The Research Process in Psychology: Final Lecture and Course Review

1. The research process Psych 231: Research Methods in Psychology

2. This is the final lecture • Thursday (optional) – Review Q&A, help with posters, etc. • Turn in extra-credit journal summaries (and make sure that your SONA credits are assigned where you want them) • Labs this week • Poster presentations • Turn in group ratings sheets • Turn in the GP: results and discussion sections Announcements

3. From Day 1

4. Presenting your work • A set of skills leading to knowledge & understanding • A way of thinking (beware small samples, correlation is not causation, etc.) • A way of life? Get an idea Stats.org: Stats in the news Course Review: The Research Process

5. Get an idea • Often the hardest part • No firm rules for how to do this • Observations • Past research • Review the literature The Research Process

6. Review the literature • What has already been done? • What variables have people looked at • What hasn’t been looked at • How are other experiments in the area done? • What methods are used? • To measure the dependent variable • To manipulate the independent variable • To control extraneous variables The Research Process

7. Formulate a testable hypothesis • What is a hypothesis? • A predicted relationship between variables • What does it mean to be testable? • Must be falsifiable • Can it be replicated • Must be able to observe/measure (and manipulate for experiments) the variables • Directly • Indirectly • Operational definitions The Research Process

8. Design the research • What method? • Experiment, Survey, Developmental designs, … • What kind of comparisons are used • Control groups • Baseline conditions • What are your variables? • How many levels of your Independent variable(s) • How do you measure your dependent variable(s) • What can be done to control for biases and confounds? The Research Process

9. Collect Data • Importance of pilot research • Who do you test? • What is your population? • Your sample? • Your sampling method? The Research Process

10. Analyze the data • Design drives the statistics • Understanding Variables and variability • Descriptive statistics (summarizing) • Means, standard deviations • Graphs, tables • Correlation • Inferential statistics (drawing conclusions) • What kind of analysis is appropriate for your design • T-tests • ANOVA • Between or within versions The Research Process

11. Interpret the results • Correlation versus causation • Reject or fail to reject null hypotheses • Statistical vs. theoretical significance • Support or refute the theory (or revise) • Generalizability of the results The Research Process

12. Present the results • Getting the research “out there” • Conference presentations • Posters • Talks • Written reports • APA style • Supports clarity The Research Process

13. Research Presentations • (typically 10 to 30 mins) • Paper with respondent • Panel Presentation • Workshop Different kinds of talks

14. Create a logical progression to the talk • Hourglass shape • Work on the transitions between slides • Be brief, but include enough details so that the audience can follow the arguments • Use slides to help simplify/clarify points • Include tables, graphs, pictures, etc. • Don’t just read the slides • but do “walk through” those that need it (e.g. graphs of results) • Be careful of jargon, explain terms (if in fact you really need them) Talk Content

15. Make it smooth (lots of practice will help) • Watch your speaking rate (again, practice) • Maintain eye contact with whole audience • Emphasize the key points, make sure that the audience can identify these • Point to the slides if it helps • Beware jokes, can be a double-edged sword • Don’t go over your time Presentation of the talk

16. Repeat the question in your own words • so that the rest of the audience can hear it • to make sure that you understood the question • to buy yourself some time to think about the answer • Try not to be nervous • you know your study better than anyone else • When preparing, try to think of likely questions and prepare answers Dealing with questions

17. Repeat • Each set of results leads to more research questions • Refine the theory • Test a refined theory • Test alternative explanations The Research Process

18. Tues @ 3:10P • It is cumulative, covers the entire course. The majority is on new material (roughly 65%), the rest is material covered on Exams 1 & 2. • All multiple choice/scantron for the final Reviewing for the final exam

19. Final 1/3 of the course • Non experimental methods • Survey, correlational, & developmental • Statistics • Descriptive • Inferential • Presentations • Papers, Posters, & Talks Reviewing for the final exam

20. First 2/3 of the course • Scientific method • Getting ideas • Developing (good) theories • Reviewing the literature • Psychological Science • Ethics • Basic methodologies • APA style • Underlying reasons for the organization • Parts of a manuscript • Variables • Sampling • Control • Experimental Designs • Vocabulary • Single factor designs • Between & Within • Factorial designs Reviewing for the final exam