Untitled Quiz

Methods of Knowing

• Intuition: Based on personal feelings and beliefs, not necessarily reliable
• Authority: Accepting information from a trusted source, can be biased
• Rationalism: Using logic and reasoning to reach conclusions, can be flawed if premises are incorrect
• Empiricism: Gaining knowledge through observation and experience, can be influenced by biases

The Scientific Method

• Systematic: Follows a structured process for collecting and analyzing data
• Empirical: Relies on observation and evidence
• Testable: Hypotheses can be tested through experimentation
• Objective: Aims to minimize bias and personal opinions

Understanding Science

• What is science? A process of acquiring knowledge through systematic observation, experimentation, and analysis
• Features of science:
  • Empirical: Based on observable evidence
  • Testable: Hypotheses can be tested with experiments
  • Objective: Minimize personal bias
• Many Labs Replication Project: A project showing that many published findings in psychology cannot be replicated, highlighting the importance of rigorous research

Science versus Pseudoscience

• Science: Uses empirical evidence, is testable, and aims for objectivity
• Pseudoscience: Claims to be scientific but lacks evidence, relies on anecdotal evidence, and avoids scrutiny
• Why is pseudoscience a concern?
  • Can be harmful to people's health and well-being
  • Leads to misinformation and distrust in science
  • Wastes resources on ineffective treatments

Goals of Science

• The Broader Purpose of Scientific research in psychology: To understand human behaviour and mental processes
• The Three Goals of Science:
  • Description: What is happening? Focuses on defining and categorizing phenomena
  • Explanation: Why is it happening? Explaining causes and relationships
  • Prediction: Can it be predicted? Predicting future occurrences
• Basic versus Applied Research:
  • Basic research: Focuses on fundamental principles and knowledge
  • Applied research: Aims to solve practical problems

Science and Common Sense

• Can we rely on common sense? Not always, common sense can be based on anecdotal evidence and biases
• How could we be so wrong?
  • Hindsight bias: Tendency to believe we knew something all along after it happens
  • Confirmation bias: Tendency to seek information that confirms our existing beliefs
• Experimental and clinical psychologist:
  • Experimental psychologist: Conduct research to understand basic psychological processes
  • Clinical Psychologist: Apply psychological knowledge to solve problems and improve mental health

Clinical Psychologist

• Empirically supported treatments: Treatments that have been proven effective through scientific research
• Empirically supported treatments examples:
  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for anxiety and depression
  • Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) for borderline personality disorder
  • Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) for obsessive compulsive disorder

Week 3 Psychology as a science

• What is a science? A systematic and empirical approach to understanding the world
• Types of Psychological research Questions:
  • Descriptive: What is happening?
  • Relational: Is there a relationship between two variables?
  • Causal: Does one variable cause another?
  • Applied: How can this knowledge be used to solve problems?

What Makes An Idea Testable?

• Clear and Specific: The question must be defined clearly and in a way that can be measured
• Measurable: The variables in the question must be able to be observed and quantified
• Falsifiable: The hypothesis can be proven wrong. Not simply confirming a belief

What isn't a science?

• Astrology: Predicting people's fates based on stars
• Homeopathy: Using diluted substances to treat illness
• Paranormal: Claims of supernatural phenomena, such as ghosts or telepathy

Pseudoscience Example: ESP

• ESP (extrasensory perception): The claim of perceiving things beyond the normal senses (e.g., telepathy, clairvoyance)
• Lacking scientific evidence: Studies have failed to find consistent support for ESP

Pseudoscience Example: Rush and Yellow Fever

• Dr. Benjamin Rush: Prominent physician who believed that bloodletting was an effective cure for yellow fever.
• Inadequate evidence: His treatments actually worsened the condition of patients

Science vs. Pseudoscience

• Science:*
• Empirical: Based on observable evidence
• Testable: Hypotheses can be tested through experimentation
• Objective: Aims to minimize bias and personal opinions
• Self-correcting: Open to new evidence and revision
• Pseudoscience:*
• Anecdotal: Based on personal stories rather than evidence
• Non-falsifiable: Claims cannot be tested or disproven
• Confirmation bias: Seeks out evidence that supports beliefs
• Resistance to change: Resistant to new evidence that contradicts beliefs

Why is Psychology considered a Science

• Uses scientific methods: Psychology uses empirical observations, experiments, and statistical analysis
• Study of human behavior: Studies human cognition, emotions, and behavior.

