Introduction, Acquiring Knowledge, and the Scientific Method PDF

Introduction, Acquiring Knowledge, and the Scientific Method MODULE NO. 1  1.1 Introduction to Research Methods Lesson 1.2 Methods of Knowing and Acquiring Knowledge Outline 1.3 The Scientific Method 1.4 The Research Process 1.5 Research Ideas...

Introduction, Acquiring Knowledge, and the Scientific Method MODULE NO. 1  1.1 Introduction to Research Methods Lesson 1.2 Methods of Knowing and Acquiring Knowledge Outline 1.3 The Scientific Method 1.4 The Research Process 1.5 Research Ideas 1.6 Defining and Measuring Variables 1.7 Ethics in Research 1.8 Selecting Research Participants 1.1 Introduction to Research Methods Why take a Obviously, “because it is required.” Research But more than that, professionals in the behavioral sciences rely on the methods of Methods science to gather and interpret information. Science provides a carefully developed system course? for answering questions so that the answers we get are as accurate and complete as possible. Other Reasons for taking a Research Methods course Reading and Conducting a study evaluating other people’s studies Gathering and Understanding brief evaluating information descriptions of studies in your daily life 1.2 Methods of Knowing and Acquiring Knowledge The Method of Tenacity Involves holding on to ideas and beliefs simply because they have been accepted as facts for a long time or because of superstition. Therefore, it is based on habit or superstition. Habit leads us to continue believing something we have always believed. Often this is referred to as belief perseverance. The Method of Intuition Information is accepted as true because it “feels right.” With intuition, a person relies on hunches and instinct to answer questions. Whenever we say we know something because we have a “gut feeling” about it. The Method of Authority A person finds answers by seeking out an authority on the subject. This can mean consulting an expert directly or going to a library or a website to read the works of an expert. In either case, you are relying on the assumed expertise of another person. The Rational Involves seeking answers by logical reasoning. We begin with a set of known facts or assumptions and use logic to reach Method a conclusion or get an answer to a question. All 3-year-old children are afraid of the dark. Amy is a 3-year-old girl. Therefore, Amy is afraid of the dark. In this argument, the first two sentences are premise statements. That is, they are facts or assumptions that are known (or assumed) to be true. The final sentence is a logical conclusion based on the premises. The Empirical Method Attempts to answer questions by direct observation or personal experience. This method is a product of the empirical viewpoint in philosophy, which holds that all knowledge is acquired through the senses. 1.3 The Scientific Method The Scientific Method Is an approach to acquiring knowledge that involves formulating specific questions and then systematically finding answers. The scientific method contains many elements of the methods previously discussed. By combining these methods of acquiring knowledge, we hope to avoid the pitfalls of any individual method used by itself. The Steps of the Scientific Method 1 2 3 4 5 Observe behavior Form a tentative Use your Evaluate the Use the or other answer or hypothesis to prediction by observation to phenomena explanation / generate a making systematic, support, refute, or (Induction) hypothesis testable prediction planned refine the original (Deduction) observations hypothesis Other Elements of the Scientific Method 1. Science is empirical 2. Science is public 3. Science is objective 1.4 The Research Process Step 1. Find a research idea. Identify a general topic that you would like to explore and review the background literature to find a specific research idea or question. Step 2. Form a hypothesis and prediction. Form a hypothesis, or tentative answer to your research question, and use the hypothesis to generate a specific research prediction. Step 3. Define and measure variables. Identify the specific procedures that will be used to define and measure all variables. Plan to evaluate the validity and reliability of your measurement procedure. Step 4. Identify and select participants. Decide how many participants or subjects you will need, what characteristics they should have, and how they will be selected. Also, plan for their ethical treatment. Step 5. Select a research strategy. Consider internal and external validity and decide between an experimental (cause-effect), or a nonexperimental, descriptive, correlational, or quasi- experimental strategy. Step 6. Select a research design. Decide among between-subjects, within- subjects, factorial, or single-subject designs. Step 7. Conduct the study. Collect the necessary data. Step 8. Evaluate the data. Use the appropriate descriptive and inferential statistics to summarize and interpret the results. Step 9. Report the results. Use the established guidelines for format and style to prepare an accurate and honest report that also protects the anonymity and confidentiality of the participants. Step 10. Refine or reformulate your research idea. Use the result to modify, refine, or expand your original research idea, or to generate new ideas. 1.5 Research Ideas Finding a General Topic Area Personal Interests and Curiosities Casual Observations Practical Problems or Questions – Basic Research vs Applied Research Vague and Fleeting Thoughts Reading Reports of Others’ Observations Behavioral Theories Finding and Using Background Literature In addition to gaining general knowledge about your topic area, your goals are to determine the current state of knowledge and to become familiar with current research to find a specific research question. Once you are familiar with what is currently known and what is currently being done in a research area, your task is simply to extend the current research one more step. Primary and Secondary Sources 1. Primary Source – is a firsthand report of observations or research results written by the individual(s) who actually conducted the research and made the observations. 