Chapter 2

Methods
Dr. Kina
Learning Objectives
• Understand the Scientific Method: Be able to explain how the
scientific method is applied in psychological research, including the
steps

• Identify Research Methods: Be able to describe and differentiate

between various types of studies used in psychological research

• Comprehend Ethical Principles: Be able to identify and explain the

ethical principles and guidelines that govern psychological research
 1. Scientific Method

2. Measuring Variables

3. Descriptive Research
Outline
4. Correlational Research

5. Experimental Research

6. Ethics in Research
1. Scientific Method
Science and the Alternatives?
• Three other sources of evidence for
behavior:
• Your experience
• Your intuition
• An authority

• What makes science different?

• Empiricism
Can science be objective?
1. Observation and Experimentation: Empiricists believe that knowledge
comes primarily from sensory experience and that observations and
experiments are crucial in gathering data

2. Reproducibility: Empirical evidence should be reproducible by different

observers under similar conditions, ensuring that the findings are not
subjective or biased

3. Verification: Empirical claims must be testable and subject to verification

or falsification through further observation and experimentation

4. Is anything missing or biased?

Megan Bang

Douglas
Medin
 Culture
influences
science

Indigenous
Educational
knowledge
implications
systems

Bias and
Community-
inclusion in
based research
science
 Approaches to Understanding
Behavior

• Hindsight Understanding
• After viewing a behavior, propose an
explanation that makes sense in that context
• Cognitive
• Metacognitive
• Motivational

• Understanding through Hypothesis-testing

• Test possible explanations through scientific
method
Hindsight understanding
 Identify Identify a question
• -What do we want to learn about?

The Scientific
Process-The Form Form a hypothesis & Gather information
• -What is our specific prediction?

Scientific
Method Test Test hypothesis by conducting research

Systematic procedure
used to achieve goal of Analyze Analyze the data
description, prediction, • -What can we conclude?

explanation

Build Build a body of knowledge

• -Build theory (formal statements)
Bystander Effect
Kitty Genovese?
 Identify Identify a question
• -What do we want to learn about?

The Scientific
Process-The Form Form a hypothesis & Gather information
• -What is our specific prediction?
Scientific
Method Test Test hypothesis by conducting research

i’m so cool

Analyze Analyze the data

• -What can we conclude?

Build Build a body of knowledge

• -Build theory (formal statements)
 The Scientific Process
Identify a hellyea

Question

Form a
Hypothesis

Supporting Test your No Supporting

Evidence Hypothesis Evidence

Analyze your
Data

Build a Body
of Knowledge
• Which scientific goal is fulfilled by a project seeking to
understand the causes of teen vaping?
Step 4: Looking at Your
Collected Data

• Normal distribution:
• A.k.a. Gaussian distribution, bell-curve

• Symmetrical

• Central peak

• Tails off to both ends

Looking at Your Collected Data
 Looking at Your Collected Data
• Variability:
• How much measurements differ from one another

• Range
• Value of the largest measurement in a frequency distribution minus the smallest
• 20 IQ scores, High is 150, Low is 70. 150-70=80 (the range)

• Standard deviation
• Describes the average difference between the measurements in a frequency distribution
and the mean of that distribution
Looking at Your Collected Data
Looking at
Your Collected
Data
 Step 5
• Present at conference or
publish paper

• Publish in peer-reviewed
academic journal
• Reviewers tear down
your work to build it up

• Can also promote work on

social media
• Why would a critical thinker place more trust in a publication that has
been peer reviewed?
Systems in psychological science
• We went over the dominant system of empiricism

• What about indigenous systems?

• Holistic perspective
• Community and relationships
• Cultural practices and traditions
• Spirituality
• Narrative and oral traditions
• Ecological Context
• Collective well-being
• Resilience and resistance
Systems in psychological science
• We went over the dominant system of empiricism

• What about indigenous systems?

• Holistic perspective
• Community and relationships
• Cultural practices and traditions
• Spirituality
• Narrative and oral traditions
• Ecological Context
• Collective well-being
• Resilience and resistance
2. Measuring
Variables
 Defining and Measuring
Variables
• Variable: Any characteristic that can vary

• Operational Definition:
• Defines a variable in terms of specific procedures used to
produce or measure it
 What Makes a Good Measurement?

