Psychology as a science & Getting Research Ideas

1. Psychology as a science & Getting Research Ideas Psych 231: Research Methods in Psychology

2. Don’t forget quiz 2 due this Friday • For fun: “Science Isn’t Broken” article from 538 Reminders

3. Dr. Sigmund Freud Dr. Phil (McGraw) • Ask a person on the street to: “Name a famous psychologist” • Do they represent the standard psychologist? • NO! • Psychology is a diverse discipline • ISU’s Psych Dept has 6 different groups • APA has 55 different divisions of psychology Psychology as a science APA Executive Report: “Psychology as a core STEM discipline”

4. What is science? • What are the goals of science? • Description, prediction, explanation/understanding • Is psychology a science? • Yes • Studies the full range of human behavior using scientific methods • Applications derived from this knowledge are scientifically based • Researchers • Practitioners Psychology as a science

5. Simplest Complex • Psychology’s goals are similar to the goals of the physical sciences (e.g., physics and chemistry) • Psychologists are concerned with the behavior of people (and animals) rather than the physical world. • Description of behavior • Describe events, what changes affect change, what might be related to what, etc. • Prediction of behavior • Given X what will likely happen • Control of behavior • For the purpose of interventions (e.g., how do we prevent violence in schools) • Causes of behavior • Sometimes predictions aren’t enough, want to know how the X and the outcome are related • Develop specific theories • Explanation of behavior • A completetheory of the how’s and why’s Psychology as a science

6. How is psychology different from the physical sciences? • Human (and animal) behavior is typically much more variable than most physical systems. • Statistical control • Methodological control • Often the thing of interest requires indirect measurement (and thus underlying assumptions) Psychology as a science

7. Great research ideas You Barriers Where do research ideas come from?

8. Great ideas You • “I’m not smart enough.” • “Somebody else must have already done this.” • “I don’t know how to pursue the idea.” • “It’s too simple, something must be wrong.” • “The idea will take too much work.” • Do consider the practicality of the work load, but don’t be afraid of hard work. • Glued to your first idea. • Be flexible, adjust your idea as you learn more • “I’m not interested in the topic.” Classic barriers

9. Continuum of the development of research ideas Informal Formal • Curiosity • We typically study things that interest us. “This is interesting. I’d like to know more.” “We’ve got a problem to solve.” “We understand some things, but there are still questions.” “The theory says X. Let’s test the theory.” “Here [is] a first principle not formally recognized by scientific methodologists: When you run onto something interesting, drop everything else and study it.” (B. F. Skinner, 1956) Where do ideas come from? Steven Johnson talk: “Where good ideas come from” Kevind Dunbar talk: “On Unexpected Science”

10. Observation • Curiosity • Direct observation - things that you observe: includes public observation, self observation, observing children, observing animals • Vicarious observation - what somebody else has observed and reported Where do ideas come from?

11. Observation • Common Sense - things that we all think are true • “Opposites attract” • But note: a lot of our common sense is contradictory • Absence makes the heart grow fonder • Long distance affairs never last • Curiosity Where do ideas come from?

12. Observation • Common Sense • Past research – find out what research has already been done and ask yourself “what don’t we know still” • Curiosity • Follow-up studies, expanding the past research in more detail or new directions • Improvements on past research studies, maybe you think the past research had some serious flaws or limitations Where do ideas come from?

13. Observation • Common Sense • Past research • Identify a problem – perhaps there is an important problem or issue that needs a solution. • Curiosity • WWII - why did airplanes keep crashing? • Led to development early cognitive theories of attention Where do ideas come from?

14. Focus: Is your idea specified enough to be manageable • ROT rule: • Replicable - one time deal? • Observable - can you measure it? • Testable - can you test it & can you falsify it? • Evaluating your research ideas Are my ideas good?

15. Many interesting results are not accepted until they are replicated • Cold fusion - a potential answer to our energy needs • The results were never replicated and are not generally accepted by the scientific community • Extrasensory perception (ESP) • Some proponents claim that ESP only occurs under certain unknown conditions and that it is impossible to predict when the conditions are right. Replication

16. Do dogs think like humans? • Since we can’t directly observe a dog’s thoughts, we can only make inferences about their thoughts via their behavior • Is my experience of the color blue the same as yours? • Many interesting questions may not be examined experimentally because they aren’t observable (either directly or indirectly (yet?)). Observable

17. Other hypotheses may not have objective testability (e.g., imaginary events) • What if the dinosaurs hadn’t become extinct? • What would the world be like if Abraham Lincoln had lived? Testable

18. Getting the idea • How do people remember things? • This is a pretty big question • To begin to answer it we’ve got to FOCUS • Break the general idea down into smaller more specific ideas • Develop theories as to how & why • Then we can begin doing research to test parts of the theories Example: A research idea

19. Focusing the idea • What does memory involve? • Encoding - getting the memories in • Storage - keeping the memories • Retrieval - getting the memories out • Are all kinds of memory the same? • Procedural vs. declarative memories • Pictures vs. words • How long do memories last? Example: A research idea

20. Evaluating the idea (ROT) • Can we re-do the experiments, do we get similar results? • How do we observe memory? • Recall tests, recognition tests, “brain waves,” ,,, • Are our predictions testable? • Reading the literature will help greatly with evaluating research ideas Example: A research idea

21. Why do a review of the literature? • What is the literature? • How do you search the literature? • Guest lecturer: Sarah French, psychology librarian, in labs Thur & Fri (meeting in the library, remember?) Reviewing the literature

22. What are the underlying motivations for doing a review of the literature? • Getting ideas. • What has been done, what hasn’t been done? • Understanding the relevant theories. • What variables are important? • Avoid past mistakes. Why review the literature

23. Primary Sources - essentially reading the original report • Journal articles • Edited books (sometimes) • Professional meetings • Electronic publishing (fairly new, pluses and minuses) • Faculty members & other personal communications • Secondary Sources - reading a report of the report What is the literature?

24. Advantages: Good starting place Often reviews a lot of relevant literature Relatively brief descriptions Disadvantages: Somebody else’s description May be incorrect May be biased Not enough detail • Secondary Sources - reading a report of the report • Literature Reviews • Psychological Bulletin, Annual Review of Psychology • Text books • Citations in books and articles What is the literature?