Introduction to Psychology

Psychological Research
The Scientific Method

The Scientific Method ensures that results are empirical, or grounded in objective, tangible
evidence that can be observed time and time again, regardless of who is observing.
The Process of Scientific
Research
Hypothesis or Theory?

• Hypothesis: (plural: hypotheses) tentative and testable statement about the relationship

between two or more variables
• Theory: well-developed set of ideas that propose an explanation for observed phenomena
Theories and Hypotheses in the Scientific Method
Key Components of the Scientific Method

• Fairness: implies that all data must be considered when evaluating a hypothesis

• Falsifiable: It should be possible to disprove a theory or hypothesis by experimental results
• Predictability: implies that a theory should enable us to make predictions about future
events
• Verifiability: an experiment must be replicable by another researcher
Ethics in Research with Human Participants

Any research institution that receives federal support for research involving human participants
must have access to an institutional review board (IRB), a committee of administrators,
scientists, and community members that reviews proposals for research involving human
participants to ensure that the participants are not harmed.
Informed Consent

• An IRB will require informed consent from all participants.

• A research participant must understand what to expect during an experiment, any risks
involved, and the implications of the research, and then give written consent to participate.
• In some cases researchers may use deception or purposely mislead experiment participants
in order to maintain the integrity of the experiment. In these cases participants are debriefed,
or told the truth after the experiment.
Ethics in Animal Research

Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee

(IACUC): a group of administrators, scientists,
veterinarians, and community members that
reviews proposals for research involving animals to
ensure that research animals are treated humanely
and inspects research facilities
Categories of Psychological Research

• Descriptive research: research studies that do not test

specific relationships between variables; they are used to
describe general or specific behaviors and attributes that are
observed and measured
• Correlational research: tests whether a relationship exists
between two or more variables
• Experimental research: tests a hypothesis to determine
cause and effect relationships
Common Types of Descriptive Research

• Clinical or case study: observational research study

focusing on one or a few people
• Naturalistic observation: observation of behavior in its
natural setting
• Survey: list of questions to be answered by research
participants allowing researchers to collect data from a large
number of people. Surveys use a sample, or representative
group, to learn more about a population
Other types of Descriptive Research

• Archival research: method of research using past records or

data sets to answer various research questions, or to search
for interesting patterns or relationships
• Cross-sectional research: compares multiple segments of a
population at a single time
• Longitudinal research: studies in which the same group of
individuals is surveyed or measured repeatedly over an
extended period of time
Issues with Descriptive Research

• It may not be possible to generalize, or infer that the results

for a sample apply to the larger population
• Observer bias is when observations may be skewed to align
with observer expectations
• One way to assess observers is inter-rater reliability,
a measure of agreement among observers on how they
record and classify a particular event
• It cannot test relationships between variables or cause and
effect
Correlational Research

Correlation means that there is a relationship between two or

more variables. We can measure correlation by calculating the
correlation coefficient, a number from -1 to +1 that indicates
the strength and direction of the relationship between
variables.
Limits of Correlational Research

• Correlation does not prove cause and effect!

• Some other factor, a confounding variable, could be causing
the systematic movement in our variables of interest
Experimental Design: Participants

• Basic design involves two groups: experimental group and the control
group
• Random samples ensure that the groups represent the larger population
researchers are studying
• Random assignment to control or experimental groups prevents
differences between the two groups other than the independent variable
being tested
Operational Definition

A clear operational definition or description of how we will

measure our variables is important so people can understand
the results and the experiment can be replicated
Independent and Dependent Variables
Preventing Bias in Experiments

Double blind studies where researchers and participants do

not know which group received the treatment prevent
experimenter bias and control for the placebo effect in
participants
The placebo effect is the influence of people’s expectations or
beliefs on their experience in a given situation
Reliability and Validity

Reliability: consistency and reproducibility of a given result

Validity: accuracy of a given result in measuring what it is
designed to measure
Distributional Thinking

• Data vary. More specifically, values of a variable vary

• Analyzing the pattern of variation, called the distribution of
the variable, often reveals insights
• It is important to look beyond averages and medians
Statistical Significance

• A result is statistically significant if it is

unlikely to arise by chance alone
• This probability is referred to as a p-
value
• The p-value tells you how often a random
process would give a result at least as
extreme as what was found in the actual
study, assuming there was nothing other
than random chance at play
Generalizability and Cause and Effect

Random sampling is necessary to generalize results from our

sample to a larger population, and random assignment is key
to drawing cause-and-effect conclusions. With both kinds of
randomness, probability models help us assess how much
random variation we can expect in our results, in order to
determine whether our results could happen by chance alone
and to estimate a margin of error.
The Structure of a Psychology Research Article

The American Psychological Association (APA) creates

guidelines for how articles are structured which include:
• Abstract
• Introduction
• Method
• Results
• Discussion
Abstract

• The concise summary of the article

• Summarizes the most important features of the manuscript,
providing the reader with a global first impression on the
article
• Generally just one paragraph that explains the experiment as
well as a short synopsis of the results
Introduction

• Provides background information about the origin and

purpose of performing the experiment or study
• Reviews previous research and presents existing theories on
the topic
Method

• Covers the methodologies used to investigate the research

question, including the identification
of participants, procedures, and materials as well as a
description of the actual procedure
• Should be sufficiently detailed to allow for replication
Results

• The results section presents key findings of the research,

including reference to indicators of statistical significance
Discussion

• Provides an interpretation of the findings, states their

significance for current research, and derives implications
for theory and practice
• Alternative interpretations for findings are also provided,
particularly when it is not possible to conclude for the
directionality of the effects
• Authors also acknowledge the strengths and
limitations/weaknesses of the study and offer concrete
directions about for future research
Practice Question

• You read a news article that says that a person’s sex causes
them to have better spatial memory
• Using what you have learned about research design, how
should you evaluate the claim?
• What questions should you ask?
Quick Review

• What is the scientific method?

• How does the scientific method apply to psychology?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of descriptive, experimental, and correlational
research?
• What are the basic elements of a statistical investigation?