalizing the results to people and situations beyond those actually studied.
Internal Validity
An empirical study is said to be high in internal validity if the way it was conducted supports the conclusion that the independent variable caused any observed differences in the dependent variable.
Experimental Research
An experiment is a type of study designed specifically to answer the question of whether there is a causal relationship between two variables. In other words, whether changes in one variable (referred to as an independent variable) cause a change in another variable (referred to as a dependent variable).
Internal Consistency (Reliability)
Another kind of reliability is internal consistency, which is the consistency of people's responses across the items on a multiple-item measure. In general, all the items on such measures are supposed to reflect the same underlying construct, so people's scores on those items should be correlated with each other. Like test-retest reliability, internal consistency can only be assessed by collecting and analyzing data. One approach is to look at a split-half correlation. This involves splitting the items into two sets, such as the first and second halves of the items or the even- and odd-numbered items. Then a score is computed for each set of items, and the relationship between the two sets of scores is examined.
Dependent Variable
As we saw earlier in the book, an experiment is a type of study designed specifically to answer the question of whether there is a causal relationship between two variables. In other words, whether changes in one variable (referred to as an independent variable) cause a change in another variable (referred to as a dependent variable).
Independent Variable
As we saw earlier in the book, an experiment is a type of study designed specifically to answer the question of whether there is a causal relationship between two variables. In other words, whether changes in one variable (referred to as an independent variable) cause a change in another variable (referred to as a dependent variable).
Sample
But researchers usually study only a small subset or sample of the population.
Contributing Factors to Why Our Intuitive Beliefs About Human Behavior Can Be wrong
Certainly, we all have intuitive beliefs about people's behavior, thoughts, and feelings—and these beliefs are collectively referred to as folk psychology. Although much of our folk psychology is probably reasonably accurate, it is clear that much of it is not. This is why we tend to rely on mental shortcuts (what psychologists refer to as heuristics) in forming and maintaining our beliefs. For example, if a belief is widely shared—especially if it is endorsed by " experts"—and it makes intuitive sense, we tend to assume it is true. This is compounded by the fact tha t w e then tend to focus on cases that c onfirm our intuitive beliefs and not on cases that dis-confirm them. This is called confirmation bias.
Partial Correlation
Complex correlational research, however, can often be used to rule out other plausible interpretations. The primary way of doing this is through the statistical control of potential third variables. Instead of controlling these variables through random assignment or by holding them constant as in an experiment, the researcher instead measures them and includes them in the statistical analysis called partial correlation. Using this technique, researchers can examine the relationship between two variables, while statistically controlling for one or more potential third variables.
Content Validity
Content validity is the extent to which a measure "covers" the construct of interest. Like face validity, content validity is not usually assessed quantitatively. Instead, it is assessed by carefully checking the measurement method against the conceptual definition of the construct.
Correlational Research
Correlational research is considered non-experimental because it focuses on the statistical relationship between two variables but does not include the manipulation of an independent variable. More specifically, in correlational research, the researcher measures two variables with little or no attempt to control extraneous variables and then assesses the relationship between them.
Criterion Validity
Criterion validity is the extent to which people's scores on a measure are correlated with other variables (known as criteria) that one would expect them to be correlated with. Assessing convergent validity requires collecting data using the measure. Researchers John Cacioppo and Richard Petty did this when they created their self-report Need for Cognition Scale to measure how much people value and engage in thinking (Cacioppo & Petty, 1982)1. In a series of studies, they showed that people's scores were positively correlated with their scores on a standardized academic achievement test and that their scores were negatively correlated with their scores on a measure of dogmatism (which represents a tendency toward obedience).
Deception
Deception of participants in psychological research can take a variety of forms: misinforming participants about the purpose of a study, using confederates, using phony equipment like Milgram's shock generator, and presenting participants with false feedback about their performance (e.g., telling them they did poorly on a test when they actually did well). Deception also includes not informing participants of the full design or true purpose of the research even if they are not actively misinformed (Sieber, Iannuzzo, & Rodriguez, 1995)2.
