U09 Psych 100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Myelin, Electric Charge, Neurotransmitter
Document Summary
Critical nature of data gathering (8/31/2015) Main goal of research studies is to test hypotheses. These are tested by gathering tons of data. Data gathering is critical to psychology= how it"s gathered, where it"s gathered, who of, who by. 2 main ways to gather data: descriptive and experimental. Descriptive data collection: observe the natural environment, interviews etc. You do not manipulate variables. Experimental data collection: everything is controlled- variables are manipulated to create/ show cause and effect relationships. This is not possible with descriptive data. *understanding the advantages/disadvantages of each depending on what"s being tested. Descriptive methods of gathering data. Advantages: you"re observing something in its most natural state- it hasn"t been manipulated. Observer reactivity: by observing the behavior, you tend to change it. Case studies: used often in neuropsychology to see relationship between brain activity/ structure and function/ behavior. Disadvantages: no way of being able to predict if these findings apply to the general population as a whole.
