9/6/22

Psychological
Science
Chapter 2

Apa.org
1

THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD

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THEORY

A set of principles that explain and predict a phenomenon.

Good theories:
1. are comprehensive
2. provide the simplest possible explanation
3. provide ideas for future research
4. are falsifiable

HYPOTHESIS

A general statement about the relationship between two or more

things ( aka variables)

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CONCEPTUAL OPERATIONAL
VARIABLE DEFINITION
What you are interested in studying How you will define and measure it

For example:
1. Regular exercise improves sleep
quality
2. Women are more attracted to men
with facial hair
3. Reward works better than
punishment in changing behaviour

PREDICTION

The expected relationship between operational variables

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LEARNING OBJECTIVE
1. Differentiate the goals of descriptive, correlational,
and experimental research designs, and explain the
advantages and disadvantages of each.

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DESCRIPTIVE EXPERIMENTAL
METHODS METHODS

• Procedures for measuring or • Procedures for uncovering

recording behaviors, causal processes by
thoughts, or feelings in their
natural state systematically manipulating
some aspect of a situation

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DESCRIPTIVE METHODS

• Naturalistic observation

• Laboratory observation

• Case studies

• Surveys and tests

VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY

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CORRELATIONAL RESEARCH

• Used to investigate a relationship between variables

that cannot be manipulated in an experiment
• Represented as a number (r) between -1 and +1
• Shows only a relationship; does NOT show cause
and effect

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EXPERIMENTAL METHOD

• Provides a conclusion about the cause-and-effect

relationship between variables

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EXPERIMENTAL METHOD

• Independent variable
• Dependent variable

• Experimental group
• Control group

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EXPERIMENTAL PITFALLS

• Selection bias – counter by using random assignment

• Placebo effect – counter by using blind control group
• Experimenter bias – counter by using double blind procedure

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DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS
• Organize and summarize important parts of the data set

• Frequency distribution
• Histogram
• Normal Distribution
• Central Tendency
– Mean: add all scores and divide by the number of scores used
– Median: half are above and half are below
– Mode: the most common value

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DISPERSION

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INFERENTIAL STATISTICS

Allow researchers to make inferences about the meaning of their

results

There are many different inferential statistics, but they all rely on
significance tests, expressed as a probability, or p value

p<0.05 in order to claim statistical significance

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ETHICS OF RESEARCH WITH HUMANS

• The National Council on Ethics in Human
Research sets ethical guidelines regarding the
treatment and protection of human participants in
research.

• Informed consent
• Protection from harm
• Right to confidentiality and
anonymity
• Minimal use of deception
• Debrief participants
• Care for vulnerable participants

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ETHICS OF RESEARCH WITH

ANIMALS
• The Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC)
provides guidelines for researchers working with
animals, and promotes good animal care in science.
• Animals may be harmed only when there is no
alternative and the benefits of the research justify
the harm.

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WEIRD

• Western
• Educated
• Industrialized
• Rich
• Democratic

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