Psychological Research Methods

• To reason empirically means basing conclusions on systematic, unbiased observations.
• Psychological research methods help improve information production and consumption.

Habits of Scientists

• Act as empiricists, basing conclusions on observations.
• Test theories through research, revising them based on resulting data.
• Follow scientific norms that prioritize objectivity and fairness.
• Take an empirical approach to both applied and basic research.
• They publicize their work, making it available for scrutiny.

Value of Research-Based Conclusions

• Scientists, including psychologists, value research-based conclusions over beliefs based on experience, intuition, or authority due to inherent biases.
• Experience has no comparison group and is often confounded, lacking an isolatable explanation for outcomes.
• Intuition is flawed due to belief in good stories, availability heuristic, present/present bias, confirmation bias, and the bias blind spot.
• Availability Heuristic: Things that easily come to mind tend to guide our thinking.
• Present/Present Bias: We notice what is present more than what is absent.
• Confirmation Bias: Seeking and accepting information that supports existing beliefs.
• Bias Blind Spot: The belief that we are less susceptible to biases than others.
• Authority is unreliable as credentialism is faulty.

Types of Claims

• Frequency claims describe the rate or degree of a single variable.
• Association claims argue that one level of a variable is associated with a particular level of another.
• Causal claims argue that one variable is responsible for changing another.

Four Big Validities

• Construct validity assesses how well a conceptual variable is operationalized.
• Statistical validity examines the extent to which a study’s statistical conclusions are precise, reasonable, and replicable.
• External validity concerns how well the results of a study generalize to a larger population.
• Internal validity the degree of confidence that a proposed cause-effect relationship cannot be explained by other variables.

Validity Relevance

• Frequency claims are most concerned with construct, statistical, and external validity.
• Association claims are most concerned with construct, statistical, and external validity.
• Causal claims require scrutiny of all four validities: construct, statistical, external, and internal.

Causal Claims

• Causal claims must be supported by an experimental study, where one variable is manipulated (independent) and one is measured (dependent).

Ethical Principles

• The Belmont Report outlines ethical principles: respect for persons, beneficence, and justice.
• Respect for persons involves informed consent (information, comprehension, and voluntariness) and protection of those with diminished autonomy.
• Beneficence involves assessment of risks and benefits, minimizing harm, and maximizing benefits.
• Justice concerns the fair selection of subjects.
• The APA's ethical principles include fidelity and responsibility, and integrity.

Protecting Participants

• Procedures are in place to protect human and animal subjects in research.
• Ethical decision-making requires balancing research risks versus benefits, individual rights versus societal gains, and free participation versus potential coercion.

Construct Validity

• Construct validity of measured variables is assessed by evaluating the reliability and validity of the measures used.

Improving Construct Validity

• Carefully prepared questions and thoughtful observation techniques improve the construct validity of polls, surveys, and observational studies.

External Validity

• External validity is essential for frequency claims since it dictates the generalizability of the findings.

Sampling Techniques

• Probability sampling techniques allow generalizing from a sample to a population.
• Non-probability sampling do not necessarily allow generalization.

Characteristics of Psychological Scientists

• Work as empiricists, basing conclusions on observations.
• Work within the theory-data cycle framework, testing and revising.
• Abide by scientific norms like universalism, communality, disinterestedness, and organized skepticism.
• Apply empiricism to both basic and applied research, depending on research direction.
• Disseminate research findings through academic journals and conferences.
• Universalism emphasizes quality over prestige in scientific contributions.
• Communality stresses that scientific knowledge should be shared.
• Disinterestedness requires scientists to maintain objectivity.
• Organized skepticism involves thorough analysis and critical evaluation.
• Basic research aims to advance knowledge.
• Applied research addresses specific, practical problems.

Scientific Process

• The steps of the scientific process are: research question, literature review, method and design, data collection, results, and dissemination.

Theory-Data Cycle

• The theory-data cycle involves proposing a theory, forming a hypothesis, collecting data, and revising the theory based on the data.
• A theory is an explanation for how and why variables are associated.
• A hypothesis is a prediction about the strength and direction of the variables' relationship.