Descriptive Statistics
Descriptive statistics are used to organize or summarize a set of data. Examples include percentages, measures of central tendency (mean, median, mode), measures of dispersion (range, standard deviation, variance), and correlation coefficients.
Discriminant Validity
Discriminant validity, on the other hand, is the extent to which scores on a measure are not correlated with measures of variables that are conceptually distinct. For example, self-esteem is a general attitude toward the self that is fairly stable over time. It is not the same as mood, which is how good or bad one happens to be feeling right now. So people's scores on a new measure of self-esteem should not be very highly correlated with their moods. If the new measure of self-esteem were highly correlated with a measure of mood, it could be argued that the new measure is not really measuring self-esteem; it is measuring mood instead.
Face Validity
Face validity is the extent to which a measurement method appears "on its face" to measure the construct of interest. Although face validity can be assessed quantitatively—for example, by having a large sample of people rate a measure in terms of whether it appears to measure what it is intended to—it is usually assessed informally.
Sources that Are Part of the Research Literature and Sources that are Not
For our purposes, it helps to define the research literature as consisting almost entirely of two types of sources: articles in professional journals, and scholarly books in psychology and related fields. The research literature definitely does not include self-help and other pop psychology books, dictionary and encyclopedia entries, websites, and similar sources that are intended mainly for the general public. These are considered unreliable because they are not reviewed by other researchers and are often based on little more than common sense or personal experience.
How Survey Research is Used
From market research and election polling, survey research made its way into several academic fields, including political science, sociology, and public health—where it continues to be one of the primary approaches to collecting new data. And as the opening example makes clear, survey research can even be used as a data collection method within experimental research to test specific hypotheses about causal relationships between variables. Such studies, when conducted on large and diverse samples, can be a useful supplement to laboratory studies conducted on university students. Survey research is thus a flexible approach that can be used to study a variety of basic and applied research questions.
Structured Observation
Here the investigator makes careful observations of one or more specific behaviors in a particular setting that is more structured than the settings used in naturalistic or participant observation. Often the setting in which the observations are made is not the natural setting. Instead, the researcher may observe people in the laboratory environment. Alternatively, the researcher may observe people in a natural setting (like a classroom setting) that they have structured some way, for instance by introducing some specific task participants are to engage in or by introducing a specific social situation or manipulation. Structured observation is less global than naturalistic or participant observation because the researcher engaged in structured observations is interested in a small number of specific behaviors. Therefore, rather than recording everything that happens, the researcher only focuses on very specific behaviors of interest.
Control Conditions
In psychological research, a treatment is any intervention meant to change people's behavior for the better. This intervention includes psychotherapies and medical treatments for psychological disorders but also interventions designed to improve learning, promote conservation, reduce prejudice, and so on. To determine whether a treatment works, participants are randomly assigned to either a treatment condition, in which they receive the treatment or a control condition, in which they do not receive the treatment.
Between-Subjects Experiments
In a between-subjects experiment, each participant is tested in only one condition.
No-Treatment Control Condition
In a no-treatment control condition, participants receive no treatment whatsoever.
Within-Subjects Experiments
In a within-subjects experiment, each participant is tested under all conditions.
Construct Validity
In addition to the generalizability of the results of an experiment, another element to scrutinize in a study is the quality of the experiment's manipulations or the construct validity.
Undisguised Naturalistic Observation
In cases where it is not ethical or practical to conduct disguised naturalistic observation, researchers can conduct undisguised naturalistic observation where the participants are made aware of the researcher's presence and monitoring of their behavior. H however, one concern with undisguised naturalistic observation reactivity. Reactivity refers to when a measure changes participants' behavior. In the case of undisguised naturalistic observation, the concern with reactivity is that when people know they are being observed and studied, they may act differently than they normally would. This type of reactivity is known as the Hawthorne effect.
Undisguised Participant Observation
In contrast with undisguised participant observation, the researchers become a part of the group they are studying and they disclose their true identity as researchers to the group under investigation.
