Empirical Project Seminar PDF

Flowchart joi, 10 octombrie 2024 14:20 Experimental design begins with a plan, a recipe. This plan outlines every step of your experiment, ideally from the particip ants’ view. It is very useful to discuss missing parts, think about errors, and improve your design. One way to plan your experiment...

Flowchart joi, 10 octombrie 2024 14:20 Experimental design begins with a plan, a recipe. This plan outlines every step of your experiment, ideally from the particip ants’ view. It is very useful to discuss missing parts, think about errors, and improve your design. One way to plan your experiment is by a flowchart. It’s simple and extremely helpful. Here is one example for an experiment: Was gehort zum Flowchart fur ein Experiment? 1- Ein Rechteck "Start" mit runden Ecken 2- Einen Kreis fur eine experimentelle Manipulation 3- Gestrichelte Linien fur Zuffalszuteilungen 4- Eine Raute fur eine experimentelle Manipulation Wie erkennt man anhand von Flowcharts, ob es sich um ein within subject Design handelt? 1- Im Kreis steht "within" 2- Das lasst sich anhand des Flowcharts nie sagen 3- Die verschiedene Bedingungen sind nicht nur einmal vorhanden sondern mehrmals vorhanden 4- Es gubt keinen Manipulationscheck 5- Es gibt mehrere Manipulationschecks Chapter 2.1 Page 5 Ethics and informed consent joi, 10 octombrie 2024 14:51 2.2 Ethics and informed consent When you plan to conduct an experiment it is very important that you think about ethical aspects first. In this step you get a short instruction on how to follow the necessary guidelines. What is Ethics? The term ‘ethics’ describes moral principles that govern a person’s or group’s behaviour or the conducting of an activity. It therefore specifies the correctness of a specified conduct.1 Famous unethical experiments in psychology history You might have already heard of some potentially unethical experiments. One of these is the psychology experiment ‘little Albert’ from John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner (1920). In this study the researchers wanted to test the hypothesis that people’s emotional reactions could be classically conditioned. The researchers chose a nine months old child with the fictitious name of ‘little Albert’ as participant and conducted the following experiment on him. Little Albert was exposed to several stimuli including a white rat and a rabbit. During his first encounters with the stimuli, the boy showed no fear of any of the objects. In the next step of the experiment the rat was paired with a loud noise by hitting a metal pipe with a hammer. Of course, little Albert began to cry after hearing the loud and unpleasant sound. After pairing the noise with the stimuli several times, little Albert began to cry only after seeing the rat. Although the experiment is still very famous, it raises several ethical concerns: There was no informed consent (from the parents or the child) and the principle of ‘do no harm’ was violated. (Additionally, the study had many methodological shortcomings, i.e. no control condition and too few participants, namely one). You might think that it is obvious that this experiment was unethical, but unfortunately there are several psychology experiments in our research history, which violated ethical principles (e.g. Harry Harlow with the experiment on infant monkeys and their surrogate mothers (1961) or the Stanford prison experiment from Zimbardo, 1971). As unethical studies are likely to cause · negative outcomes for the participants, it completely makes sense that experiments get checked for ethical principles before the researcher can actually start recruiting. How do you get your ethics approval for your research project? By getting it approved by an Institutional Review Board (IRB), which is a group of people checking your work. Usually, the local IRB at the institution where you conduct your research can tell you how you apply for ethical approval of your research. Do not worry, this process is usually Chapter 2.2 Page 6 tell you how you apply for ethical approval of your research. Do not worry, this process is usually not complicated, you just need to be detail-oriented. University of Basel students In the following we will describe the required steps you need to fulfill to get your ethics approval if you are a student participating in the project seminar at the University of Basel (this does not apply if you are a Master’s student): You fill out (1) the Psychology faculty’s ethics application form and (2) the Psychology faculty’s ethics checklist. You hand the ethics application form and the checklist o your supervisor who will check it and help you to process it further. Which information do you need for your application? A short description of your research project, sample selection criteria and, if necessary, any special features of your participants, a short description of the study procedure, with a focus on potential burden, potential risks, and potential after effects of taking part for your participants, how you anonymize the data, and information about the extent and content of informed consent. Usually, you attach a copy of the informed consent text. You usually also need