Two-Process Model of Sleep

• Process C: circadian rhythm, suppresses melatonin to maintain alertness during the day.
• Process S: Homeostatic sleep drive, increases during waking and decreases during sleep.

Sleep Deprivation Versus Sleepiness

• Sleep deprivation is inadequate sleep to support daytime alertness.
• Acute sleep deprivation is like pulling an all-nighter.
• Chronic partial sleep deprivation is consistently obtaining insufficient sleep.
• Sleepiness is the difficulty in maintaining alertness during the major wake period, resulting in unintended lapses into drowsiness or sleep.

Factors in Sleep Deprivation

• Key factors contributing to sleep deprivation and sleepiness include alcohol use before bed, stimulants, and technology use.

Consequences of Sleep Deprivation

• Key consequences include impaired academic performance, driving impairment, and mood disturbances

Sleep Hygiene Practices

• Maintain regular bedtime and wake time.
• Decrease noise in the sleep environment.
• Avoid post-lunch psychostimulant intake.
• Avoid stimulating activities before bed.
• Avoid technology use before bed.

Types of Variables

• Independent variables are manipulated by the researcher and are causal factors or grouping variables.
• Dependent variables are measured by the researcher and are the effect or outcome of the experiment.
• Extraneous variables are confounding or nuisance variables that are related to the IV but not the focus of the experiment.
• Mediator variables explain the association between independent and dependent variables.
• Moderator variables alter the association between the independent and dependent variables.

Claims and Validities

• The "3 Claims, 4 Validities" framework is used to evaluate research.
• Correlational designs measure all variables, while bivariate correlation estimates the strength and direction between two.

Ethical Principles of Belmont Report

• Respect for persons involves informed consent.
• Beneficence involves maximizing benefits and minimizing harms.
• Justice involves fair selection of subjects.

Informed Consent Components

• The Informed Consent process includes providing information, ensuring comprehension, and confirming voluntariness.

Ethical Considerations

• Ethical considerations in research design include avoiding hyperclaiming, causism, data fabrication, plagiarism, and data falsification.
• Hyperclaiming overstates the true goals and implications of a study.
• Causism implies causality where it isn't sufficiently established.
• Data fabrication is making up data.
• Plagiarism is using someone else’s words or ideas without proper acknowledgment.
• Data falsification is misrepresenting data.

Levels/Scales of Measurement

• Nominal/Categorical scales are categorical variables with no meaningful numerical value.
• Ordinal scales have numbers indicating a meaningful rank order, but ranks are not equidistant.
• Interval scales have numbers indicating a meaningful rank order and ranks are equidistant, but there's no true zero.
• Ratio scales have numbers indicating a meaningful rank order, equal distance between scores, and a true zero.

Types of Sleep

• Non-Rapid Eye Movement (NREM) sleep includes stages 1, 2, and 3.
• Stage 1 features theta waves.
• Stage 2 features sleep spindles and K-complexes.
• Stage 3 is the deepest stage of sleep with slow wave sleep (SWS) and delta waves.
• Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep has brain waves similar to the waking brain, presence of rapid eye movement, and is when most dreaming occurs.

Sleep Characteristics

• Sleep Duration: Total time spent asleep.
• Time in Bed: Total time spent attempting to sleep.
• Sleep Onset Latency: Time between bedtime and sleep onset.
• Wake After Sleep Onset: Time spent awake between sleep onset and final wake time.
• Sleep Efficiency: Proportion of time in bed spent asleep.
• Sleep Quality: Subjective perception of sleep problems and degree of restfulness upon waking.
• Bedtime: Time of going to bed.
• Sleep Onset: Time of falling asleep.
• Wake Time: Time of waking up.

Measuring Sleep Subjectively

• Objective measures of sleep include polysomnography (PSG) and actigraphy.
• Subjective measures include survey scales and daily diaries.

Objective-Subjective Sleep Discrepancies

• Sociodemographic factors and sleep profiles contribute to discrepancies between different sleep measures.

Components of an Empirical Article

• Summarize the key components of an empirical article.