Chapter 14

1. Chapter 14 Generalizing results

2. Generalizing to other populations • Individuals in studies are usually picked b/c they are available • College students • A popular sample to study due to convenience • Volunteers • Tend to be more educated, more in need of approval, higher SES and more social • Gender considerations • Try to include both males and females • Locale • Different locales offer different perspectives

3. Cultural considerations • In the past most studies use whites b/c of availability • More ethnically diverse populations are being used of late for comparison purposes • These types of studies inform us about the generality of findings across cultural groups • Keep in mind that some operational definitions are rooted in cultural meaning and thus may vary across cultures • i.e. self esteem

4. Generalization problems • To other experiments • The experimenter can be a source for generalization problems • . • . • Pretests and generalization • Pretests work within a study but may the study may not be generalizable to other studies that did not use a pretest

5. Generalizing from lab settings • The lab setting allows for experimenting under highly controlled settings • Alternatives to contrived settings (i.e settings in field experiments) • Mundane realism – • Experimental realism– • Does the experiment involve the participants sufficiently? • Do the conditions in the experiment make them take it seriously?

6. Generalizing from lab settings cont. • Mutual benefits of lab and field research • Lab and field experiments provide great opportunity for advancing our knowledge of behavior • A study (Anderson et al., 1999) found that lab and field experiments find complementary same results

7. Replications • Replication – • Types of replications • Exact replications • Replicating the same procedures of a study to see if the same results are obtained • Conceptual replications • Using different procedures to replicate a research finding

8. Exact Replications • Done to better understand a previous study • Done to build on the findings of a previous study • i.e. • Failure to replicate can mean the original study is flawed or the replication was flawed

9. Conceptual Replications • The same IV is used but manipulated in a different way • The DV may also be measured in different way • More important than exact replications in furthering our understanding of behavior • If conceptual replications produce similar results, this leads to • High generalizability of relationships b/w variables • A solid relationship between the conceptual theoretical variables

10. Evaluating generalizations via literature reviews and meta-analysis • Conclusions about the generalizability of research is done by conduction literature reviews • Meta analysis • A technique for comparing a large # of studies in an area • A set of statistical procedures for combining the results of a number of studies in order to provide a general assessment of the relationship b/w variables • Critical evaluation of published studies • A method of determining the reliability of a finding by examining the results from many different studies • Complementary to narrative reviews

11. Using research to improve lives • Improvements have been seen in • Healthcare • i.e. Promotion of healthy eating habits, exercise • Environment • Work space satisfaction • Conservation of energy • Law • Jury selection • Education • Academics and ethnicity