a power analysis. How do you hand in the documents? All documents need to be handed in electronic (PDF) to your supervisor who will check the documents and tell you how to proceed. When do you hand in your project proposal? You can hand it in any time, usually 2 months before you want to run your study. In most of the cases an ethics review takes 4-8 weeks and the committee meets usually every 1st and 3rd week of the month. How long does the procedure take? It can take up to eight weeks until you receive a definite answer. Therefore, please make sure you are planning enough time. 1 Oxford Dictionary, accessed September 10th, 2017. From Chapter 2.2 Page 7 Interview with ethics expert miercuri, 9 octombrie 2024 12:29 Defintion of research ethics: Ethics is about right and wrong, research ethics is abou doing the right thing in research, not only scientifically, but also in terms of treating participants in the right way. Same principles apply in psychology and other disciplines just the idividual issues might be different. What is interesting about research ethics is that you can swap the word research for psychology or medicine or science. Every discipline has its own research ethics. Some of the, have more issues than others, but there are always interesting ethical dilemmas that are fascinating to do research on and teach about it. That is the breadth of applying it to different disciplines and fields What is the most important ethical principle for psychologists? The same as in other fields of research: try not to harm your participants, treat them as people, not simply a subject of scientific research. You can use your imagination and try to put yourself a bit in their shoes because it is sometimes easy to overlook particular ethical issues in research Is there one particular mistake that psychologists nowadays classically make regarding ethics? Not considering ethics (not every psych does that). They think that what they are doing is science and it is probably harmless. Some also do not realize that they might need an ethics approval to proceed with a particular avenue of research One ethical aspect that is surprising to the students? Not realizing that they need ethics approval or not thinking they need ethics at all. People are surprised at some unethical practices, more to do with research integrity than ethics. For example exploiting participants = or deceiving participants + some issues to do with publication ethics and authorship. Some - students might not be aware that certain journals have certain guidelines that might not conform with certain paradigms Difference of ethical rules in Switzerland vs in the United States? Switzerland has fewer rules. Research has been well regulated for a long time in the United States (medical, psychological etc.) However, there are more rules and guidelines coming along in Switzerland that would be quite similar with the ones in the United States. Is student research an ethical issue? Also considering student research projects that include conducting research on their peers, that means getting data from people that they know and being able to&identify these people. This CAN be an ethical issue, for example finding something awkward that makes you look at your friends differently ESPECIALLY if there is a sensitive topic, if not, it might be ok. Generally it is better to keep a professional distance. > When would it be unethical to induce emotions like stress or fear or anxiety? In psychological research, if you are trying to find out about particular emotions, you won't make much progress unless you induce them. It would be unethical to induce those emotions in everyday life, but in science it can be justified in certain circumstances. Ideally, you inform participants beforehand that they might be upset. But this might be a problem depending on the research design. If you can not tell them wat is going to happen, you should at least explain them sensitively later why that was necessary for the experiment. Is it ever unethical to induce positive emotions? It can be unethical if it makes the person act in a particular way after the experiment is finished, that they wouldn’t normally have acted. For example going on and doing something reckless because they feel great. The main issue with positive emotions is if you do a large internet-based study (Facebook) and alter emotions across the spectrum can make some people happy but may induce different emotions in some Chapter 2.3 Page 8  across the spectrum can make some people happy but may induce different emotions in some of them. It is very important to be aware of negative external effects from my manipulation. When or in what way is it unethical to deceive participants? When deceiving them is not - scientifically necessary. If you can get the results that you want without deception, you should > do that. However, depending on the topic, deception might not be appropriate, even if you debrief them afterwards, if it is going to enrage the participants for some reason. You have to also consider how they will leave the room at the end of the experiment. What ethical issues do web or online-based studies pose? Are there any specific ones? It