2. Secondary Source - is a description or summary of another person’s work. A secondary source is written by someone who did not participate in the research or observations being discussed. The Purpose of a Literature Search Ultimately, your goal in conducting a literature search is to find a set of published research reports that define the current state of knowledge in an area and to identify an unanswered question—that is, a gap in that knowledge base—that your study will attempt to fill. Sample Research Report by Klohnen and Luo, 2003. Why are we attracted to some individuals but not to others is one of the most fundamental human dilemmas and one of the most persistent questions in the study of close relationships, because these initial attractions are the basis for deciding with whom we develop long-term, committed relationships. The vast majority of research designed to address this age-old question has typically been framed in terms of similarity, with an emphasis on similarity in terms of attitudes, values, and beliefs (e.g. Berscheid, 1985). These studies have provided overwhelming evidence for the attractiveness of similarity, presumably because one’s views of the world are validated, and because shared beliefs result in fewer disagreements and conflicts (e.g. Byrne, 1971). However, very few studies have assessed whether similarity in personality characteristics also leads to attraction, and the empirical evidence for this has been considerably weaker and mixed (e.g. Wetzel & Insko, 1982). Research on interpersonal attraction has focused on similarity of attitudes, values, and beliefs. Other types of similarity, such as similarity of personality, have been largely ignored or have produced mixed results. Therefore, a reasonable research question is whether similar personalities play a role in determining when one person is attracted to another. Conducting a Literature Search Starting Points Assume that you are starting your literature search with only a general idea for a research topic. Your purpose, therefore, is to narrow down your general idea to a specific research question, and to find all the published information necessary to document and support that question. One of the best places to start is with a recently published secondary source, such as a textbook, in a content area appropriate for your idea (developmental psychology or social psychology textbook). Using Online Databases A typical database contains about one million publications, or records, that are all cross-referenced by subject words and author names. You enter a subject word (or author name) as a search term and the database searches through all of its records and provides a list of the publications that are related to that subject (or author). Examples: PsycINFO, PsycArticles, EBSCO, Google Scholar, etc. For an efficient selection/weeding process: 1. Use the title of the article as your first basis for screening. Based only on the titles, you probably can discard about 90% of the articles as not directly relevant or interesting. 2. Use the abstract of the article as your second screening device. If the title sounds interesting, read the abstract to determine whether the article itself is really relevant. 3. If you are still interested after looking at the title and the abstract, go to the appropriate journal to find the article. Once you find the article, first skim it, looking specifically at the introductory paragraphs and the discussion section. 4. If it still looks relevant, then read the article carefully and/or make a copy for your personal use. For your literature search, you should focus on the introduction, the discussion, and the references. 5. Use the references from the articles that you have already found to expand your literature search. Finding an Idea for a Research Study and Converting the Idea into a Hypothesis and Prediction Once you have located a set of recent and relevant articles, the final step is to use these research reports as the foundation for your research idea or research question. Find suggestions for future research. The easiest way to find new research ideas is to look for them as explicit statements in the journal articles you already have. Near the end of the discussion section of most research reports is a set of suggestions for future research. In most cases, a research study actually generates more questions than it answers. Modify or extend an existing study. Reading critically can generate ideas for new research. Specifically, as you are reading, ask yourself how the study might be modified or expanded. Any study uses a specific set of instructions, stimuli, tests, and participants. What might happen if any of these were changed? Combine or contrast existing results. Occasionally, it is possible to find a new research idea by combining two (or more) existing results. Another possibility is that two research results seem to contradict each other. In this case, you could look for factors that differentiate the two studies and might be responsible for the different results. Converting a Research Idea into a Hypothesis and Prediction In general, there are many different ways to convert a hypothesis into a specific prediction for a research study. The method you select depends on a variety of factors, including the set of individuals you want to study and the measurement techniques that are available. However, each of the many possible research studies should provide a direct test of the basic hypothesis.