Disguised Participant Observation
In disguised participant observation, the researchers pretend to be members of the social group they are observing and conceal their true identity as researchers. First, no informed consent can be obtained and second deception is being used. The researcher is deceiving the participants by intentionally withholding information about their motivations for being a part of the social group they are studying. But sometimes disguised participation is the only way to access a protective group (like a cult). Further, disguised participant observation is less prone to reactivity than undisguised participant observation.
Participant Observation
In participant observation, researchers become active participants in the group or situation they are studying. Participant observation is very similar to the naturalistic observation in that it involves observing people's behavior in the environment in which it typically occurs. The only difference between naturalistic observation and participant observation is that researchers engaged in participant observation become active members of the group or situations they are studying. The basic rationale for participant observation is that there may be important information that is only accessible to or can be interpreted only by, someone who is an active participant in the group or situation.
American Psychological Association Ethics Code
Informed consent, deception, debriefing, research with nonhuman animals, and scholarly integrity
Inter-rater Reliability
Inter-rater reliability is the extent to which different observers are consistent in their judgments. Inter-rater reliability is often assessed using Cronbach's α when the judgments are quantitative or an analogous statistic called Cohen's κ(the Greek letter kappa) when they are categorical.
Methods of acquiring knowledge
Intuition, Authority, Rationalism, Empiricism, The Scientific Method
Pilot Testing
It is always a good idea to conduct a pilot test of your experiment. A pilot test is a small-scale study conducted to make sure that a new procedure works as planned. In a pilot test, you can recruit participants formally (e.g., from an established participant pool) or you can recruit them informally from among family, friends, classmates, and so on. The number of participants can be small, but it should be enough to give you confidence that your procedure works as planned. There are several important questions that you can answer by conducting a pilot test: • Do participants understand the instructions? • What kind of misunderstandings do participants have, what kind of mistakes do they make, and what kind of questions do they ask? • Do participants become bored or frustrated? • Is an indirect manipulation effective? (You will need to include a manipulation check.) • Can participants guess the research question or hypothesis (are there demand characteristics)? • How long does the procedure take? • Are computer programs or other automated procedures working properly? • Are data being recorded correctly?
Complex Correlational Designs
Most complex correlational research involves measuring several variables—either binary or continuous—and then assessing the statistical relationships among them.
Naturalistic Observation
Naturalistic observation is an observational method that involves observing people's behavior in the environment in which it typically occurs. Thus naturalistic observation is a type of field research ( as opposed to a type of laboratory research)
Rationalism
Nevertheless, if the premises are correct and logical rules are followed appropriately then this is sound means of acquiring knowledge.
Authority
Nevertheless, much of the information we acquire is through authority because we don't have time to question and independently research every piece of knowledge we learn through authority. But we can learn to evaluate the credentials of authority figures, to evaluate the methods they used to arrive at their conclusions, and evaluate whether they have any reasons to mislead us.
Types of Non-Experimental Research
Non-experimental research falls into two broad categories: correlational research and observational research.
Non-Experimental Research
Non-experimental research is research that lacks the manipulation of an independent variable. Rather than manipulating an independent variable, researchers conducting non-experimental research simply measure variables as they naturally occur (in the lab or real world).
Observational Research
Observational research is non-experimental because it focuses on making observations of behavior in a natural or laboratory setting without manipulating anything.
Placebo Control Condition
One is to include a placebo control condition, in which participants receive a placebo that looks much like the treatment but lacks the active ingredient or element thought to be responsible for the treatment's effectiveness.
Recruiting Participants
One is to use participants from a formal subject pool—an established group of people who have agreed to be contacted about participating in research studies. Participants who are not in subject pools can also be recruited by posting or publishing advertisements or making personal appeals to groups that represent the population of interest.
The Scientific Method
One major problem is that it is not always feasible to use the scientific method; this method can require considerable time and resources. Another problem with the scientific method is that it cannot be used to answer all questions. As described in the following section, the scientific method can only be used to address empirical questions.
