Psychological Research

Psychological Research

1. Types of Experiments

   • laboratory experiments
     • all variables can be controlled low ecological validity
   • field experiments
     • natural environment but variables can still be manipulated slightly impacted ecological validity
   • natural experiments
     • researchers have no control over variables naturally occurring events

2. Ethics

   • informed consent
   • deception
   • debriefing
   • withdrawal
   • confidentiality
   • protection from harm

3. Research Process

   • aim
     • purpose of the study
   • target population
     • intended audience of study
     • sample
       • nature of a group of participants
       • representative sample
         • reflects the population
       • opportunity sampling
         • sample of whoever happens to be there and agrees to partcipate
       • self-selected sample
         • made up of volunteers --- sample will be highly motivated, rarely reflects population
       • snowball sampling
         • participants recruit other participants from among friends/family/acquaintances --- helps reach a specific group of people (e.g. drug users)
       • random sampling
         • every member of target population has equal chance of being selected --- obtain representative sample, gets rid of selection bias
       • stratified sample
         • attempts to overcome representative sample problem by drawing random samples from each subpopulation within the target population --- more accurately reflects actual distribution of population
   • procedure
     • step-by-step process used to carry out the study
   • findings
     • state how researcher interpreted the data that were collected
     • application
       • how a theory or empirical study is used
   • variables
     • independent variable - what is being deliberately manipulated dependent variable - what is affected by the change in independent variable constant - what is kept the same to limit outside factors, (control confounding variables)
     • experimental hypothesis
       • predicts relationship between IV and DV
     • null hypothesis
       • predicts that there will be not results (or results from chance) due to change in IV

4. Textbook examples

   • Carol Dweck - implicit theories of intelligence
     • people with fixed mindset = intelligence is static  ---- entity theory of intelligencepeople with growth mindset = intelligence is not fixed (can be developed)----- incremental theory of intelligence*shows importance of mindset when explaining success*
   • Bandura's Self-Efficacy
     • self-efficacy - one's own belief as to whether one will success in something (based on previous experiences) *helps explain success based on individual experiences*
   • Rosenthal and Jacobson 1968 - Pygmalion effect
     • shows how expectations of teachers affects the learning of students

5. PROBLEMS

   • sampling bias
     • findings can't be generalized to the entire population
   • participant variability
     • extent to which participants share common set of traits that can bias the outcome of the study --- characteristics of sample affect the dependent variable
   • validity
     • ecological validity
       • does the study represent what happens in real life --- artificiality
     • cross-cultural validity
       • is it relevant to multiple cultures or is it ethnocentric
   • reliability
     • can the study be replicated?
   • Hawthorne effect
     • participants act differently to fit the study --- use single-blind control: participants don't know what the study is about
   • researcher bias
     • researcher sees what they are looking for  --- use double blind control : neither participants nor conductor of study knows the aim of the study