Chapter 3 Planning Research

How Do Research Ideas Develop? Continuum of informal to formal ideas – Reacting to everyday events – Applying research to solve applied problems – Following up on previous research – Testing well-developed theories

How Do Research Ideas Develop?

The effect of theory – Psychologists who subscribed to behavioral theory to regarded animal behavior as a useful substitute for human behavior in research – More cognitively oriented psychologists are less likely to view animal research as being as important as in the past.

How Do Research Ideas Develop? Reasons for decreases in animal research – People are more sensitized to issues of ethics in animal research – Changes in theory, away from behavioral theory to cognitive theory

The Theory Behind Research Ideas Percentage of articles by decade published in key psychology journals that include keywords associated with cognitive, behavioral, psychoanalytic, and neuroscience perspectives. Source: Spear, J. H. (2007). Prominent schools or other active specialties? A fresh look at some trends in psychology. Review of General Psychology, 11, doi: / Copyright American Psychological Association. Reprinted with permission.

How Can You Generate Research Ideas? Ways to Generate Research Ideas Studying spontaneously occurring events Studying the validity of everyday beliefs and when these beliefs break down Evaluating formal if-then statements Using previous research as a stepping stone Testing theory

How Can You Generate Research Ideas? Cultural Issues – Do classic findings hold true across cultures? – What aspects of culture are responsible for differences across groups? – Are methodologies that are appropriate for one cultural group also appropriate for different cultural groups?

The Virtual Laboratory—Research on the Internet Increasing amounts of internet research – Surveys and correlational research dominate internet research – Smaller amount of experimental research involving manipulation of variables

The Virtual Laboratory—Research on the Internet Technical and logistic considerations – Formatting web pages to fit different devices that access the internet – Establishing the population that is on the internet – Increasing or maintaining respondent motivation

The Virtual Laboratory—Research on the Internet Area of PsychologyExamples of Internet-Based Research Social PsychologyAttractiveness of faces Judgments of social situations Health PsychologyEating disorders and family relationships Self-medication with over-the-counter medication Forensic PsychologyPerceptions of sexual assault Eyewitness recognition SexualityGender-related attitudes Sexual health of college students CognitionMemories for songs Decision making These are examples on the Hanover College website of different types of research projects with data collection on the internet. The research changes, with new projects appearing regularly.

The Virtual Laboratory—Research on the Internet Ethical considerations in Internet Research Informed consent may be hard to verify Debriefing may not be feasible and it may not be guaranteed Invasion of privacy may occur if people are not interested in participating but receive solicitations Research with minors is not legal without parental consent; you don’t know how old your participants really are

The Virtual Laboratory—Research on the Internet Sex – Women—78% (+8%) – Men—78% (+7%) Age – 18-29—95% (+8%) – 30-49—87% (+4%) – 50-64—74% (+9%) – % (+30%) Ethnicity – White, Non-Hispanic--79% (+6%) – Black, Non-Hispanic--67% (+5%) – English-speaking Hispanic--78% (0%) Income – Under $30,000/yr—55% (+8%) – $30,000-49,000—69 %(-4%) – $50,000-74,999—90% (+8%) – $75, % (+4%) What percentage of the population was on the internet in 2011 (and the change since 2007)?

The Virtual Laboratory—Research on the Internet Do people respond to internet surveys? Source: Schillewaert, N., Langerak, F., & Duhamel, T. (1998). Non-probability sampling for WWW surveys: A comparision of methods. Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, 21, © 1998 American Educational Research Association. Adapted with permission.

The Virtual Laboratory—Research on the Internet Advantages to Research on the Internet Saves time for the researcher People can participate at any time Data collection is automatic and accurate Wider samples of people are possible than in traditional laboratory research

The Virtual Laboratory—Research on the Internet Potential problems with internet research Impossible to respond to questions participants might have Remote participants might provide low-quality data Computer users do not reflect the entire population There are new ethical concerns Presentation difficulties on different internet devices

The Virtual Laboratory—Research on the Internet Are potential problems with internet research serious? – In general, researchers have found that internet- generated data are comparable to those in traditional formats.

Checking on Research: Replication The value of replication Checking on reliability of research results Providing additional support for theories Increasing construct validity of concepts being tested Protecting against fraudulent or fabricated data

Checking on Research: Replication Types of replication – Exact replication—Doing the study as it was originally conducted – Replication with extension—Repeating the study but adding some new procedures – Conceptual replication—Addressing the same question but from a different approach

Checking on Research: Replication The literature review – Finding out about results of previous research – Discovering how other researchers have conducted their research – Borrowing techniques from other researchers

Controversy: Does Music Make You Smarter? Researchers found that test scores improved when participants listened to Mozart. Other researchers wondered if the results would replicate. Subsequent research showed that the “Mozart Effect” was due to factors like mood and motivation, not to the music itself. Replication helped resolve the controversy.

How To Conduct A Literature Review Electronic Data bases, including PsycINFO describe published research There are ways to make search strategies in PsycINFO more effective so you find enough useful information but not too much

How To Read A Journal Article Understanding the format of a journal article Abstract—An overview of the entire project Introduction—Background on previous, related research; description of the researcher’s hypothesis Method—Description of participants, materials, and procedure Results—Presentation of data and statements of what the researchers discovered Discussion—Conclusions and implications based on the results