is mostly about the studies with big data bases, you end up being quite removed from them. It is harder to control for variables and harder to debrief them. You can have a debriefing screen but that doesn’t allow for any intervention. Also being enrolled without specific consent (included in Facebooks terms and co)- children can be part of those studies, so you need to take care and avoid causing harm (also meeting your inclusion criteria for the study) Sharing tips regarding ethics? Don’t be evil and avoid doing harm in your research. Always think how the participants would feel given your questions or your protocol? What if your family members were part of the study? Calling your moral imagination and detecting ethical issues that you might not do by thinking as yourself as the scientist and the other ones are just your subject. Was benotigt ein psychologisches Experiment damit es aus ethischer Sicht durchgefuhrt werden kann? 1- Einverstandniserklarung der Teilnehmerinnen vor dem Experiment (JA) 2- Anonymisierung der Daten (soweit moglich) JA 3- Klassisches Konditionieren NEIN 4- Reprasentative Stichprobe NEIN Chapter 2.3 Page 9  Covariates miercuri, 9 octombrie 2024 19:27 2.4 (wood stress-l , evels/cognitive styles have impact on variable tional state -euro Covariates, demographics and manipulation check ma dependent Covariates are psychological factors that could influence the data. Your experiment ! cannot manipulate them experimentally (think of personality). You want to measure these covariates. Demographics too have to be measured in all experiments. And last but not least, manipulation checks are usually included in experiments with manipulations of an independent variable. This article explains how to measure these variables. Covariates (Storvariablen) Think carefully about any psychological constructs that may influence your dependent variable (Abhangige Variabel). Let’s say you want to find out if a new teaching style improves learning in college students. One group of students is exposed to the new teaching style, a second group is taught with the old style. After the semester you compare the groups’ performance in a final exam. Sounds pretty straightforward, doesn’t it? But wait – students’ performance is not only influenced by teaching style: test anxiety, motivation, intelligence, interest in the topic etc. can also play an important role. We call these variables covariates. If some of them systematically differ between experimental groups, this can be an alternative explanation for an observed difference in the final exam scores. Therefore, you need to decide in advance which are the potentially relevant covariates for your study and take them into account when designing your experiment. There will probably be many potential covariates, so you may need to settle for capturing only the most important ones. - ex personality, The tricky part about covariates is that often they are latent constructs. Latent constructs are usually complex and abstract, and not directly observable. To measure them we use carefully designed tests and questionnaires. For example, if our covariate is neuroticism, you can use a suitable questionnaire from the literature, like the NEO Five-Factor Inventory (Costa & McCrae, 1992). Participants’ score on the neuroticism subscale of this test is the measure of your covariate. One construct can be measured in multiple ways, for instance, subjective pain can be measured through self- reported pain intensity, observing pain behavior (flinching, crying, avoidance of painful stimuli etc.), or a clinician’s judgment, just to name a few. Finding the right measure for your covariate is crucial in designing your experiment. Below we show you where to look for it. Note, it is not advisable to invent and use a new Chapter 2.4 Page 10 Below we show you where to look for it. Note, it is not advisable to invent and use a new questionnaire without validating it. Whereas no single measure will perfectly capture your construct, good measures should be administered in a consistent way, i.e. be standardized. They should produce replicable results, i.e., be reliable. And they should measure what they are supposed to measure, i.e. be valid. Also it is nice if they are, efficiently administered and add the most relevant information for your experiment (don’t just measure everything). Definitely discuss potential covariates with your research team, and find the best measure – rather than the first measure – to measure the constructs of interest! Where to find standardized tests? If you are studying at a university, you don’t need to buy tests (many psychological tests are licensed, costing 300 USD or more due to expensive research and development processes, think of medicine or books). Here are three ways to find standardized tests: the database PsychTEST (if you have access), a test library (if you have access), or material from previous studies. The University of Basel offers access to all three. PsycTESTS is an online database of psychological measures, scales, surveys, and other instruments. It includes aptitude tests, personality scales, cognitive functioning measures, etc. The majority of them are available for