Reliability. Always produce the Validity. Must be conceptually

same score when measuring the related to the property of study
same thing
3. Descriptive
Research
 Types of Research:
Descriptive
• Descriptive research:
• Seeks to explain how an individual
behaves, esp. in natural
environments

• Some examples include case

studies, naturalistic observation,
and surveys
Types of Research: Self-
Report
• Self-report measures:
• Participants report on their own
knowledge, beliefs, feelings,
experiences, or behavior

• A questionnaire or interview

• Likert scale
 • Issues to consider with self-report
Types of measures:
• Social desirability bias - desire to make
Research: good impression
Self-Report
• Asking suggestive or leading questions
How does the Rorschach inkblot test work? - Damion
Searls
 Types of Research: Case study
• Case study – descriptive research method that involves intensive
examination of an “atypical” person
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EW0QocsHluM&ab_chann https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDS4c8j2ix8&ab_channel
el=FrancineTan =WillJohnston
Types of Research: Observational

• Measures of overt behavior:

• Observers record observable behavior
• Requires an operational definition of the behavior you’re
looking for

• Observers must be trained to consistently code their

observations
Types of Research: Observational

• Issues with measures of overt behavior:

• Just like the desirability bias in self-report measures, participants
can change their behavior when being observed

• Demand characteristics: Aspects of an observational setting that

make people behave as they think they should
Types of Research: Observational

• Naturalistic observation:
• Observing people/animals in their
natural environment
• Example: Jane Goodall observing
chimpanzees in the wild

• Advantages:
• Provides a rich description of
behavior
• Can avoid demand characteristics
• Limits to naturalistic observation:
• Usually, experimenter cannot inform a person that they are being
observed

• Requires long periods of observation to get a single measure of a

desired behavior
 Types of Research: Survey
• Survey research:
• Ask participants questions through interviews or
questionnaires
Populations and Samples
• Population: the entire set of individuals
about whom we wish to draw a conclusion

• Sample: a subset of individuals drawn from

a population
 A representative sample:
• A sample that reflects the important
characteristics of the population
Populations and
Samples
Random sampling:
• Every member of the population has
an equal probability of being chosen
Populations and Samples
 • Surveys like descriptive research,
cannot be used to draw conclusions
about cause and effect
Populations and • Surveys rely on participants self-
Samples reports

• Incorrect generalizations about

populations
 Types of Measures: Psychological Tests

• Psychological tests:
• Specialized tests designed by psychologists to measure
particular variables
• Personality tests
• Intelligence tests
• Neuropsychological tests
4. Correlational
Research
Types of Research:
Correlational
• Correlational research:
• Looking for an association
between two (or more) measured
variables

• Keep in mind: Correlation does

not equal causation!
 •Keep in mind:
Correlation does not
equal causation!
 Types of Research: Correlational
• (a) shows what we
actually find: a
relationship

• (b) shows what

people usually want:
a causal relationship
 Types of Research: Correlational

• (c) reminds us that two

variables may be related
to one another only
because they are both
causally related to a third
variable
 Correlations
• Correlation coefficient (r): describes the relationship
between two variables
• Ranges from -1.0 to +1.0
• Sign indicates direction
• Absolute value indicates strength
 Positive Correlations

• An increase in one variable relates to an increase in the

other
• The more cats I have, the happier I feel
• 0 < r ≤ +1.0
 Negative Correlations
• An increase in one variable relates to
a decrease in the other
• The more work I have, the less happy I
am
• -1.0 ≤ r < 0
 Zero Correlations
• There is no relationship
• The two variables are not correlated with one
another
•r = 0
Scatterplots
• Suppose a study finds that hair length has a negative correlation with
body weight: People with shorter hair weight more. Why should you
avoid acting on these results by growing your hair to lose weight?
 • Advantages of Correlational Research:
• Show the strength of present relationships

• Can be used to make predictions about

variables
Types of
Research: • Identifies ‘real-world’ associations

Correlational • Disadvantages of Correlational Research:

• Can’t assume cause-effect relationship exists

• Relationships may be due to a third

unmeasured variable
5. Experimental
Research
 • Experimental research
1. Manipulation of one variable and

