1. Methodology: How Social Psychologists Do Research
Chapter 2
Methodology:
How Social Psychologists Do Research

2. Chapter Outline
Methodology: How Social Psychologists Do Research

3. Methodology: How Social Psychologists Do Research
Empirical research allows us to test the validity of personal observations and folk wisdom.

4. Methodology: How Social Psychologists Do Research
Findings from social psychological research may appear obvious because of the hindsight bias.

5. Methodology: How Social Psychologists Do Research
Social psychology relies on three types of methods -- observational, correlational, and experimental -- to provide empirical answers to questions about social behavior.

6. Chapter Outline
I. Formulating Hypotheses and Theories

7. Formulating Hypotheses and Theories
Inspiration from Previous Theories and Research
Science is cumulative and people often generate hypotheses based on previous theories and research.

8. Formulating Hypotheses and Theories
Hypotheses based on Personal Observations
Personal experience, current events, and literature can provide a source of hypotheses to test.

9. Chapter Outline
II. The Observational Method: Describing Social Behavior

10. The Observational Method
The observational method involves systematic observation and measurement of behavior.

11. The Observational Method
Ethnography
A type of observational method used by cultural anthropologists and social psychologists to study and understand a group or culture.

12. The Observational Method
Participant Observation
A form of systematic observation whereby the observer interacts with the people being observed, but tries not to change the situation in any way.

13. The Observational Method
Archival Analysis
A form of the observational whereby the researcher examines the accumulated documents of a culture.

14. The Observational Method
Limits of the Observational Method
Certain kinds of behavior are difficult to observe, because they occur rarely or in private.
It is confined to one particular group of people, one setting, and one type of activity.
It describes patterns of behavior but is not conducive to understanding relationships between variables or why a behavior occurs

15. Chapter Outline
III. The Correlational Method: Predicting Social Behavior

16. The Correlational Method
The correlational method involves systematically measuring the relationship between two or more variables (e.g., how much one can be predicted from the other).

17. The Correlational Method
Surveys
The correlational method often relies on surveys, as well as on observational data. Surveys are used when the variable of interest is not easily observable.

18. The Correlational Method
Correlation Coefficient
The correlation coefficient provides a metric for calculating the degree of association between two variables.
Positive correlations indicate that an increase in one variable is associated with an increase in the other.
Negative correlations indicate that an increase in one variable is associated with a decrease in the other.

19. The Correlational Method
Surveys
The validity of survey data depends on using samples that are representative of the population being studied.
Random selection can ensure that a sample is representative.

20. The Correlational Method
Surveys
Problems with survey data
Sampling errors
Survey questions that ask people to explain their own behavior are likely to be inaccurate.
Answers to survey questions can be influenced by the way the question is phrased.

21. The Correlational Method
Correlation does not equal causation
The correlational method identifies only whether two variables are associated, and not why they are related.

22. The Correlational Method
Correlation does not equal causation
Confusion of correlation and causality may appear in media reports.

23. The Correlational Method
Correlation does not equal causation
Only the experimental method, which systematically controls and manipulates events, can determine causality.

24. Chapter Outline
IV. The Experimental Method: Answering Causal Questions

25. The Experimental Method
Independent and Dependent Variables
The independent variable is manipulated by the researcher. It is the variable presumed to cause the change in the other variable.
The dependent variable is the one measured by the researcher to see if changes depend on the level of the independent variable.

26. The Experimental Method
Establishing Internal Validity in Experiments
Internal Validity refers to making sure that nothing else besides the independent variable can affect the dependent variable; this is accomplished by controlling all extraneous variables and by randomly assigning people to different experimental conditions.

27. The Experimental Method
Establishing Internal Validity in Experiments
Internal validity is established by controlling all extraneous variables and by using random assignment to conditions.

28. The Experimental Method
Establishing Internal Validity in Experiments
Even with random assignment, there is a small probability that different characteristics of people are distributed differently across conditions. To guard against misinterpreting results, scientists calculate the probability level (p-value) that their results would occur by chance.

29. The Experimental Method
Establishing External Validity in Experiments
External validity is the extent to which the results of a study can be generalized to other situations and other people.

30. The Experimental Method
Establishing External Validity in Experiments
Generalizability across situations
Generalizability across people
Replication
Cross-cultural research

31. The Experimental Method
The Basic Dilemma of the Social Psychologist
When deciding between conducting field experiments and laboratory experiments, social psychologists must face a trade-off between internal and external validity, between having enough control over the situation to ensure that no extraneous variables are influencing the results, and making sure the results can be generalized to everyday life.

32. The Experimental Method
The Basic Dilemma of the Social Psychologist
The way to resolve this dilemma is to conduct both laboratory experiments and field experiments that study the same phenomenon.

33. Chapter Outline
V. Ethical Issues in Social Psychology

34. Ethical Issues in Social Psychology
Social psychologists face the tension between wanting experiments to be realistic and wanting to avoid causing participants unnecessary stress and unpleasantness
The dilemma is less problematic when researchers can obtain informed consent.

35. Chapter Outline
VI. Basic Versus Applied Research

36. Basic Versus Applied Research
Basic research tries to find the best answer to the question of why people behave the way they do, purely to satisfy intellectual curiosity.
Applied research tries to solve a specific social problem.

37. Study Questions
Why do some conclusions about social behavior seem obvious?

38. Study Questions
How are theories and hypotheses formulated?

39. Study Questions
Why is interjudge reliability necessary in observational studies?

40. Study Questions
What are the strengths and limitations of the observational method?

41. Study Questions
In addition to describing a relationship between two variables, what do correlations allow us to do?

42. Study Questions
If you were informed that a positive correlation exists between variable A and variable B, what does it mean? What does it NOT mean?

43. Study Questions
What are some criteria for survey data collection in order to help insure that the data are accurate?

44. Study Questions
What are the necessary components of an experiment?

45. Study Questions
Regarding an experiment, what does high internal validity imply?

46. Study Questions
If a researcher used random assignment to conditions and found differences in the dependent variable across conditions, what may account for these differences?

47. Study Questions
Why might lab experiments lack external validity?

48. Study Questions
How do replications and cross-cultural research help to increase the external validity of research findings?

49. Study Questions
What is a trade-off between lab and field experiments? Why are lab experiments conducted in social psychology?

50. Study Questions
What role do the APA and an Institutional Review Board play in governing research in psychology?

51. Study Questions
Why is informed consent necessary but sometimes not feasible in social psychological research? What must be done when deception is used in an experiment?

52. Study Questions What are the goals of basic research
and how do they differ from those of
applied research?