P SYCHOLOGICAL M ETHODS Chapter Two

C ONDUCTING R ESEARCH Section 1

Psychologists love experiments They also believe everything should be questioned

S TEPS OF S CIENTIFIC R ESEARCH 1. Form a Research Question: can be about anything in everyday life or about other research 2. Form a Hypothesis: create an educated guess to answer your research question 3. Test the Hypothesis: scientifically test your educated guess; collect data

4. Analyze the Results: figure out what the findings mean; look for patterns and relationships; may take weeks, months, or years 5. Draw Conclusions: was your hypothesis proven true? 6. Replicate: repeat the experiment to see if the same results are generated New Questions: may lead to additional research

S URVEYS, S AMPLES, AND P OPULATIONS Section 2

S URVEY Asks people to respond to a series of questions Interviews and questionnaires aren’t always accurate because people can lie Often done verbally

POPULATIONS Target population: the whole group you want to study or describe Sample: a part of the target population You usually cannot include everyone you want to research Random: selects members of the target population by chance Stratified: selects members of the target population proportionally

Unless all people are asked, researchers must generalize the results When researchers allow people to volunteer, they must be aware of volunteer bias— People who want to volunteer to participate tend to generally have similar personalities

M ETHODS OF O BSERVATION Section 3

Testing Method: subjects are questioned and answers are analyzed to evaluate the subject Example: personality or IQ tests Case Study Method: an in-depth investigation into a person or group involved in a specific situation Example: performing a study on a group stranded without food Longitudinal Method: an investigation into a person or group over a number of years Example: following a group of infants from birth to preschool, kindergarten, etc. to evaluate how friendships form

Cross-sectional Method: completing a longitudinal study using different people at different developmental stages Example: looking at friendships with different preschoolers, kindergarteners, etc. Naturalistic-observation Method: looking at a subject in the place where he is usually found Example: watching school children in their classroom Laboratory-observation Method: watching the subjects in a created environment Example: a pretend classroom with a two-way mirror and same-aged children

A NALYSIS Looks to the correlation—a measurement of the relationship between two variables Positive Correlation: as one factor goes up, so does the other Example: the more you eat, the more you weigh Negative Correlation: as one factor goes up, the other factor goes down Example: the more I spend, the less money I have in my checking account

S ECTION T HREE R EVIEW Think of an example when you would use each observational method for a research project. Why would that method be the best one for your research?

T HE E XPERIMENTAL M ETHOD Section 4

Purpose: to answer questions about cause and effect Researchers manipulate the independent variable which causes changes in the dependent variable

Members of the experimental group receive the treatment, while members of the control group do not Sometimes they receive a fake treatment—a placebo In single-blind studies, those participating do not know if they’re receiving treatment or a placebo; in a double-blind study, both participants and researchers are unaware

E THICAL I SSUES Section 5

D EFINITION Standards for proper and responsible behavior

S TANDARDS OF THE APA APA: American Psychological Association Confidentiality: records of participants/clients are private Informed Consent: people must agree to participate after being fully informed Deception: psychologists may lie when The benefits outweigh the harms Individuals would have agreed if they’d known People receive an explanation eventually

When dealing with animals, psychologists may harm them: If there is no other option The benefits outweigh the harms Psychologists must be objective when analyzing data and cannot ignore the results

R EVIEW List 10 ethics associated with your JVS program. Example: as a teacher, I shouldn’t give grades out that weren’t earned. When would it be wrong to use a placebo? Explain your opinion. List one benefit and one draw back from both a single-blind and a double-blind study.