Types of 2. Measuring changes in another

Research: variable
Experiments 3. While holding all other factors
constant (control for other variables,
confounds)
 • Variable: A property whose value can
chance across individuals and over time

Some Useful • Independent Variable (IV): The variable that is

Terms manipulated in an experiment

• Dependent Variable (DV): The variable that is

measured in a study
Manipulating Variables
•Experimental Variation: Researchers systematically vary what participants are
exposed to (independent variable, IV) using random assignment to minimize bias

•Comparative Baseline: The experimental group receives the treatment (e.g., peer
influence on vaping opinions), while the control group experiences all other aspects
equally except the treatment (e.g., answering vaping questions alone)

•Isolating Effects: Comparing experimental and control groups allows researchers

to isolate the effects of the IV, establishing a baseline for what naturally occurs
(control) versus what changes with the treatment (experimental)
 • Two research designs:
• Between groups (or between
subjects) design
• Each group in the experiment is
Types of composed of a different set of
participants
Research:
Experiments • Repeated measures (or within
subjects) design
• Each participant is exposed to all
the conditions of an independent
variable
 Types of Research: Experiments
• Two research designs:
• Between groups (or between subjects) design

Treatment 1 Treatment 2

• Repeated measures (or within subjects) design

Treatment 1 Treatment 2
• In an experiment, which variable is manipulated, and which is
measured?
6. Ethics in
Research
Ethics

• Ethical standards
• Designed to protect the welfare of both human and
animal subjects in psychological research
Ethics
• Psychologists must:
• Protect and promote the welfare
of participants
• Avoid doing harm to participants
• Not carry out any studies unless
the probable benefit is
proportionately greater than the
risk
• Provide informed consent &
debriefing
• Ensure privacy and confidentiality
Tuskegee Syphilis Study
• Clinical study conduced between 1932-
1972…40 years.
• Purpose: Observe natural history of
untreated syphilis.
• Deception: African-American men
were told they were receiving free
health care. And were not informed
that they were being infected with
syphilis.
MK Ultra
The Monster Study
Harlow’s Monkeys
 Milgram's Obedience Experiment

The Milgram Experiment 1962 Full Documentary

Experimenter – The Stanley Milgram Story 2015

The Stanford Prison Experiment
Animal Ethics
• 500BC Ancient Greece
• Vivisections – live experiments on animals
• 17th Century (1601-1700)
• Is it torture? How does if impact studies?
• Rene Descartes
• 18th Century (1701-1800)
• ASPCA – American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals

• 1959
• The Principles of Humane Experimental Techniques

• 1966
• The Laboratory Animal Welfare Act
• Protect dogs, cats, primates, guinea pics, hamsters, rabbits
• Not much in labs

• 1970s & 1980s

• Animal Liberation by Peter Singer in 1975
• The Case for Animal Rights by Tom Regan in 1983
 Ethics with Non-
Human Animals

• APA’s code for working with animal

subjects:
• Must be trained in research
methods , the care of laboratory
animals
• Appropriate anesthesia and pain
management
• Minimize discomfort, infection,
illness, pain
• Procedures causing discomfort and
pain only used when study shows
potential for benefit
 Why use animals?
• Ethical considerations • Understand animal
• Similarity • Conservation
• Controlled conditions • Comparative
• Experimental manipulations • Intrinsic value
• Generalization • Animal Welfare
• It’s “practical” • Education
 The Three R’s
• Russell and Burch in 1959
• Guiding principles for more ethical use of animals in testing

1. Replacement: methods which avoid or replace the use of

animals in research

2. Reduction: use of methods that enable researchers to obtain

comparable levels of information from fewer animals, or to
obtain more information from the same number of animals.

3. Refinement: use of methods that alleviate or minimize

potential pain, suffering or distress, and enhance animal
welfare for the animals used.
• Why are animals used in research?
 It’s a big deal

Ethics: The Rules are very strict and enforced

Big Picture Peer review before publishing

Accountability
Optional: Get out there!
• Using the method of naturalistic observation observe everyday
behaviours university students perform in a university setting (e.g.,
waiting for an elevator or bus, standing in the lunch line, students
arriving in class, etc.).

• First decide what behavior you are going to observe.

• Next, give that behavior an operational definition.
• Finally, observe. Notice any patterns?