Lecture 2

RESEARCH METHODS
Research Methods in
Psychology
Should I use my phone while I drive?
Can memory research help me study for exams?
How can I become more creative?
The research process in psychology can be divided into
several steps:
 How do theories and hypotheses differ?

Theory - A general idea or framework that helps to

organize what we know and want to know about a
topic

Hypothesis - A testable idea derived from a theory.

If children view a lot of violence on television, then

they will engage in more aggressive acts toward their
peers.
 Observer bias

When different people observe the same event, they

don’t always “see” the same thing.
An observer bias is an error due to the personal
motives and expectations of the viewer.
At times, people see and hear what they expect
rather than what is.
 Example:
The beginning of the 20th century, a leading
psychologist, Hugo Munsterberg, gave a speech on
peace to a large audience. He summarized the news
accounts of what they heard and saw in this way:

 The reporters sat immediately in front of the platform. One man

wrote that the audience was so surprised by my speech that it
received it in complete silence; another wrote that I was constantly
interrupted by loud applause and that at the end of my address the
applause continued for minutes. The one wrote that during my
opponent’s speech I was constantly smiling; the other noticed that
my face remained grave and without a smile. The one said that I
grew purple-red from excitement; and the other found that I grew
chalk-white.
Why the reporters have such different evaluation about the
speech?
This study demonstrates how expectations can lead different observers to reach
different conclusions.

The biases of the observers act as filters through which some things are noticed
as relevant and significant and others are ignored as irrelevant and not
meaningful.

To minimize observer biases, researchers rely on standardization and

operational definitions.

Standardization means using uniform, consistent procedures in all phases of

data collection. All features of the test or experimental situation should be
sufficiently standardized so all research participants experience exactly the
same experimental conditions.
Standardization means asking questions in the same way and scoring responses
according to preestablished rules.
In experimental settings, researchers most often wish to demonstrate a cause-
and-effect relationship between two types of variables:
1. Independent variable -In an experimental setting, a variable that the
researcher manipulates with the expectation of having an impact on values of the
dependent variable.
2. Dependent variable -In an experimental setting, a variable that the researcher
measures to assess the impact of a variation in an independent variable.

For Example:
Children who view a lot of violence on television will engage in more
aggressive acts toward their peers.

Aggression is the effect part of the cause effect relationship; it is the dependent
variable, If researchers’ claims about cause and effect are correct, the value of
the dependent variable will depend on the value of the independent variable.
 Confounding variable

Confounding variable- A stimulus other than the

variable an experimenter explicitly introduces into a
research setting that affects a participant’s behavior

For example, that violent television scenes are louder

and involve more movement than do most nonviolent
scenes
 Maze bright or maze dull?

You have to teach the rats to run a maze.

Group A has five rats which were bred to be maze-

bright
Group B has five rats which were bred to be maze-
dull.

What do you think which group should have a better

result?
 Rosenthal and Fode (1963) gave a group of experimenters
five rats each, with instructions to teach the rats to run a
maze. Some experimenters were told that their rats had
been bred to be maze-bright and other experimenters were
told that their rats had been bred to be maze-dull. In
reality, however, there was no difference between the
rats. Nevertheless, the so-called “maze-bright” rats
showed superior learning.

 Can you think of how that might have happened?

 Expectancy effect/ Placebo Effect

Different experimental method potentially gives rise to a

unique set of alternative explanations, there are two
types of confounds that apply to almost all experiments,
which researchers call expectancy effects and
placebo effects.

Expectancy effect- Result that occurs when a

researcher or observer subtly communicates to
participants the kind of behavior he or she expects to
find, thereby creating that expected reaction.
Placebo effect- Effects based on factors that
participants think will help (e.g., a pill, a tape that
supposedly has subliminal messages) but that actually
contain nothing that should produce an effect.
However, effects can still occur, such as a reduction in
pain.

Double-blind procedure - A research technique

used to reduce the effects of expectations, in which
neither the experimenter nor the participant
knows which condition the participant is in.
Research designs can divide into three categories:
descriptive research,
correlational research,
 experimental research.
 Descriptive research

Descriptive research - Research that seeks to

describe a phenomenon.

Suppose you want to know how marriage ceremonies

are conducted in Ethiopia. You could go there and
observe several marriage ceremonies, taking note of
the distinctive elements.
 Name three types of descriptive research.

Naturalistic observation - Research that involves

observing behavior in its natural setting
Another type of research that is usually descriptive is
a case study . Case study- An in-depth
investigation of a single person or small group of
people
Public opinion poll - A type of descriptive
research in which people are surveyed about their
view on a topic or issue.
Think of a naturalistic observation study that could
be done to learn about another culture.