History of the Ethics Codes for Scientific research with Human Participants
One of the earliest ethics codes was the Nuremberg Code—a set of 10 principles written in 1947 in conjunction with the trials of Nazi physicians accused of shockingly cruel research on concentration camp prisoners during World War II. It provided a standard against which to compare the behavior of the men on trial—many of whom were eventually convicted and either imprisoned or sentenced to death. The Nuremberg Code was particularly clear about the importance of carefully weighing risks against benefits and the need for informed consent. The Declaration of Helsinki is a similar ethics code that was created by the World Medical Council in 1964. Among the standards that it added to the Nuremberg Code was that research with human participants should be based on a written protocol—a detailed description of the research—that is reviewed by an independent committee. The Declaration of Helsinki has been revised several times, most recently in 2004. In the United States, concerns about the Tuskegee study and others led to the publication in 1978 of a set of federal guidelines called the Belmont Report. The Belmont Report explicitly recognized the principle of seeking justice, including the importance of conducting research in a way that distributes risks and benefits fairly across different groups at the societal level. It also recognized the importance of respect for persons, which acknowledges individuals' autonomy and protection for those with diminished autonomy (e.g., prisoners, children), and translates to the need for informed consent. Finally, it recognized the principle of beneficence,which underscores the importance of maximizing the benefits of research while minimizing harms to participants and society.
Probability Sampling
Probability sampling occurs when the researcher can specify the probability that each member of the population will be selected for the sample. Once the population has been specified, probability sampling requires a sampling frame. This sampling frame is essentially a list of all the members of the population from which to select the respondents.
Pseudoscience
Pseudoscience refers to activities and beliefs that are claimed to be scientific by their proponents—and may appear to be scientific at first glance—but are not. A set of beliefs or activities can be said to be pseudoscientific if (a) its adherents claim or imply that it is scientific but (b) it lacks one or more of the three features of science. A set of beliefs and activities might also be pseudoscientific because it does not address empirical questions (scientific claims must be falsifiable).
Why is Psychology a Science
Psychology is a science because it takes this same general approach to understanding one aspect of the natural world: human behavior.
Qualitative Research
Qualitative research originated in the disciplines of anthropology and sociology but is now used to study psychological topics as well. Qualitative researchers generally begin with a less focused research question, collect large amounts of relatively "unfiltered" data from a relatively small number of individuals, and describe their data using nonstatistical techniques, such as grounded theory, thematic analysis, critical discourse analysis, or interpretative phenomenological analysis. They are usually less concerned with drawing general conclusions about human behavior than with understanding in detail the experience of their research participants.
Quantitative Research
Quantitative researchers typically start with a focused research question or hypothesis, collect a small amount of numerical data from a large number of individuals, describe the resulting data using statistical techniques, and draw general conclusions about some large population.
Random Sampling
Random sampling is a method for selecting a sample from a population, and it is rarely used in psychological research.
Reliability
Reliability refers to the consistency of a measure.
Disguised Naturalistic Observation
Researchers engaged in naturalistic observation usually make their observations as unobtrusively as possible so that participants are not aware that they are being studied. Such an approach is called disguised naturalistic observation. Ethically, this method is considered to be acceptable if the participants remain anonymous and the behavior occurs in a public setting where people would not normally have an expectation of privacy.
Four Big Validities
Researchers have focused on four validities to help assess whether an experiment is sound (Judd & Kenny, 1981; Morling, 2014)12: internal validity, external validity, construct validity, and statistical validity.
Population
Researchers in psychology are usually interested in drawing conclusions about some very large group of people. This is called the population.
Inferential Statistics
Researchers typically want to infer what the population is like based on the sample they studied. Inferential statistics are used for that purpose. Inferential statistics allow researchers to draw conclusions about a population based on data from a sample.
Non-Experimental Research
Researchers who are simply interested in describing characteristics of people, describing relationships between variables, and using those relationships to make predictions can use non-experimental research. Using the non-experimental approach, the researcher simply measures variables as they naturally occur, but they do not manipulate them.
