AP Psycholog
y
Science of Psychology
Objective: Describe descriptive research studies taking
into account random sampling and applicable biases.
Hello! Happy Thursday!!!
• Spend 3-5 minutes sharing what’s going on with your experiment with 2-3 people sitting around you.
• Come up with 1 question that you have about the experiment to share with the class.
Experiment Check In
• Academic Article—how to find one and what to do with it once you’ve found it.
• See white board for example and more info.
We are here
The Science of Psychology
Approaches to Psych
Growth of Psych
Research Methods Statistics
Descriptive Experiment
Case Study
Survey
Naturalistic Observation
Descriptive Inferential
Ethics
Sampling
Central Tendency
Variance
Correlation
Careers
• Describe descriptive research studies– Naturalistic Observation
• Observer Bias• Can not replicate or generalize
– Case Studies• Can not replicate or generalize
Outline
Naturalistic Observation
• What is it? A descriptive research method involving the systematic study of animal or human behavior in natural settings rather than the laboratory
• Huh? Researcher describes the behavior of the human or animal in their natural settings
Naturalistic Observation• Strengths
– The behavior is more natural than if they were in the lab• Weaknesses
– Can not replicate. Replication involves the process of repeating a study using the same methods, different subjects, and different experimenters. If you can’t replicate you can’t retest the results or apply them to new situations to see just how generalizable it is.
– Can not generalize (apply them to new situations) your findings.
– Observer bias - occurs when the observers (or researcher team) know the goals of the study or the hypotheses and allow this knowledge to influence their observations during the study
Case Studies
• What is it? Study of a single individual or just a few individuals in order to describe their situation.
• Purpose? Take advantage of situation that you can not replicate (make happen again)
• How? Gather as much evidence as you can: Observation, scores on psychological tests, interviews, medical records etc.
Outline
Case Studies
• Strengths:– Takes advantage of nonreplicable situations– You get a lot of in-depth understanding
• Weaknesses:– Observer bias is a problem– Can not generalize (apply your findings to other
individuals or groups)– Can not replicate
The Lost Children of Rockdale County
Case Study of a syphilis epidemic at a high school in an affluent suburb of Atlanta
Henrietta Lacks
• Short Video on the HeLa cells• This is an amazing case study!
ComparisonResearch Method
Advantages Limitations
NaturalisticObservation
•More accurate than reports after the fact•Behavior is more natural
•Observer can alter behavior•Observer Bias•Not generalizable
Case Studies •Depth•Takes advantage of circumstances that can not be replicated
•Not generalizable•Time consuming and expensive•Observational Bias
Surveys • Immense amount of data•Quick and inexpensive•Generalizable•Replicable
• Poor sampling can skew results•Wording Effect•Social Desirability Bias