Describing Research
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Psychological research, like research in other fields, must meet certain criteria
in order to be considered scientific. Research must be:
Replicable
Falsifiable
Precise
Parsimonious
RESEARCH MUST BE REPLICABLE
Research is replicable when others can repeat it and get the same results.
When psychologists report what they have found through their research, they
also describe in detail how they made their discoveries. This way, other
psychologists can repeat the research to see if they can replicate the findings.
After psychologists do their research and make sure it’s replicable, they
develop a theory and translate the theory into a precise hypothesis.
A hypothesis is a testable prediction of what will happen given a certain set
of conditions. Psychologists test a hypothesis by using a specific research
method, such as naturalistic observation, a case study, a survey, or
an experiment. If the test does not confirm the hypothesis, the psychologist
revises or rejects the original theory.
The Scientific Method
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A Good Theory
A good theory must do two things: organize many observations in a logical
way and allow researchers to come up with clear predictions to check the
theory.
RESEARCH MUST BE FALSIFIABLE
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Example: The more years of education a person receives, the higher his or
her yearly income is.
A negative correlation (–) means that when one variable increases, the other
one decreases.
Example: The more hours a high school student works during the week, the
fewer A’s he or she gets in class.
The higher the correlation coefficient, the stronger the correlation. A +0.9 or a
–0.9 indicates a very strong correlation; a +0.1 or a –0.1 indicates a very weak
correlation. A correlation of 0 means that no relationship exists between two
variables.
CASE STUDIES
LABORATORY OBSERVATION
A test has good reliability if it produces the same result when researchers
administer it to the same group of people at different times. Researchers
determine a test’s test-retest reliability by giving the test to a group of people
and then giving the test again to the same group of people at a later time. A
reliable test will produce approximately the same results on both occasions.
Psychologists also use alternate-forms reliability to determine a test’s
reliability. They measure alternate-forms reliability by giving one version of a
test to a group of people and then giving another version of the same test to
the same group of people. A reliable test will produce roughly the same
results no matter which version of the test is used.
VALIDITY
Research
method Advantages Disadvantages
The main disadvantage of experiments is that they usually don’t fully reflect
the real world. In an experiment, researchers try to control variables in order
to show clear causal links. However, to exert control in this way, researchers
must simplify an event or a situation, which often makes the situation artificial.
Bias in Research`
Sampling bias occurs when the sample studied in an experiment does not
correctly represent the population the researcher wants to draw conclusions
about.
Example: A psychologist wants to study the eating habits of a population of
New Yorkers who have freckles and are between the ages of eighteen and
forty-five. She can’t possibly study all people with freckles in that age group,
so she must study a sample of people with freckles. However, she can
generalize her results to the whole population of people with freckles only if
her sample is representative of the population. If her sample includes only
white, dark-haired males who are college juniors, her results won’t generalize
well to the entire population she’s studying. Her sample will reflect sampling
bias.
SUBJECT BIAS
In the past, researchers performed all kinds of questionable experiments in the name
of science. For example, in one famous experiment, psychologist Stanley Milgram led
his subjects to believe that they were giving painful electric shocks to other people.
Many people consider this experiment unethical because it caused the subjects
emotional discomfort. Today, researchers must abide by basic ethical norms when
conducting research. Most important, they must consider whether they might harm
their human or animal subjects while doing research.
Ethics
Ethics refers to a system of moral values or the way people distinguish right from
wrong. The American Psychological Association (APA) requires all its members to
adhere to its code of ethics, which applies to the treatment of both humans and
animals.
Researchers must get informed consent from their subjects before beginning
research. Informed consent means that subjects must know enough about the
research to decide whether to participate, and they must agree to participate
voluntarily. Furthermore, researchers have an ethical obligation to prevent physical
and mental harm to their subjects. If there is any risk of harm, they must warn subjects
in advance. Researchers also must allow subjects to withdraw from a study at any
time if they wish to stop participating. Finally, researchers have an obligation to
protect the anonymity of their subjects.
Some psychological research cannot be done when subjects are fully informed about
the purpose of the research, because people sometimes behave differently when under
observation. To study people’s normal behavior, researchers sometimes have to
deceive subjects. Deception is considered ethical only if:
Interpreting Data
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To get a better sense of what these data mean, the researcher can plot them
on a bar graph. Histograms or bar graphs for the three courses might look like
this:
MEASURING CENTRAL TENDENCY
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Another measure of central tendency is the mode. The mode is the most
frequently occurring score in a distribution.
Statistics
Statistics is a branch of mathematics. Psychologists need a solid foundation in
math to describe, analyze, and summarize the results of their research.
MEASURING VARIATION
Researchers use the terms variable, subject, sample, and population when
describing their research.
Psychologists do research to measure and describe behavior; to understand when,
why, and how events occur; and to apply knowledge to real-world problems.
The Scientific Method
Psychologists must consider ethical norms when doing research involving humans or
animals.
Interpreting Data
Researchers analyze and interpret the data they’ve collected by using descriptive
statistics and organizing their information in histograms or bar graphs.
Researchers use inferential statistics to determine the likelihood that a result is due
simply to chance.
Statistical significance means that a result is probably not due to chance.