Why would anyone do a case study?

The group of people you want to study (U.S. citizens
in this case) is called the population, and the
subset of them who actually complete your survey is
called the sample.
Why is it important to have a representative sample?

It is extremely important that one have a representative

sample. A representative sample is a subset of the total
group (the population) that accurately represents the whole
group.

For example, suppose one wants to know what U.S. citizens

think of the president. If one only asked Democrats or only
asked Republicans, one would get a biased sample. Neither of
these groups alone represents what citizens of the U.S. think.
Rather, one should randomly choose citizens from across the
U.S., thereby obtaining a sample of people who more
accurately represent what U.S. citizens, in general, think
 How does one obtain a representative sample?

A representative sample is sometimes called a

random sample because recruiting participants
randomly, rather than in a biased manner, is a good
way to get a sample that accurately reflects the
population in which one is interested.
Is intelligence associated with how long people live?

 Are optimistic people healthier than pessimists?

 To answer these questions, researchers carry out studies using

correlational methods.
Correlational research seeks to discover if two
variables are correlated, that is, related or associated
in some way. Correlation does not imply causation.

A variable is a characteristic that can hold different

values, but each person has only one value at a time.

 For example, different people have different ages,

but each person only has one age at any moment in
time.
Correlations can range from -1 to 1.
If a correlation is a positive number, this indicates that the
two variables rise and fall together.
For example, As studying goes up, grades go up.

If a correlation is a negative number, this indicates that the

variables move in opposite directions. As one variable rises, the
other falls.

For example, we might expect skipping classes and grades to be

negatively correlated. As the number of classes skipped goes up,
grades go down.
If two variables are correlated zero, then they are
uncorrelated or unrelated, so knowing one tells
nothing at all about the other.
Think of a positive correlation and a negative
correlation.
What’s the most important thing to keep in mind
about correlations?
 Experimental Research

Experimental research seeks to discover if one

variable causes another.

Does violent TV increase aggression?

Does daycare cause behavioral problems in children?
Does antidepressant medication alleviate
depression?
Does forming a mental image improve memory?
Experimental group- The participants who
receive the factor (e.g., a drug, a violent film) that the
researcher is investigating.

Control group - The participants who do not

receive the factor (e.g., a drug, a violent film) that the
researcher is investigating. The control group is used
as a standard or baseline against which the
experimental group is compared
 Achieving Reliability and Validity

The goal of psychological measurement is to

generate findings that are both reliable and valid.
Reliability -refers to the consistency or
dependability of behavioral data resulting from
psychological testing or experimental research.

Validity- means that the information produced by

research or testing accurately measures the
psychological variable or quality it is intended to
measure.
 Psychological Measurements:

1. Self-reports include responses made on

questionnaires (open-ended/ fixed alternatives-
yes, no ,undecided) and during interviews.

2. Behavioral measures are ways to study overt

actions and observable and recordable reactions.
Researchers use observation in a planned, precise,
and systematic manner
 Practice Time

A(n) ______________ is an organized set of

concepts that explains a phenomenon or set of
phenomena.
a. theory
b. hypothesis
c. operational definition
D. correlation

a. theory
 When articles are submitted to most journals, they
are sent out to experts for detailed analyses. This
process is known as
a. debriefing.
b. informed consent.
c. peer review.
d. control procedures

c. peer review.

 Professor Peterson is testing the hypothesis that
people will cooperate less when a lot of people are in
a group. In the experiment he plans, he will vary the
number of people in each group. That will be his
a. placebo control.
b. independent variable.
c. double-blind control.
d. dependent variable.

b. independent variable.

 Rahul is serving as a research assistant. In the first
phase of the experiment, Rahul gives each participant a
can of cola or a can of caffeine-free cola. In the second
phase of the experiment, Rahul times the participants
with a stopwatch while they play a video game. It sounds
like this study is lacking a(n)
a. placebo control.
b. correlational design.
c. operational definition.
d. double-blind control.

d. double-blind control.

Shirley visits an antique store. The owner explains to
her that the smaller an object is, the more he can
charge for it. This is an example of a
a. correlation coefficient.
b. negative correlation.
c. positive correlation.
d. placebo effect.

b. negative correlation.

Dr. Paul is developing a new measure of hunger. He says, “I
need a measure that will accurately predict how much food
people will eat in their next meal.” Dr. Paul’s statement is
about the ______________ of the measure.
a. operational definition
b. standardization
c. validity
d. reliability

c. validity
Ben believes that men are more likely to arrive late
to classes than are women. To test this hypothesis
most effectively, Ben should use
a. a within-subjects design.
b. a correlational design.
c. self-report measures.
d. naturalistic observation.

d. naturalistic observation.