Experimental Research
Researchers who want to test hypotheses about causal relationships between variables (i.e., their goal is to explain) need to use an experimental method. This is because the experimental method is the only method that allows us to determine causal relationships. Using the experimental approach, researchers first manipulate one or more variables while attempting to control extraneous variables, and then they measure how the manipulated variables affect participants' responses.
The Scientific Method
Scientists go a step further by using systematic empiricism to make careful observations under various controlled conditions in order to test their ideas and they use rationalism to arrive at valid conclusions. While the scientific method is the most likely of all of the methods to produce valid knowledge, like all methods of acquiring knowledge it also has its drawbacks.
Debriefing
Standard 8.08 is about debriefing. This is the process of informing research participants as soon as possible of the purpose of the study, revealing any deception, and correcting any other misconceptions they might have as a result of participating. Debriefing also involves minimizing harm that might have occurred.
Nonhuman Animal Subjects
Standard 8.09 is about the humane treatment and care of nonhuman animal subjects. Although most contemporary research in psychology does not involve nonhuman animal subjects, a significant minority of it does—especially in the study of learning and conditioning, behavioral neuroscience, and the development of drug and surgical therapies for psychological disorders.
Informed Consent
Standards 8.02 to 8.05 are about informed consent. Again, informed consent means obtaining and documenting people's agreement to participate in a study, having informed them of everything that might reasonably be expected to affect their decision. This includes details of the procedure, the risks and benefits of the research, the fact that they have the right to decline to participate or to withdraw from the study, the consequences of doing so, and any legal limits to confidentiality.
Scholarly Integrity
Standards 8.10 to 8.15 are about scholarly integrity. These include the obvious points that researchers must not fabricate data or plagiarize. Plagiarism means using others' words or ideas without proper acknowledgment. Proper acknowledgment generally means indicating direct quotations with quotation marks and providing a citation to the source of any quotation or idea used. Self-plagiarism is also considered unethical and refers to publishing the same material more than once.
Statistical Validity
Statistical validity concerns the proper statistical treatment of data and the soundness of the researchers' statistical conclusion.
Levels of Measurement
Stevens actually suggested four different levels of measurement (which he called "scales of measurement") that correspond to four types of information that can be communicated by a set of scores, and the statistical procedures that can be used with the information. The nominal level of measurement is used for categorical variables and involves assigning scores that are category labels. The ordinal level of measurement involves assigning scores so that they represent the rank order of the individuals. Ranks communicate not only whether any two individuals are the same or different in terms of the variable being measured but also whether one individual is higher or lower on that variable. The interval level of measurement involves assigning scores using numerical scales in which intervals have the same interpretation throughout. The ratio level of measurement involves assigning scores in such a way that there is a true zero point that represents the complete absence of the quantity.
Survey Research
Survey research is a quantitative and qualitative method with two important characteristics. First, the variables of in terest are me asured using self-reports ( using questionnaires or interviews). In essence, survey researchers ask their participants ( who are often called respondents in survey research) to report directly on their own thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Second, considerable attention is paid to the issue of sampling. In particular, survey researchers have a strong preference for large random samples because they provide the most accurate estimates of what is true in the population. Most survey research is non-experimental. It is used to describe single variables (e.g., the percentage of voters who prefer one presidential candidate or another, the prevalence of schizophrenia in the general population, etc.) and also to assess statistical relationships between variables (e.g., the relationship between income and health). But surveys can also be used within experimental research.
Fundamental Features of Science
The general scientific approach has three fundamental features (Stanovich, 2010)1. The first is systematic empiricism. Empiricism refers to learning based on observation, and scientists learn about the natural world systematically, by carefully planning, making, recording, and analyzing observations of it. The second feature of the scientific approach—which follows in a straightforward way from the first—is that it is concerned with empirical questions. These are questions about the way the world actually is and, therefore, can be answered by systematically observing it. The third feature of science is that it creates public knowledge. After asking their empirical questions, making their systematic observations, and drawing their conclusions, scientists publish their work. This usually means writing an article for publication in a professional journal, in which they put their research question in the context of previous research, describe in detail the methods they used to answer their question, and clearly present their results and conclusions.
