Methods or Acquiring Knowledge those who have not yet experienced

therapy.
 Methods of Tenacity – information is b. Within-subjects design/Repeated
accepted as true because it has always been measures design: Exposing the same
believed r superstition supports it. respondents to the various treatment
 Methods of Intuition – information is conditions. For example, making the
accepted on the basis of a hunch or “gut person take 3 different doses of the
feeling” drug on 3 separate occasions then
 Methods of Authority – a person relies on observing his physical health
information or answers from an expert in the multiple times.
subject area. 7. Conduct the study
 The rational method – or rationalism, seeks 8. Evaluate the Data
answers by the use of logical reasoning. a. Preliminary Analyses – Descriptive
statistics
b. Main analyses – Inferential Statistics
9. Reporting the Results
a. Research colloquium
b. Conferences
c. Publication
Common Sources of Research Topics

 Personal Interests and Curiosities

 Casual Observation and Reports of Others’
 Perfectionism affects well-being and mental
Observations
health
 Practical Problems or Questions
 Peace of mind is one indicator of well-being
Reviewing the Literature
Quantitative and Qualitative Research
 A primary source is firsthand report of
 Quantitative Research – is based on
observations or research results written by
measuring variables for individual
the individuals who actually conducted the
participants to obtain scores, usually
research and made the observations
numerical values, which are submitted to
(Research articles)
statistical analysis for summary and
interpretation.  A secondary source is a description or
summary of another person’s work. A
 Qualitative Research – is based on making
secondary source is written by someone who
observations that are summarized and
did not participate in the research
interpreted in a narrative report.
observations being discussed. (Review
Steps in the Research Process articles and Meta-analyses)

