Research Methods in Psychology How do we study Psychology?

Research Methods in Psychology

How do we study Psychology?

Goals of Psychological Research

Define and Describe: What happened?

Explain: Why did that happen?

Predict: Under what conditions is that likely to happen again?

Control: How can I we apply our principle to make this happen again? To make sure it never happens again?

Observation

Propose a hypothesis

Gather Evidence

Keep Hypothesis

Reject Hypothesis

Build a theory Publish results

Define the Problem

The Scientific Method in Psychology

Psychological Research

EmpiricalKnowledge based on direct observation

TheoryA systematic general principle or set of

principles that explains how separate facts are related to one another

Enables researchers to fit many facts into a larger framework

Organizes facts, must predict new facts, permits a degree of control over phenomenon


HypothesesHypothesis: specific statement of expected

outcome resulting from theory• States the relationship between two variables• NOT: An educated guess!!!!

Variable: can be any event, characteristic, condition, or behavior

Variables

Independent variable (predictor variable)Factor(s) that change the outcome variableHow do we operationalize?The variable we introduce

Exercise will have a positive effect on health.Exercise will have a positive effect on health.

Variables

Dependent variable (outcome variable)Dependent on the influence of other factor(s)How do we operationalize?In psychology this is usually a behavior or a

mental process

Exercise will have a positive effect on health.Exercise will have a positive effect on health.


Research methodsExperimental vs. correlational (DesignDesign)Field vs. laboratory (SettingSetting)

Descriptive Methods• Naturalistic observation• Surveys• Case studies

Research MethodsDescribing Behavior

Naturalistic observationallows researchers to observe participants in

real-world settings

Advantages allows researchers to view behavior

as it really happens in a natural setting

Disadvantages cannot control outside variables,

researcher bias


SurveysUsing interviews or

questionnaires to gather information about subjects’ beliefs, feelings, experiences, etc


SurveysAdvantages

• Quick and done properly can gather accurate info about a large group

Disadvantages • Respondents may lie, population may not

be representative, the questions may be leading


SurveysPopulation: The entire group of interest

to the researcher and the group to which they wish to generalize findings; a group from which a sample is chosen


SurveysSample: The fraction of any population

selected for study and from which generalizations are made

Representative sample: a sample selected from the larger population in a way that important subgroups within the population are included in the same proportions as the larger population


Case studiesAn in depth study of one or a few

participants consisting of information gathered by observation, interview, or psychological testing to provide a description of behavior or disorder


Case studiesAdvantages

• Gathers knowledge about unusual conditions; can provide a hypothesis to be tested later

Disadvantages • Cannot establish cause of observed

behaviors; cases studied might not generalize to larger population; researcher bias

Correlational ResearchFinding relationships

Correlational research: observes the relationship between two variables

Because two things vary together does not mean that one thing causes the other


Correlational research Scatter plot: A graph showing the

relationship between 2 variablesCorrelational Coefficient: a numerical

value that indicates the strength and direction of the relationship between two variables; ranges from +1.00 ( a perfect positive correlation) to -1.00 ( a perfect negative correlation)


Correlational researchA positive correlation means when one

variable increases the other increasesA negative correlation means when one

increases the other is associated with a decrease

The stronger the relationship between variables, the better the prediction


No correlationPositive correlation

Negative correlation

Sources

WWW.SPSP.org Banyard, Philip, & Grayson, Andrew. (2008).

Introducing psychological research. Palgrave MacMillan.

Hill, Grahame, & Cox, Erika. (2002). As Psychology for aqa specification b. 2002-07-25.

Gross, Richard. (2008). Key studies in psychology. 2008

Myers, David, & Reviews, Cram101. (2009). Outlines and highlights for psychology by david g myers, isbn. Worth Pub.

Research Methods in Psychology How do we study Psychology?

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