Why is Psychology a science

• Empirically testable: Psychological phenomena can be observed and measured
• Subject to scientific scrutiny: Psychological studies are reviewed by peers and subject to replication
• Generates a body of knowledge: Psychology develops a consistent body of knowledge based on research findings

Debunked Pop Psychology

• Left brain, right brain: The idea that people are either "left-brained" or "right-brained" is oversimplified
• You only use 10% of your brain: We use all parts of our brain, even if they are not active at the same time
• Opposites attract: Research suggests people are more likely to be attracted to people with similar values and interests

Types of Research Methods

• Descriptive: Describes a phenomenon (e.g., surveys, case studies)
• Correlational: Examines the relationship between two or more variables (e.g., correlational studies)
• Experimental: Manipulates an independent variable to observe effects on a dependent variable (e.g., experiments)

Ways to Study a Psychological phenomenon

• Observation: Observing behavior in a natural setting
• Surveys: Asking people questions about their thoughts, feelings, or behaviors
• Experiments: Manipulating variables to test a hypothesis

Textbook: Chapter 2 Overview of the Scientific Methods

• A Model of Scientific Research in Psychology
  • Idea Generation: Finding inspiration and developing research questions
  • Reviewing the Research Literature: Learning about existing research on the topic
  • Generating Good Research Questions: Developing testable questions
  • Developing Hypotheses: Creating testable predictions
  • Designing a Research Study: Choosing a research method and selecting participants
  • Analyzing the data: Using statistics to interpret data
  • Drawing Conclusions and Reporting the Results: Summarizing findings and communicating the results

Finding Research Topics

• Finding Inspiration:
  • Personal experiences: Reflecting on your own experiences
  • Observations: Observing human behavior
  • Current events: Learning from news stories
  • Curiosity about existing research: Reading published studies

Reviewing The Research Literature

• Purpose: To learn about what is already known on a topic
• Steps:
  • Identify relevant keywords: Keywords related to your research question
  • Use databases: Search for relevant studies in databases like PsycINFO
  • Read abstracts and summaries: To get a quick overview of the research
  • Read full-text articles: To understand the details of the research

Professional Journals

• What are professional journals? Publications that contain original research articles written by experts
• Purpose: To share new findings and advance scientific knowledge
• Benefits:
  • Peer-reviewed: Articles are reviewed by other scientists to ensure quality
  • Current research: Provides access to the latest research
  • Specific to a field: Journals often focus on a specific area of study, such as psychology

Literature Search Strategies

• Using PsycINFO and Other Databases: These databases contain millions of articles related to psychology
• Using Other Search Techniques:
  • Boolean operators: Keywords "AND," "OR," and "NOT" to refine searches
  • Truncation: Using an asterisk () to find variations of a term (e.g., "child" would find "child," "children," "childhood")
  • Wildcards: Using a question mark (?) to find different spellings of a word (e.g., "wom?n" would find "woman" and "women")
• Understanding search results:
  • Relevance judgments: Evaluate the relevance of search results to your question
  • Citation tracking: Follow citations to find related research (e.g., "cited by")

What to Search For

• Empirical articles: Articles reporting original research
• Review articles: Summaries of existing research on a topic
• Theoretical articles: Presenting new ideas or frameworks
• Meta-analyses: Statistical summaries of multiple studies on a topic

Generating Good Research Questions

• Specific: Focused on a particular topic or phenomenon
• Testable: Can be answered through empirical research
• Relevant: Addresses a meaningful issue or question
• Feasible: Can be studied within the constraints of time, resources, and ethics

Generating Empirically Testable Research Questions

• Identify variables: Define the specific things you want to study
• Develop hypotheses: Create testable predictions that can be tested

Evaluating Research Questions

• Significance: Is the question important to the field of psychology?
• Feasibility: Can the question be answered within the constraints of time, resources, and ethics?
• Novelty: Does the question contribute new knowledge to the field?

Feasibility

• Time: Can the research be completed within a reasonable time frame?
• Resources: Do you have access to the necessary equipment, materials, and participants?
• Expertise: Do you have the necessary skills and knowledge to conduct the research?
• Ethical considerations: Are there any ethical concerns that need to be addressed?

