Topic 2:

Research
Ideas
Lecturer: Dr. Chie Qiu Ting (Karen)
Learning Outcomes:
1. Understanding different types of psychological
research
2. Distinguishing quantitative and qualitative
research
3. Developing research topic and research question
according to the goal of study
4. Generating an acceptable research hypothesis
5. Evaluating ethical concerns about psychological
research 2
Types of
Psychological
Research

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Basic Research versus Applied Research
Basic Applied
Focuses on describing, predicting,
Focuses on finding direct and
and explaining the fundamental
Purpose immediate relevance to the solution
principles of behaviour and mental
of real‐world problems
processes
Examining whether the use of
Investigating the effect of background
Example background music in workplace will
music on task concentration
improve productivity
Foundational knowledge learned from
Seen as more valuable – tackles
basic research can be useful in an
Strengths relevant problems directly, more
applied project from a completely
favoured for grants
different topic area
Basic research lead to application, applied research have relevance to basic
Fact research
Basic + Applied = Translational research

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 Lab Research versus Field Research
Lab
Type Basic research
• Greater control
• Conditions of the study can be
specified more precisely
Strengths • Participants can be selected and
placed in the different conditions of
the study more systematically
• Yields important knowledge
• “Artificial” and far removed from
Critique everyday life
Field
Applied research
• The environment more closely matches the situations
encountered in daily living.
• Conditions in the field often cannot be duplicated in a lab
• Confirm the findings of lab studies and perhaps to correct
misconceptions or oversimplifications
• Make discoveries that provide immediate difference to
people’s lives
• Gathering very detailed information = being unable to
gather data from a very large number of people or groups
• Scope needs to be narrowed to balance depth of
information
• May be emotionally taxing
• Documenting observations may be more challenging than
with other methods
Distinguishing
Quantitative
and Qualitative
Research

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Inductive & Deductive Reasoning Processes

Theory

Tentative Hypothesis
hypothesis

Observation
Pattern

Observation Generalisation

INDUCTIVE Qualitative vs Quantitative DEDUCTIVE

Quantitative versus Qualitative Research Data

Quantitative Qualitative
Analytical narratives
Numbers/statistics:
summarizing the research’s
Form Average scores, percentages,
main outcomes
graphs and tables of data
Structured interviews, semi-
Surveys, descriptive studies,
structured interviews, focus
correlational studies, causal
Example groups, narrative analysis of
comparative studies,
secondary resources, case
experiments
studies, observations
Developing
Research Topic
and Research
Questions
according to Study
Goal

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Generating Ideas for Research Topic

• Getting an idea (is my idea interesting? Is my idea novel?)

• Solving important Real-World Problems
• Using Observation and Intuition
• Using Existing Research
• Doing a Literature Search

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Resources to generate Research Topic

Doing a Literature Search

• Choosing a research topic
• Choosing appropriate sources (online databases)
• A) PsycINFO
• B) PsycARTICLES
• C) PubMed
• D) ERIC
• E) JSTOR

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Developing good research questions:
Types of Research Questions in Psychology

• Descriptive: e.g., how many psychology students do their homework regularly?

• Relational: e.g., are psychology students more likely to complete social than
cognitive homework tasks?

• Causal: e.g. if psychology homework tasks are made shorter, will more students
complete them?

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Characteristics of good research
questions:
• Details the problem statement
• Further describes and refines the issue under study
• Adds focus to the problem statement
• Guides data collection and analysis
• Sets context of research
Stepwise Approach to Developing
Research Question
1. Begin by identifying a broader subject of interest (e.g. Music
and learning)
2. Do preliminary research on the general topic to find out what
research has already been done and what literature already
exists.
3. Consequently, what else should we know or study in this
area? (e.g.: what kind of background music works best for
learning?)
Stepwise Approach (Cont.)
4. Each general question should lead to more specific questions
(e.g., what kind of background music works best for task or
information recall among students?)
5. Narrow the scope and focus of research (e.g.,what kind of
background music works best for task or information recall
among young adults and adult groups?) Young adults = 18 –
27 years; Adults: 28 – 40 years
6. Evaluation of research question: Clarity, Specific, Complexity,
Useful, Researchable, Measurable?
 How to develop good research questions?
Clarity Focused Simple vs. Complex

Unclear: Unfocused: Too simple:

Why are social networking sites What is the effect on the How are doctors addressing
harmful? environment from global warming? diabetes in the U.S.?

