PSYCH 111 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Workflow, Operationalization, Confounding

• School: U of M
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYCH 111
• Professor: Marion Perlmutter

Document Summary

Goals of lecture: nature of science, methods of psychological studies. Science is a way of pursuing knowledge; it is systematic, public, and empirical. Goals of science (types of study: describe (descriptive/observation, predict (correlational, understand/explain (experimental) Descriptive studies are used to describe behavior, but not infer cause; observe, obtain information. Correlational studies are used to record multiple things; no manipulation of variables; describes behavior, not cause. Experimental studies are used to observe, record, and compare in 2 groups; experimental and control groups to measure impact of variables. Dependent variables (dv): factors which are measured. Population: group of interest, who we want to learn about. Sample: portion of the population included in the study; the goal of the sample is to insure the sample of results extends to population. Sample bias: when members of a population are more or less likely to be included in a sample (the goal is to have a random sample so as to avoid bias)