Developing a Hypothesis

Theories and Hypotheses

• Theory: A broad explanation for a phenomenon
• Hypothesis: A testable prediction about a specific phenomenon
• Hypothesis Examples:
  • "Stress will lead to poorer academic performance."
  • "People who listen to upbeat music will have a more positive mood."
• Predictions: Hypotheses make specific predictions about what will be observed
• Deductive reasoning: Using existing knowledge to make predictions

Theory Testing

• Support for a theory: When research findings support the predictions made by a theory
• Refutation of a theory: When research findings contradict the predictions made by a theory

Incorporating Theory into your research

• Identify relevant theories: Explore existing theories that relate to your research topic
• Develop testable hypotheses: Translate theoretical concepts into testable predictions
• Interpret findings: Use theory to explain the results of your research

Characteristics of a good Hypothesis

• Specific: Clear and focused on a specific phenomenon
• Testable: Can be tested through empirical research
• Falsifiable: Can be proven false

Designing a Research Study

Variables and Operational Definitions

• Variable: A factor or attribute that can vary or change
• Independent Variable:
  • The variable that is manipulated by the researcher
  • The hypothesized cause
• Dependent Variable:
  • The variable that is measured
  • The hypothesized effect
• Operational Definition: Defining a variable in terms of how it will be measured in a study

Sampling and Measurement

• Population: The entire group of individuals that the researcher is interested in studying
• Sample: A subset of the population that is selected to represent the entire population
• Random sampling: Ensures that every member of the population has an equal chance of being selected
• Measurement: Using specific methods to assess or quantify variables

Experimental vs Non-experimental Research

Experimental Research

• Manipulation: The independent variable is manipulated by the researcher
• Control: The researcher controls extraneous variables (variables that could affect the dependent variable)
• Random assignment: Participants are randomly assigned to different conditions to ensure groups are equivalent

Laboratory vs. Field Research

• Laboratory Research: Studies conducted in a controlled environment
• Field Research: Studies conducted in a natural setting

Advantages and Disadvantages of Lab vs. Field Research

• Lab:*
• Control: Greater control over variables
• Replication: Easier to replicate
• Disadvantages:
  • Artificiality: May not reflect real-world behavior
  • Demand characteristics: Participants may behave differently in a lab setting
• Field:*
• Naturalistic: More realistic behavior
• Generalizability: Can be generalized to other settings
• Disadvantages:
  • Less control: Less control over extraneous variables
  • Difficult to replicate: May be hard to replicate due to complexity

Analyzing the Data

Descriptive Statistics

• Measures of central tendency: Mean, median, mode
• Measures of variability: Range, standard deviation, variance
• Frequency distributions: Representations of how often different scores occur

Inferential Statistics

• Hypothesis testing: Determines whether the results of a study are statistically significant
• Confidence intervals: Provide a range of values within which the true population value is likely to fall
• Statistical significance: Indicates the likelihood that a finding is not due to chance

Drawing Conclusions and Reporting the Results

• Interpret findings: Explain the meaning of the results in the context of the research question and relevant theory
• Discuss limitations: Acknowledge any factors that may have influenced the results
• Suggest future research: Propose areas for further investigation

Reporting the results

• Scientific paper: A formal written document that presents the findings of a research study
• Research report: A concise summary of the research study
• Presentation of findings: Sharing research results at conferences or in other forums

Textbook Chapter 3 Research Ethics

Moral Foundations of Ethical Research

• Respect for persons: Protecting the autonomy and well-being of participants
• Beneficence: Maximizing benefits and minimizing risks
• Justice: Ensuring that the benefits and risks of research are distributed fairly

A Framework for Thinking about Research Ethics

• Moral principles: Ethical guidelines that serve as a foundation for ethical decision-making
• Weighing risks against benefits: Balancing the potential benefits of research against the potential risks to participants
• Acting responsibly and with integrity: Maintaining honesty, trustworthiness, and accountability in research
• Seeking justice: Ensuring that the benefits and risks of research are distributed fairly
• Respecting people's rights and dignity: Treating participants with respect and dignity

Moral Principles

Weighing Risks against Benefits

• Benefits of research: Potential knowledge gained, improved treatments, and understanding of human behavior
• Risks of research: Physical harm, psychological stress, invasion of privacy, and loss of confidentiality
• Ethical review boards: Committees that review research proposals to ensure that the risks to participants are minimized and the benefits outweigh the risks

