Research and Methodology

Vocab Review--

• Hypothesis?

• Independent vs. Dependent Variable?

• Operational Definition?

• Validity vs. Reliability?

• Sample vs. Population?

• Types of sampling?

Types of Studies--Review• Experimental—Causation!!!!

– Lab vs. Field– Confounding variables

• Hawthorne Effect• Participant relevant• Situation relevant

– Experimenter bias» Eliminated by Double Blind

– Assignment of exp vs. control group• Placebo Effect

– Pros and Cons of Experimental

Types of Studies--Review

• Correlational Method—no causation

• Ex post facto study

• Survey Method—very popular, why?

• Example—

• Pros and cons of Correlational

Types of Studies--Review

• Naturalistic Observation—No Interference

• Example at zoo—

• Pros vs. Cons

Types of Studies--Review

• Case Studies—TESS

• Pros vs. Cons

ETHICS REVIEW

• APA Guidelines

• Institutional Review Board—IRB

• Animal Research Guidelines—4 things

• Human Research Guidelines—5 things

STATISTICS

• Descriptive Stats—– Frequency distributions

• Frequency polygons • histograms (bar graph)

– Do an example!

STATS

• Central Tendency– Mean

• Outliers—example– Negatively Skewed—left skewed– Positively Skewed—right skewed

--Median– Mode

STATS

• Variability of Descriptive Statistics– Range– Variance– Standard Deviation

• Normal curve– 68, 95, 99.7 rule

» Z-score» Percentiles

STATS

• Correlations– Relationship between two variables

• Example--

– Correlation Coefficient (+1 to -1)– Scatter Plot– Line of Best Fit/Regression Line

STATS

• Inferential Statistics– Can the findings be GENERALIZED to the

population from which the sample came?– Statistically Significant

• P value– The smaller the p value, the more significant the results– P value of .05 means that a 5% chance exists that the

results happened by chance– P value can never equal 0 because we can never be

100% sure results did not happen by chance