Research Methods in Psych

1. Research Methods in Psych Unit 3 Psychology

2. Steps in Psychological research • Step One: IDENTIFY the research problem • Identify the ‘problem’ or topic of interest to research. • E.g., ‘ways of improving memory’ • Look for reports on other research that may have looked into this area.

3. Steps in psychological Research • Step Two: FORMULATE a hypothesis • A hypothesis is a testable prediction of the r/s between 2 or more events or characteristics. • Essentially and educated guess. • Formulated prior to actually conducting the research study.

4. Steps in Psychological research • Step 3: Design the method • Determine how the hypothesis is best tested. • Decide which method to use, which participants will be studied, how many, how will they be selected & allocated, etc. • Also decide how to collect data.

5. Steps in psychological research • Step Four: Collect the data • A variety of data collection techniques used such as: observation, questionnaires, interviews etc. • Technique used depends on research question. • At this stage, it is referred to as raw data.

6. Steps in psychological research • Step 5: ANALYSING the data • Must objectively summarise, organise & represent the data in a meaningful way.

7. Steps in psychological research • Step Six: INTERPRETING the data • Data needs to be interpreted & explained. • Draw conclusions (judgements about what the data means) from the results obtained. • Conclusions relate directly to hypothesis.

8. Steps In psychological research • Step Seven: REPORTING the research findings • Objectively reporting the research findings. • Prepare a report to be presented to other psychologists or publish in a journal. • Reporting research allows in to be replicated.

9. Remember! • I - IDENTIFY • F - FORMULATE • D – DESIGN • C - COLLECT • A - ANALYSE • I - INERPRET • R - REPORT

10. Participant selection • Known as sampling. • Selected participants are known as sample. • A sample is a group that is a subset or portion of a larger group chosen to be studied for research purposes. • The term population is used to describe the larger group from which a sample is drawn.

11. Random sampling • A sampling procedure that ensures every member of the population of research interest has an equal chance of being selected as a participant for a study.

12. Stratified sampling • Involves dividing the population to be sampled into distinct subgroups, or strata, then selecting a separate sample from each stratum, in the same proportions as the occur in target populations.

13. Participant Allocation • EXPERIMENTAL GROUP • Exposed to the experimental condition in which the IV is present. • CONTROL GROUP • Exposed to the control condition in which is IV is absent.

14. Placebo effect • Refers to an improvement in health or wellbeing due to an individual’s belief that the treatment given to them will be effective.

15. Single-blind procedure • Participants are not aware of the condition of the experiment to which they have been allocated.

16. Experimenter effect • Occurs when there is a change in a participant’s response due to the experimenter’s actions rather than to the effect of the IV.

17. Double blind procedure • Participants and experimenter are unaware of the conditions to which the participants have been allocated.

18. variables • IV: The variable that is systematically manipulated, changed or varied in some way by the experimenter in order to assess its effect on the participant’s reposnses. • DV: shows any effects of the IV. • It is the aspect of a participant’s behaviour or experience that is observed or measured and is expected to change as a result of the manipulation of the IV.

19. Extraneous variable • Any other variable other than the IV that can cause a change in the DV and therefore effect the results of the experiment in an unwanted way. • The experimenter must endeavour to minimise or eliminate all extraneous variables, as they can change the results in an unwanted way,

20. Minimising effects of extraneous variables • Repeated Measures Design • One-group of participants undertakes both experimental conditions (i.e. the experimental and the control condition) • Counterbalancing is done to overcome the effects of repetition. • Half the participants in the experimental condition first, and the other half in the control condition first. • Advantages: • Subject variables are highly controlled between conditions. • Fewer participants needed = more economical. • Disadvantages: • Repetition effects can occur. • Participants may be bored/fatigued when repeating the 2nd task. • Practice effort could make the research invalid.

21. Minimising effects of extraneous variables • Matched-participants design • Involves placing equivalent pairs of participants into each group. • Participants in each condition are paired according to any important variables which, if not controlled, may have a confounding effect on their performance in the research. • E.g. intelligence, experience, age, sex etc. • Matched-pairs design eliminates order effects and demand characteristics as participants only participate in one experimental condition. • Disadvantage: cannot always perfectly match participants in every respect.

22. Minimising effects of extraneous variables • Independent-groups design • Each participant is randomly allocated to one of two entirely separate groups. • It also eliminates order effects and demand characteristics as the participants only participate in one experimental condition, but subject variables could still occur despite random assignment. • This design is therefore the least effective method of research design in minimising the effects of extraneous variables and is only used when it is impossible to use the matched participants design.

23. Operational Hypotheses • An operational hypothesis expresses the experimental/research hypothesis in terms of how the researcher will determine the presence and levels of the variables under investigation. • How the experimenter is going to put their hypothesis into operation. • Statement describes how variables will be observed, manipulated and measured by the experimenter along with details of the population sampled.