1. Find a Research Idea: Select a Topic and

Search the Literature to Find an Unanswered
Question
a. Identify a general topic that you
would like to explore and review the
background literature to find a
specific research idea or question.
2. Form a hypothesis, or tentative answer, to
your research question.
Forming a hypothesis
3. Determine how you will measure your
variables.  The goal of a literature search is to find an
4. Identify the participants or subjects for the idea for a research study. The idea typically
study, decide how they will be selected, and involves a general statement about the
plan for their ethical treatment. relationship between two variables. For
5. Select a research strategy: experimental, example:
descriptive, correlational.
6. Select a research design The four steps of a Hypothesis Test
a. Between-subjects design: having
more than one group and comparing 1. State the hypothesis
their performance with each other. a. H0 or Null Hypothesis – the
Example, the life satisfaction of hypothesis that there is no
those who experienced therapy and relationship between the variables
 (The IV does not have an influence
on the DV)
b. H1 or Alternative Hypothesis =- the
hypothesis that there is a relationship
between the variables (The IV does
not have an influence on the DV)
c. Two types of alternative Hypothesis
i. One-tailed (directional) –
states the specific prediction.
ii. Two-tailed (non-directional)
– does not state the specific
prediction.
2. Set the criteria for decision
a. The alpha level or level of
significance – is the maximum
probability that the research result
was obtained simply by chance.
b. The alpha can be 0.5, 0.1, or .001
c. The computed p-value should be less
than the declared alpha level.
3. Collect data and compute sample statistics –
the data are collected after the researcher has
stated the hypotheses and established the
criteria for a decision.
4. Make a decision
a. In final step, you have to evaluate if
the null hypothesis should be
rejected or not
i. Reject the null hypothesis – if
the p-value is lower than the
alpha. (The alternative
hypothesis is supported; there
is a relationship)
ii. Do not reject the null
hypothesis – if the p-value is
higher or equal to the alpha.
(The alternative hypothesis is
not supported; there is no
relationship)
Sampling and Techniques – the large group of
interest to a researcher is called the population, and
the small set of individuals who participate in the
study is called the sample.
Probability Sampling
 Simple random sampling – the basic
requirement for random sampling is that
each individual in the population has an
equal chance of being selected.
 Systematic sampling – is a type of
probability sampling that is very similar to
simple random sampling. Systematic
sampling begins by listing all the individuals
in the population, then randomly picking a
starting point on the list.
o If we select participant number 11,
we are biased against choosing the
participants number 12, 13, and 14.
 Stratified random sampling – a probability
sampling technique that involves identifying
specific subgroups to be included in the
sample and then selecting equal-sized
random samples from each pre-identified
subgroup.
o Suppose that we plan to select 50
individuals from a large introductory
psychology class and want to ensure
that psychology majors and non-
majors are equally represented.
o 25 Psych majors; 25 non-psychs
 Cluster Sampling – a probability sampling
technique involving random selection or
groups instead of individuals from a
population.
o Instead of selecting 300 students one
at a time, the researcher can
randomly select 10 classrooms (each
with about 30 students) and still end
up with 300 individuals in the
sample.
Non-Probability Sampling
 Convenience sampling – a nonprobability
sampling method involving selection of
individuals on the basis of their availability
and willingness to respond.
 Quota sampling – a non-probability
sampling method; a type of convenience
sampling involving identifying specific
subgroups to be included in the sample and
then establishing quotas for individuals to
be sampled from each group.
Sampling Error – is the naturally occurring
discrepancy, or error, that exists between a sample
statistic and the corresponding population
parameter.
TYPES OF PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH
  Descriptive Research – research that
determines the basic dimensions of a
phenomenon, defining what it is, how often
it occurs, and so on.
o Surveys – surveys can only measure
only what people think about
themselves.
 Correctional Research – research that
examines the relationships between
variables, whose purpose is to examine  Double-bling procedure – the participants
whether and how two variables change and the researcher directly involved with the
together. participants are unaware of (are blind to) the
o Positive relationship – as x increases, conditions to which the participants have
y increases as well. been allocated.
o Negative relationship – as x
increases, y decreases.  Factorial Design, there are two or more
 Shortcomings of Correlational Research factors (IV), with each factor having
o Correlation does not mean causation. multiple “levels”
o Directionality of the relationship DESCRIPTIVE AND INFERENTIAL
o Third-variable problem. STATISTICS
 Longitudinal Research
o Longitudinal designs – make  Descriptive statistics – the collection and
observations of the same people over organization of data; usually reported in
time, ranging from months to newspapers, magazines, company report
decades. etc.
 Cross-sectional design – researchers take a o Among the 50 students in the
cross section of a population across the class, 45 are vaccinated while the
different age groups and compare them on remaining 5 are unvaccinated.
some characteristic. o Among the 200 SHS Students,
110 graduated from private high
TYPES OF PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH schools while 90 came from
public high schools.
 Experimental Research o The average IQ of those who
o Experiment – a carefully regulated
took Vitamin XYZ is 102.
procedure in which the researcher
manipulates one or more variables MEASURES OF CENTRAL TENDENCY
that the believed to influence some
other variable.  Mean – equal to the sum of all scores
o Independent variable – the variable divided by the number of observations.
being manipulated.  Median – the midpoint of the
o Dependent variable – the outcome of distribution.
the manipulation.  Mode – the most recurrent number in the
 Experimental group – the participants in an distribution.
experiment who receive the drug or other
MEASURES OF DISPERSION
treatment under study – that is, those who
are exposed to the change that the  Standard Deviation – the average deviation
independent variable represents. or distance of the scores about the mean.
 Control group – the group that did not  Variance – the variance squared deviation or
receive the manipulation or the change that distance of the scores about the mean.
the independent variable represents.
 Counterbalancing - involves systematically
changing the order of treatments or tasks for
participants in a ‘balanced’ way to ‘counter’
the unwanted effects on performance of any
one order.
 Single-blind procedure – because the
participants are not aware of (are blind to)
the condition of the experiment to which
they have been allocated.
DESCRIPTIVE AND INFERENTIAL
STATISTICS

 Inferential statistics – consists of

generalizing from samples to populations,
performing hypothesis testing, determining
relationships among the variables and
making predictions
o Those who are vaccinated have more
antibodies compared to unvaccinated
ones.
o Males are significantly taller
compared to females.