Methods for Finding Previous Research
The primary method used to search the research literature involves using one or more electronic databases. These include Academic Search Premier, JSTOR, and ProQuest for all academic disciplines, ERIC for education, and PubMed for medicine and related fields. The most important for our purposes, however, is P PsycINFO, which is produced by the American Psychological Association (APA). PsycINFO is so comprehensive—covering thousands of professional journals and scholarly books going back more than 100 years—that for most purposes its content is synonymous with the research literature in psychology. Like most such databases, PsycINFO is usually available through your university library. re. First, if you have one good article or book chapter on your topic—a recent review article is best—you can look through the reference list of that article for other relevant articles, books, and book chapters. In fact, you should do this with any relevant article or book chapter you find. You c an also start with a classic article or book chapter on your topic, find its record in PsycINFO (by entering the author's name or article's title as a search term), and link from there to a list of other works in PsycINFO that cite that classic article. You can also do a general Internet search using search terms related to your topic or the name of a researcher who conducts research on your topic. This might lead you directly to works that are part of the research literature ( e.g., articles in open-access journals or posted on researchers' own websites). The search engine Google Scholar is especially useful for this purpose. A general Internet search might also lead you to websites that are not part of the research literature but might provide references to works that are. Finally, you can talk to people (e.g., your instructor or other faculty members in psychology) who know something about your topic and can suggest relevant articles and book chapters.
Random Assignment
The primary way that researchers accomplish this kind of control of extraneous variables across conditions is called random assignment, which means using a random process to decide which participants are tested in which conditions.
Intuition
The problem with relying on intuition is that our intuitions can be wrong because they are driven by cognitive and motivational biases rather than logical reasoning or scientific evidence.
Rationalism
The problem with this method is that if the premises are wrong or there is an error in logic then the conclusion will not be valid. For instance, the premise that all swans are white is incorrect; there are black swans in Australia. Also, unless formally trained in the rules of logic it is easy to make an error.
Research Literature in Psychology
The research literature in any field is all the published research in that field. Reviewing the research literature means finding, reading, and summarizing the published research relevant to your topic of interest.
Correlation Matrix
The results of this study are summarized in Table 6.1, which is a correlation matrix showing the correlation (Pearson's r) between every possible pair of variables in the study.
Framework for Thinking About Ethical Issues
The rows of Table 3.1 represent four general moral principles that apply to scientific research: weighing risks against benefits, acting responsibly and with integrity, seeking justice, and respecting people's rights and dignity. (These principles are adapted from those in the American Psychological Association [APA] Ethics Code.) The columns of Table 3.1 represent three groups of people that are affected by scientific research: the research participants, the scientific community, and society more generally. The idea is that a thorough consideration of the ethics of any research project must take into account how each of the four moral principles applies to each of the three groups of people. Scientific research in psychology can be ethical only if its risks are outweighed by its benefits. Researchers must act responsibly and with integrity. This means carrying out their research in a thorough and competent manner, meeting their professional obligations, and being truthful. Researchers must conduct their research in a just manner. Researchers must respect people's rights and dignity as human beings.
Correlation Coefficient
The strength of a correlation between quantitative variables is typically measured using a statistic called Pearson's Correlation Coefficient (or Pearson's r). As Figure 6.4 shows, Pearson's r ranges from −1.00 (the strongest possible negative relationship) to +1.00 ( the strongest possible positive relationship). A value of 0 means there is no relationship between the two variables. When Pearson's r is 0, the points on a scatterplot form a shapeless "cloud." As its value moves to ward − 1.00 or +1.00, the points come closer and closer to falling on a single straight line. Correlation coefficients near ±.10 are considered small, values near ± .30 are considered medium, and values near ±.50 are considered large. Notice that the sign of Pearson's r is unrelated to its strength. Pearson's r values of +.30 and −.30, for example, are equally strong; it is just that one represents a moderate positive relationship and the other a moderate negative relationship
Observational Research
The term observational research is used to refer to several different types of non-experimental studies in which behavior is systematically observed and recorded. The goal of observational research is to describe a variable or set of variables. More generally, the goal is to obtain a snapshot of specific characteristics of an individual, group, or setting. As described previously, observational research is non-experimental because nothing is manipulated or controlled, and as such we cannot arrive at causal conclusions using this approach.
