Research Methods

White Board Review

Perspectives

• After his auto accident, Richard’s memory loss is believed to be caused by damage to his brain’s hippocampus.

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• Biological Perspective

Perspectives

• Rick constantly acts out to gain the attention of his teachers. His therapist believes this is because he unconsciously resents his parents neglect of him.

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• Psychodynamic/Psychoanalytic Perspective

Perspectives

• Bernie tantrums are caused by the fact that whenever he has tantrums his parents inevitably give in to his demands.

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• Behavioral/Learning Perspective

Perspectives

• Jan never looks in the eyes of older adults when talking to them. While this behavior seems strange to us it is common in her homeland as a sign of respect.

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• Socio-Cultural Perspective

Perspectives

• Donovan continually tries to make the best choices when it comes to doing his homework and studying so that he can go to a good college and hopefully reach his dream of being a brain surgeon someday. His decision to go out with friends rather than study for his big biology test just represents a bad choice he’s made and will have to learn from.

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• Humanistic Perspective

Perspectives

• Bob leans in for a kiss at the end of his blind date only to be slapped by his date. Apparently he mistook his date’s kindness and politeness as flirting.

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• Cognitive Perspective

Research Methods

• What are the four goals of psychology?

Answer

• Describe
• Explain
• Predict
• Control
• …behavior and mental processes.

Research Methods

• Put the following steps of the scientific method in order:
• A. Report Results
• B. Design study to collect data
• C. Formulate testable questions/hypothesis
• D. Analyze data to arrive at conclusions.

Answer

• C B D A

Research Methods

• When a person collects evidence and then creates an explanation about what happened based on that evidence this is called a…

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• Theory

Research Methods

• helps build explanations that are based on facts and have predictive value while is based on describing what has happened in the past.

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• Science
• Common Sense

Research Methods

• Our tendency to think we should have known how something would have turned out. Also known as the “I knew it along” phenomenon.

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• Hindsight Bias

Research Methods

• This refers to our tendency to overestimate how much we know.

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• Overconfidence

Research Methods

• Our tendency to search for information that confirms our beliefs.

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• Confirmation Bias

Research Methods

• Tendency of people to favor one point of view over another or to let their own personal beliefs influence the way they interpret data. This must always be reduced when conducting research.

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• Bias

Research Methods

• Thinking that does not blindly accept arguments or conclusions but searches for supporting evidence to prove or disprove them.

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• Critical Thinking

Research Methods

• Only this kind of research method can determine cause and effect.

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• Experiment

Research Methods

• Developmental psychologists use these to study the same family or group of people for many years to see how they change over time. These are not done often because they are expensive and time consuming.

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• Longitudinal Study

Research Methods

• Study where researchers simultaneously study a number of subjects from different age groups and then compare the results to see how they are different. This is cheaper and takes less time but difference could be due to different people rather than developmental factors.

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• Cross-Sectional Study

Research Methods

• Type of research method where subjects are not aware they are being watched and the researcher does not interfere.

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• Naturalistic Observation

Research Methods

• In depth study of one individual with the hopes of determining universal principles. Generally used to investigate rare, unusual, or extreme conditions. Problems with this method are that this technique is very open to bias and it is difficult applying data from one person to everyone.

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• Case Study

Research Methods

• This quick and inexpensive research method relies on self-reports, questionnaires and interviews but its results can be compromised by people lying.

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• Survey Method

Research Methods

• Type of sample that closely parallels the target population on relevant characteristics and is proportional to the target population.

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• Stratified or Representative sample

Research Methods

• The technique used when choosing a sample where every member of larger group has equal chance of being selected for the study sample.

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• Random Selection

Research Methods

• The term for when you apply the findings from the research group to other groups.

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• Generalizing

Research Methods

• These types of studies examine the relationship of how closely one thing is related to another

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• Correlational Study

Research Methods

• When variable A goes up then B also goes up or when variable A goes down then B also goes down. What kind of correlation is this?

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• Positive Correlation

Research Methods

• When variable A and B go in the opposite direction from each other it is what type of correlation?

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• Negative Correlation

Research Methods

• A way to eliminate bias where participants do not know if they are receiving the treatment or the placebo.

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• Single Blind Study

Research Methods

• A way to eliminate bias where neither the participants nor the researchers know if they are administering the treatment or the placebo.

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• Double Blind Study

Ethics

• This ethics principle states that participants are more likely to be truthful if they know their privacy is protected.

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• Confidentiality

Ethics

• This ethical principle requires that participants must be given a choice to participate after being informed of the study.

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• Informed Consent

Ethics

• This is allowable when benefit outweighs harm and participants receive full explanation at its conclusion.

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• Deception