September 27, 2012

Do Now: Answer the following question on a separate sheet of paper: Do you consider psychology to be a real science? Explain your answer in 3-5 sentences. **If you are not in your seat working on your Do Now when the bell rings, you will be marked late**

Do Now

Do you consider psychology to be a real science?

Question

Research

Hypothesis

Procedure

Data

Observation

Conclusion

Gathering of information

Was the hypothesis correct or incorrect?

Placebo

• A “medicine” that has no active ingredients and works by the power of suggestion.

Double Blind Study

• A study during which neither participants nor experimenters know to which groups the subjects belong.

Subjects

• People or animals on which a study is conducted.

Variables are factors that change in an experiment.

Independent Variable-The factor in a study that is controlled or manipulated by the experimenter

Dependent Variable-The factor in a study that changes or varies because of changes in the independent variable

Plants’ height growthHours spent studying

Weight gain

# of home runs hit Different weather conditions

Types of soda drank

Students’ gradesAmount of water given

Research Methods

Types of Research

1. Descriptive Research– characterizes the who, what, when, where, and how

about a certain population or phenomenon

2. Correlational Research– measures the relationship between two variables

3. Experimental Research– examines the causal relationship between two or more

variables

Naturalistic Observation• Behavior is observed in the

environment in which it occurs naturally.

• Watching and recording the behavior of organisms in their natural environment– Unobtrusive measure, no

intervention by researcher

• Example: Jane Goodall’s studies of chimpanzees in the wild use of tools

• Example: Watching a student’s behavior in the classroom

Naturalistic ObservationPros:–Allows understanding of behavior in a natural

setting (avoids artificiality of laboratories)

Cons:– Like other descriptive research, observation describes behavior rather than explaining it.–Can be difficult to be unobtrusive in some cases– Ethical concerns

Case Study• Behavior of one person or a few people is

studied in depth.

• Examples:– Person with TBI– A puppy living with goats– A child growing up with a pack of

wolves

Case Study

Pros:–Allow for detailed understanding of an

individual’s psychology–Can suggest ideas for future research

Cons:–Any given individual may be atypical,

nonrepresentative of the general population

Surveys• A large number of participants are asked a standard

set of questions (i.e. beliefs, attitudes, preferences, behaviors)

• Intended to draw conclusions about the opinions or behaviors of a certain population by surveying a sample from that population

• Examples– Voting habits– When people do their shopping– Course evaluations

Surveys

Pros:– Inexpensive– Easy to do quickly– If the sample is truly random, surveys can provide

a representative depiction of the population as a whole.

• Cons:– Sources of bias• How questions are phrased• Only those who have a strong opinion may it mail back

Correlational Research

• Uses statistical methods to examine the relationships between two or more variables.

• Examples:– Media violence and violent behavior– Hours studied and test scores

• Non examples:– Shoe size and length of fingernails – Water drank and number of countries visited

Positive correlation: An increase in one variable predicts an increase in the other (i.e. height and weight)

Negative correlation: An increase in one variable predicts a decrease in the other (i.e. self-esteem and depression)

Correlation of 0: No relationship between the variables

Correlational Research

Correlational Research

Pros:–Cheap and easy to do

Cons:–Does not explain why something has a

positive/negative relationship–One does not always cause the other

?

Summary

• Is psychology a real science? • What are some of the research methods that

psychologists use in their work?• How does a psychologist use the Scientific

Method to understand human behavior?• What is an example of something a research

psychologist might study and how might an applied psychologist use those findings?