Clear: Focused: Appropriately complex:

How are online users experiencing How is glacial melting affecting What are common traits of those
or addressing privacy issues on penguins in Antarctica? suffering from diabetes in America,
social networking and how can these commonalities
sites like MySpace and Facebook? be used to aid the medical
community in prevention of the
disease?

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Generating an
Acceptable
Research
Hypothesis

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Generating and Refining Research Hypotheses

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 Generating and Refining Research Hypotheses
• Tentative explanation for something, which attempts to answer the
questions “How” and “Why”

• THREE rules of thumb:

• A) Hypotheses are not testable if the concepts to which they refer are
not adequately defined or measured.
• B) Hypotheses are also untestable if they are circular.

• C) A hypothesis also may be untestable if it appeals to ideas or forces that

are not recognised by science.
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Generating and Refining Research Hypotheses

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Generating and Refining Research Hypotheses

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Example 1
Study Goal: To investigate the relationship between television viewing time and gender stereotyped
attitudes in children.

Research Question:

• Do children learn gender stereotypes from watching television?

OR
• Does television viewing time significantly influence the development of gender stereotyped attitudes in
children?

Hypothesis:
• Null hypothesis: There is no significant relationship between television viewing time and gender
stereotyped attitudes in children

• Alternative hypothesis: There is a significant relationship between television viewing time and gender
stereotyped attitudes in children (two-tailed)
OR
• There is a significant positive/negative relationship between television viewing time and gender
stereotyped attitudes in children (one-tailed)
Example 2
Study Goal: To compare the success rates of drug therapy with behavioural and cognitive therapy in treating
anxiety disorders.

Research Question:

• Is drug therapy the best way to treat anxiety disorders?

OR
• Is drug therapy more effective towards treating anxiety disorders compared to cognitive and behavioural
therapy?

Hypothesis:
• Null hypothesis: There is no significant difference between the success rates of drug therapy and
behavioural and cognitive therapy in treating anxiety disorders

• Alternative hypothesis: There is a significant difference between the success rates of drug therapy and
behavioural and cognitive therapy in treating anxiety disorders (two-tailed)
OR
• Behavioural and cognitive therapy has a significantly higher success rate as compared to drug therapy
(one-tailed)
Example 3
•Study Goal: To investigate the effect of switching from passive to active teaching and learning
strategies on student achievement.

Research Question:
•Are there better ways of teaching the students in this school or college?
OR
• Are there changes in student achievement when switching teaching and learning strategies from
passive to active?

Hypothesis:
• Null hypothesis: There is no significant change in student achievement when teaching and learning
strategies are switched from passive to active

• Alternative hypothesis: There is a significant change in student achievement when teaching and
learning strategies are switched from passive to active (two-tailed)
OR
• There is a significantly higher student achievement when teaching and learning strategies are
switched from passive to active (one-tailed)
Quiz!
Ethical Issues in Psychological Research
• Weighing benefits and costs of psychological research -
participants ;benefits outweigh the costs
• Giving adequate information about research purpose and
procedure to provide informed consent – voluntary participation
• Ensuring participants’ rights to withdraw from the study at any
time without consequences
Ethical Issues (cont.)
• Providing debriefing at the end of the study – compulsory if the
study design necessitates some level of deception for true
responses
• Assuring participants about the confidentiality of collected
information and their anonymity - subsequent reports or
productions from the research
Popularity of online research: What are
the concerns?
• Informed consent - No opportunity for researchers to answer
questions or know if the consent form has been read
• Debriefing - No guarantee that participants will read the
debriefing information
• Controlling for age of consent to participate - Difficult to monitor
compliance despite posted warnings that participants would
need parental consent if they are under the age of 18 years
Popularity of online research (cont.)
 Privacy and confidentiality of collected information - Internet
cookies (tools used to track information about Internet users)
left on the participant’s computer
 Data quality - Lack of control over representativeness of
responses from participants; may lead to a form of response
bias
Large Image

End of Topic 2 lecture!

Disclaimer:
The information provided are part of
educational materials created for the
course UAPG1004 and are not to be
redistributed to any parties outside of
this course.

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