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Research Methods in Psychology

PSY 101 INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY

Fall 2011 TIME & PLACE: MWF at 11:00-11:50 in Ayhan ahenk Hall COORDINATING INSTRUCTOR: Assoc.Prof. Feyza orap

STUDYING BEHAVIOR SCIENTIFICALLY CH. 2

Formulating research questions Research design Data collection Data interpretation

Ali: Grandfather is never going to figure out email Elif: What makes you say that? Ali: Everybody knows you cant teach old people new things.

Science is a way of gaining knowledge through empiricism and reasoning. Gathering evidence by systematic and objective research

Steps in the Scientific Process

Step 1: Identify a question of Interest

From life experience From existing research Common Sense (e.g., boys are more aggressive
than girls, or kids get aggressive after watching a violent cartoon show)

Step 2: Form Hypothesis and Gather information

Hypothesis: Make a specific prediction about the phenomenon that you are interested in

Theory vs. Hypothesis

Social Learning Theory
People model behaviors that they see others engage in.

Identify the question: Do kids really get more violent after watching violent TV?

Hypothesis If children watch a lot of violent television, then they will behave aggressively.

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Step 3: Test Hypothesis by Conducting Research

Step 4: Analyze Data, Draw Conclusions and Report Findings

Compare the level of aggression between the group of children who watch Power Rangers and the group of children who watch Sesame street

Step 5: Build a Body of Knowledge

Researchers as k other questions such as what other factor might affect childrens aggression? Additional evidence is collected, researchers build a theory which explains how and why certain events are related to one another

DEFINING AND MEASURING VARIABLES

Psychologists study variables and the relations among the variables. Type of TV show-child aggression Age- Memory Social class Stress level

Operational definition of variables

Specifies precisely how the concept is measured in a particular study. Converts an abstract conceptual definition into concrete, situation-specific terms. Memory : number of words remembered

METHODS OF RESEARCH
1. Descriptive Research: Recording Events 2. Correlational Research: Associations Between Events 3. Experiments: Examination of Cause and Effect

Goals of Behavioral Research

1. Descriptive Research Descriptive Identification of the behaviors, thoughts, or feelings of particular groups of individuals

Public opinion polls

How to Describe Behavior?

Marketing studies of consumer preferences

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How to collect information?

1. Self-report measures 2. Observation 3. Tests 4. Physiological data (e.g., heart rate, blood pressure)

1. Self-Report Measures
Surveys or questionnaires

Advantages and Disadvantages

Interviews
Knowing how to ask questions!

Disadvantages of Self-report
Rater might be unwilling to report honestly SOCIAL DESIRABILITY BIAS How to minimize the social desirability?
By establishing rapport To keep responses confidential

2. Observational Measures
By observing and recording overt behaviours (e.g., eating, aggression, helping, smiling) Where to observe? 1. NATURALISTIC SETTING (in real-world) 2. LABORATORY SETTING
Why do psychologists conduct observations in the laboratory?

Observation
Reaction to the presence of the observer When are people more likely to act naturally?
1. Disguised observations
Example: Aggressive Student behaviour: May train and ask the teacher to make recordings of childrens aggressive behaviour

Observation
Reaction to the presence of the observer When are people more likely to act naturally?
3. Long and repeated observation

METHODS OF RESEARCH
2. Correlational Research: Associations Between Events

Correlational Research: Associations Between Events

How does marital satisfaction vary as a function of marriage duration?

Social Support

Grades

Duration of marriage

Marital satisfaction

Variable 1

Variable 2

Variable 1

Variable 2

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Positive Correlation
two variables move (or vary) in the same directioneither up or down

Negative Correlation
Two variables move (or vary) in the opposite directioneither up or down

Correlation coefficient (r) -1.0 to +1.0

A statistical index that indicates: Direction (+ or sign) Strength of the relationship Low: .10 - .30 Medium: .30 - .60 Strong: .60 - 1.00
Knowing a persons score on one variable helps you predict the level of performance on the other.

inverse relationship

Variable 1

Variable 2

Variable 1

Variable 2

Variable 1

Variable 2

How to calculate the correlation coefficient (r)?

Stress score Depression Ayse 23 25 Ali 34 38 Kemal 44 44 Mehmet 35 39 Gonca 42 41 Yesim 38 35

Scatter Diagrams
Figure 1

POP QUESTION
Which of the following correlations between two variables is strongest?
a) b) c) d)

-.75 .00 +.25 +.50

Stress Depression

Depression

Loneliness

Depression

Loneliness

Depression

Loneliness

r = +.78

Correlations describe the relation between two variables. ? Depression Loneliness

Correlations describe the relation between two variables.

? Depression Loneliness

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Correlations describe the relation between two variables. They do not explain the relation. Correlation does not imply causation.

For school children, shoe size is strongly correlated with reading skills.

For school children, shoe size is strongly correlated with reading skills. Can you conclude that learning new words make the feet get bigger?

A third factor involved - AGE

As children get older, they learn to read better and their shoe size gets bigger. In the statistical jargon, age is a third variable explaining the relationship between the two variables.

METHODS OF RESEARCH
1. Descriptive Research: Recording Events
Methods to record events

Goal of an Experiment
To show that a variable causes a change in the other variable

2. Correlational Research: Associations Between Events 3. Experiments: Examination of Cause and Effect

In an ideal experiment
1) One variable is manipulated (independent variable) 2) Behavior of interest (dependent variable) is measured 3) Potential sources of influence on the behavior of interest are held constant

Experimental Group & Control Group

Experimental group: Participants who receive an active level of the IV Control group: The untreated subjects
Those subjects who did not get any treatment (IV) is in the control group. Does caffeine intake improve memory? Experimental group: exposed to independent variable: view violent film Control group: View nonviolent film Full population of interest Randomly assign into control and experimental groups

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Simple Random Assignment

On average, the groups should be equivalent in intelligence, personality, age, attitudes, selfconfidence, anxiety.

Important note
A true experiment allows us to make causal statements about the relationship between the IV and DV. Conclusion: Manipulated IV caused changes in the behavior