Standardization
The way to minimize unintended variation in the procedure is to standardize it as much as possible so that it is carried out in the same way for all participants regardless of the condition they are in. Here are several ways to do this: • Create a written protocol that specifies everything that the experimenters are to do and say from the time they greet participants to the time they dismiss them. • Create standard instructions that participants read themselves or that are read to them word for word by the experimenter. • Automate the rest of the procedure as much as possible by using software packages for this purpose or even simple computer slide shows. • Anticipate participants' questions and either raise and answer them in the instructions or develop standard answers for them • Train multiple experimenters on the protocol together and have them practice on each other. • Be sure that each experimenter tests participants in all conditions. Another good practice is to arrange for the experimenters to be "blind" to the research question or to the condition in which each participant is tested. The idea is to minimize experimenter expectancy effects by minimizing the experimenters' expectations.
Field Experiments
There are also field experiments where an independent variable is manipulated in a natural setting and extraneous variables are controlled.
Characteristics of a Good Hypothesis
There are three general characteristics of a good hypothesis. First, a good hypothesis must be testable and falsifiable. We must be able to test the hypothesis using the methods of science and if you'll recall Popper's falsifiability criterion, it must be possible to gather evidence that will disconfirm the hypothesis if it is indeed false. Second, a good hypothesis must be logical. As described above, hypotheses are more than just a random guess. Hypotheses should be informed by previous theories or observations and logical reasoning. Typically, we begin with a broad and general theory and use deductive reasoning to generate a more specific hypothesis to test based on that theory. Occasionally, however, when there is no theory to inform our hypothesis, we use inductive reasoning which involves using specific observations or research findings to form a more general hypothesis. Finally, the hypothesis should be positive. That is, the hypothesis should make a positive statement about the existence of a relationship or effect, rather than a statement that a relationship or effect does not exist. As scientists, we don't set out to show that relationships do not exist or that effects do not occur so our hypotheses should not be worded in a way to suggest that an effect or relationship does not exist. The nature of science is to assume that something does not exist and then seek to find evidence to prove this wrong, to show that it really does exist. That may seem backward to you but that is the nature of the scientific method. The underlying reason for this is beyond the scope of this chapter but it has to do with statistical theory.
Counterbalancing
There is a solution to the problem of order effects, however, that can be used in many situations. It is counterbalancing, which means testing different participants in different orders. The best method of counterbalancing is complete counterbalancing in which an equal number of participants complete each possible order of conditions.
Empiricism
These examples and the many visual illusions that trick our senses illustrate the problems with relying on empiricism alone to derive knowledge. We are limited in what we can experience and observe and our senses can deceive us. Moreover, our prior experiences can alter the way we perceive events
Authority
These examples illustrate that the problem with using authority to obtain knowledge is that they may be wrong, they may just be using their intuition to arrive at their conclusions, and they may have their own reasons to mislead you
Science
What the sciences have in common is a general approach to understanding the natural world.
Test-Retest Reliability
When researchers measure a construct that they assume to be consistent across time, then the scores they obtain should also be consistent across time. Test-retest reliability is the extent to which this is actually the case. Assessing test-retest reliability requires using the measure on a group of people at one time, using it again on the same group of people at a later time, and then looking at the test-retest correlation between the two sets of scores.
Multiple Regression
While simple regression involves using one variable to predict another, multiple regression involves measuring several variables (X1, X2, X3,...Xi), and using them to predict some outcome variable (Y). Multiple regression can also be used to simply describe the relationship between a single outcome variable (Y) and a set of predictor variables (X1, X2, X3,...Xi).
Empiricism
ts. Nevertheless, empiricism is at the heart of the scientific method. Science relies on observations. But not just any observations, science relies on structured observations which is known as systematic empiricism.
