PSYC1003 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Confounding, Background Noise, Random Assignment
Psychology 1001 September 16th 2016
Chapter 2: The Research Enterprise in Psychology
A scientific approach: A Search of Laws
Basic assumption: events are governed by some lawful order
Goals:
1. Measurement and description
2. Understanding and prediction: forming hypothesis, tentative statement about the
relationships between two or more variables.
3. Application and control: Apply knowledge to real world problems, modify relationships
between variables.
A Theory:
A. Summarizes existing empirical knowledge
B. Organizes knowledge into laws
C. Explains a phenomenon
D. Provides basis for predictions
A Good Theory (Refer to textbook)
The Scientific Method
-Operational definitions: used to clarify precisely what is meant by each variable
-Example: Loneliness
-“distress that results from discrepancies between ideal and perceived social
relationships”
-Allows for proper replication
Participants/Subjects:
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-Organisms whose behaviour is systematically observed in a study
Example: studying alcohol use in undergraduate students.
Data collection techniques:
-allow for empirical observation and measurement
-Example: Questionnaires to measure loneliness and alcohol use
Other examples: direct observation, interviews, psychological tests/ physiological recordings.
Statistics:
-used to analyze data and decide whether hypothesis were supported
Examples: compare scores on loneliness questionnaire with scores on alcohol use
questionnaires.
Information Dissemination:
-Finding are shared through reports at scientific meetings and in scientific
journals/periodicals that publish technical and scholarly material.
-clarity of communication and relative intolerance of error.
Research Methods:
-general strategies for conducting scientific studies
-different ways to collect, measure, control, analyze and present data
Experimental Design
Experimental Research: Looking for Causes
Experiment:
-manipulation of one variable under controlled conditions so that resulting changes in
another variable can be observed
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Document Summary
Basic assumption: events are governed by some lawful order. Goals: measurement and description, understanding and prediction: forming hypothesis, tentative statement about the relationships between two or more variables, application and control: apply knowledge to real world problems, modify relationships between variables. A theory: summarizes existing empirical knowledge, organizes knowledge into laws, explains a phenomenon, provides basis for predictions. Operational definitions: used to clarify precisely what is meant by each variable. Distress that results from discrepancies between ideal and perceived social relationships . Organisms whose behaviour is systematically observed in a study. Example: questionnaires to measure loneliness and alcohol use. Other examples: direct observation, interviews, psychological tests/ physiological recordings. Used to analyze data and decide whether hypothesis were supported. Examples: compare scores on loneliness questionnaire with scores on alcohol use questionnaires. Finding are shared through reports at scientific meetings and in scientific journals/periodicals that publish technical and scholarly material. Clarity of communication and relative intolerance of error.
