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1.4 How do we make sense of our behaviour?

Psychology has adopted a scientific method of conducting research in order to better understand human behaviour.

A variety of research methods have helped psychologists answer questions and illuminate our understanding of many areas of our lives.

There are several basic steps in the scientific method of research:
Step 1. Develop a research question

Step 2. Describe the hypothesis

Step 3. Select a research method

  • Survey
  • Observation – Naturalistic, Participant or Structured
  • Case Study
  • Interview
  • Experimental - Experimental Research or Field Experiment

Step 4. Describe the process to be followed

Step 5. Gather the data

Step 6. Analyze the data

Step 7. Report the findings, account for reliability and validity

Step 8. State conclusions in relation to the hypothesis
Why would psychologists employ these 8 Steps when conducting research?

Name: ______/8

Assignment: Learning About the Different Types of Scientific Research

Directions: Using the Interactions Journal Article: “Issues in the Methods and Ethics of Research,”and ch. 20 from the Understanding Psychology textbook fill in the definitions below

a)Validity – the extent to which a research methodology measures what it is supposed to measurep.504 text: either verifying that a claim is correct or disproving it. (take the definition from the article not the textbook)

Ex: If you want to find out whether smoking causes cancer you wouldn’t survey ppl to find out how much milk they drink.

b)Sample: a small group of the total population under study.

Ex: If you want to get an idea of how many students celebrate Valentine ’s Day you might survey 1 class from each grade rather than survey the entire school. (Election polls)

c)Variables: conditions or behaviours that are subject to variations or change

Ex: Pavlov getting the dog to salivate to a bell

d)Independent variable: the variable that researchers manipulate so they can observe its effects.

Ex:dog salivating to food (they know the dog will salivate no matter what)

e)Dependent variable is the variable that researchers believe will be affected by the independent variable

Ex: salivation to bell

f)Experimental group: subjects who undergo experimental treatment

Ex: dogs in experiment

g)Control group: subjects who are treated the same way except the experimental treatment is not applied.

Ex: A group of dogs who didn’t get the bell rung when the food was presented did not learn to salivate to just the bell.

h)Reliability: the extent to which the research yields the same results each time it is applied to the same issues.

Ex: would a different group of dogs learn to salivate in the same manner? If so the study is reliable

(All definitions from textbook except reliability, validity)

A Comparison Chart of Research Methods

Name: ______/12

Directions: Using the article: “Research Methods in Social Psychology” and ch. 20 of the Understanding Psychology textbook, fill in the chart below.

Research Methodology / Description of method and example / strengths / weaknesses
Field Experiments
p.17 Research Methods Article / Article: Researchers set up all aspects of a particular event and have almost complete control over the social context. The people being studied are not aware why they are being studied. Ex: faking an accident to see how people respond. / A great degree of control is possible. / – may not be realistic in real life
Naturalistic Observation
p. 506 Text / The study of how people behave naturally, without being aware they are being studied ex: watching children at play to learn about development / can give
rich descriptions about the nature of the social world where there is little or no manipulation of
the environment. / limit the extent to which researchers can
draw meaningful conclusions about the causes of behaviors due to the lack of control over the situation. Ex:
Case Study – p. 506 text / A specific study of an individual or group which focuses on one specific topic or person.
Ex: schizophrenia, anorexia / Can provide a wealth of information which may be helpful in forming a hypothesis / Too small a sample to prove anything– you cannot generalize the results without testing others (ex: smoking and life span)
Survey
p. 19 article / Going out and asking or sending out questions about a phenomenon of interest.
Uses an interview or questionnaire. (from textbook) / + gathers a large amount of information in a short space of time. / – subjects may give misleading answers to make themselves “look good”
- it is impersonal, it gathers only the information asked
by the questions,