Research methods in psychology

Answer the following questions using the class hand out on Stanley Milgram's experiment on
obedience to authority

Question 1:

1. (a) clearly explain the main tenants of experimental research.

The purposes of experimental search is for psychologist to manipulate a variable under controlled
conditions to see if any change occurs in a second variable. This is in order to establish a possible
cause and effect relationship by the psychologist.

1. (b) in Milgram’s study:

 How was the sample selected? Do you think that this was a representative sample of the
American population?

Milgram got he's participants from newspaper ads and posters. America consists of states that have
different cultural backgrounds, therefore the sample represented the New York state only.

 What was the independent variable (s) in this study? The psychological distance
 What was the dependent variable (s) in this study? Compliance to authority
 Identify the confederate in this experiment and what role they played.
 Did Milgram’s study have a control and experimental group? Can you identify these?

Question 2:

2 (a) based on your knowledge of ethical standards in psychology research, what ethical violations
was Milgram’s study marred with?

2 (b) Cite at least one other study that is known to have violated ethics of psychological research.

2 (c) provide a summary of the ethical code of conduct that researchers are expected to adhere to
when conducting research.

1. Find an observational study such as those carried out by Bandura's study of violence in
children and Piaget’s observation of cognitive development.

1 (a) what are the key elements of observational research that you can pick out from these studies?

1 (b) what are the strengths and weaknesses of the various kinds of observational research?

1 (c) do any of the studies you found bring out correlational research aspects?

1 (d) Discuss the key differences between correlation and experimental methods.