Acting responsibly and with integrity

• Honesty: Being truthful in all aspects of research, including data collection, analysis, and reporting
• Trustworthiness: Maintaining confidentiality of participant data and adhering to ethical principles
• Accountability: Taking responsibility for the conduct and reporting of research

Seeking Justice

• Fair treatment: Ensuring that all participants are treated equally, regardless of their background
• Equitable access to benefits: Ensuring that the benefits of research are distributed fairly among different groups
• Avoiding exploitation: Protecting participants from being taken advantage of

Respecting People's Rights and Dignity

• Informed consent: Participants must be informed of the risks and benefits of the research and freely consent to participate
• Confidentiality: Participant data must be kept confidential and protected from unauthorized access
• Privacy: Protecting participants' personal information and ensuring that their privacy is not violated

Unavoidable ethical conflict

• Ethical dilemmas: Situations where there are competing ethical considerations
• Weighing competing values: Carefully considering the different ethical principles involved and making a decision that is ethically sound
• Consulting with colleagues: Seeking advice from other researchers or ethicists

From Moral Principles to Ethics Codes

Historical Overview

• Tuskegee Syphilis Study: Unethical study that denied treatment to African American men with syphilis to study the progression of the disease
• Milgram's obedience studies: Controversial studies that tested people's willingness to obey authority figures, even if it meant harming others
• The Belmont Report: A landmark report that established ethical guidelines for research with human subjects

Ethics Codes

APA Ethics Codes

• Ethical principles: Guiding principles for ethical research with human subjects
• Specific guidelines: Detailed procedures for protecting participants

Informed Consent

• Purpose: To provide participants with enough information to make an informed decision about whether or not they want to participate
• Elements:
  • Purpose of the research: A clear explanation of what the research is about
  • Procedures: A detailed description of what participants will be asked to do
  • Risks: A description of any potential risks to participants
  • Benefits: A description of any potential benefits to participants
  • Confidentiality: An explanation of how participant data will be protected
  • Right to withdraw: Participants have the right to withdraw from the research at any time

Deception

• Purpose: To avoid influencing participants' responses
• Ethical considerations:
  • Minimizing deception: Deception should be used only when necessary and when the benefits outweigh the risks
  • Debriefing: Participants must be informed of the deception after the study
  • Informed consent: Participants must be informed of the possibility of deception

Debriefing

• Purpose: To explain the study to participants, especially if deception was used
• Elements:
  • Explanation of the study: A clear explanation of what the research was about
  • Disclosure of deception: If deception was used, the researcher should explain why it was necessary and what the participants actually did
  • Opportunity for questions: Participants should have the opportunity to ask any questions they have

Putting Ethics into Practice

Know and Accept your ethical responsibilities

• Understand ethical codes: Review and understand relevant ethics codes, such as the APA Ethics Code
• Stay informed: Keep up-to-date on ethical guidelines and best practices
• Seek guidance: Consult with mentors, colleagues, or ethics experts when you have questions or concerns

Identifying and minimizing risks

• Identify potential risks: Carefully consider all possible risks to participants
• Minimize risks: Take steps to minimize risks whenever possible, such as using appropriate procedures and screening participants
• Obtain consent: Obtain informed consent from all participants
• Provide debriefing: Debrief participants after the study, especially if deception was used
• Ensure confidentiality: Protect all participant data

Identify and Minimize Deception

• Use deception only when necessary: Deception should be used only when the benefits outweigh the risks and when there are no other ways to conduct the research
• Inform participants of the possibility of deception: Participants should be aware that deception may be used in the study
• Provide debriefing: Participants must be informed of any deception after the study

Create Informed Consent and Debriefing Procedures

• Clear and concise language: Informed consent forms and debriefing procedures should be written in clear and concise language that participants can understand
• Adequate information: Participants should be provided with enough information to make an informed decision about participation
• Opportunity for questions: Participants should have the opportunity to ask any questions they have about the research
• Documentation: Keep accurate records of informed consent and debriefing procedures
• Ethical review board approval: Submit research protocols to an ethical review board for approval

Get Approval

• Submit research protocols to an IRB for review: This ensures that the research is ethically sound
• Address any concerns raised by the IRB: Be prepared to address any questions or concerns that the ethical review board may have

Follow Through

• Adhere to ethical guidelines: Always comply with ethical guidelines throughout the research process
• Report any ethical violations: Report any instances of ethical violations to appropriate authorities