SCIENTIFIC METHODS IN PSYCHOLOGY Why we have confidence in the principles of contemporary psychology

It all starts with:  A problem,  Or a question, or  Maybe just an observation.

gathering and evaluating evidence  Universally accepted format  Hypothesis - a testable prediction  Will exposure to violent video cause children to be more aggressive?  Will phonics training help young children read better?

Scientific Methodology  Reducing bias and error in the measurement of data  Way to accomplish the goals of psychology Description Explanation Prediction Control

Bystander Effect

Process  Question  Will they get help?  Will how they look or sex of victim matter?  Forming Hypothesis  ???  Testing Hypothesis  Do experiment  Drawing Conclusion  What happened  Report your Results  What if you were wrong?  Still report, help others that do study

Testing or Methods  Watch ? – Naturalistic Observation  Ask questions? – Survey  Look for relationships? – Correlations  Uncover causation – Experiments

Draw Conclusions  What did you find?  How do you interpret it?

Peer review & replication  If other researchers follow your method to investigate your hypothesis, will they get the same results?  If they do, the hypothesis has been replicated – confirmed, leading to more confidence in it.  If they don’t, confidence in the hypothesis is diminished.