download and they include reliability and validity information. Important: Access requires the VPN-Client or a connection with Eduroam. There are two possibilities to get to PsychTESTS: ➔Find PsycTESTS via the university library at→Recherche→Fachgebiete→Psychologie ➔Find a link to PsycTESTS on the Testothek website. The Testothek is simply a library of psychological tests. Borrow a standardized test, like a book, from there. If you work in a psychology department, check with your library if your department offers a test library, often called Testothek in German-speaking countries. If you wish, you can check out our video tutorial for the Testothek. Previous studies can be very helpful to find testing materials for your experiment. There are three different approaches to maintain them: ➔Appendices of papers: While looking for supporting literature for your study, you probably came across some papers that used test material you could also apply to your experiment. Have a look at the method section of these papers. Go to the part where they describe the task and you may come across something like ‘Testing materials/tests/stimuli are presented in Appendix X’. If so, you can simply go to Appendix X and find your potential measures. ➔Citations: Some studies use measures that have been described in a previous study. Therefore, they provide a citation of the study where the measures are presented in greater detail in the method section. If so, simply look up the cited paper to find the instrument. Here Chapter 2.4 Page 11  detail in the method section. If so, simply look up the cited paper to find the instrument. Here is an example of finding measures by using previous studies: ➔Contact the authors: Sometimes during your ‘test hunting’ you will find statements that the material is available upon request. If this is the case, don’t shy away from asking the authors for it. You’ll usually need to provide a brief summary of your experiment in order to get the instrument. Also, it may take quite some time for the authors to answer, so if using resources in this manner, do not leave this task for the last minute. Demographics: Why the extra information? The bare minimum demographic information involves a record of participants’ age, sex, and occupation. Depending on the specifics of your experiment, you can further extend the demographic records to include variables such as: educational attainment, family size, first language, marital status, nationality, religion etc. It depends on your study design! > was the Other variables: Manipulation check - independent variable succesfully manipulated Manipulation checks are important: Does the experimentally-manipulated independent variable vary like you expect it to? Consider studying the effect of emotions on memory by exposing participants to a sad film compared to a happy film followed by a memory task. After the film and before the memory task ask participants how sad or happy they actually feel! This safeguards against the case that observing no between-group differences is merely a result of a failed manipulation, rather than an actual lack of impact of the independent variables on the dependent ones. Without manipulation check there is simply no way to be sure about this. ↳ ex mood. induction/Check - Rate your went mood From *** Testing materials refer to the tools, stimuli, or instruments used in an experiment or study to Chapter 2.4 Page 12 Testing materials refer to the tools, stimuli, or instruments used in an experiment or study to measure variables or elicit responses from participants. These can include things like: 1. Surveys or Questionnaires: Predefined sets of questions that participants answer. 2. Stimuli: Objects, images, sounds, or words that participants are exposed to during the experiment (e.g., words in a memory test, pictures in a visual recognition task). 3. Tasks: Specific activities or problems that participants are asked to perform (e.g., sorting objects, solving puzzles). 4. Measures: Instruments like scales to assess mood, cognition, or physical responses. Warum ist ein Manipulationscheck bei Experimenten in der Regel sinnvoll? 1- Weil man damit herausfindet, ob es signifikante Gruppenunterschiede gibt NEIN 2- Weil man damit uberprufen kann, ob die Manipulation der UV zu den gewunschten Gruppentunterschied in der AV gefuhrt hat JA > - independent variable 3- Weil man damit uberprufen kann, ob die Manipulation der AV zu den gewunschten Gruppenunterschied in der UV gefuhrt hat NEIN 4- Weil man damit garantiert ein signifikantes Ergebnis findet NEIN 5- Weil man damit vor Datenerhebung herausfinden kann, ob das Experiment technisch funktioniert Welche demographische Angaben sollte man mindestens erheben? 1-Geschlecht 2-Alter 3-Muttersprache 4-Bildungsgrad Wo findet ihr standardisierte psychologische Tests? 1- In der Datenbank PsycTESTS der Uni Basel 2- In der Testothek in der Missionsstrasse 3- In psychologischen Handbuchern fur Tests 4- In Anhangen von publizierten Originalartikeln Welche Informationen sollte man in einem Experimemt mit erheben? 1- Ein Minimum an demographischen Daten 2- Manipulationscheck (wenn latente Konstrukte manipuliert werden) 3- Intelligenzquotienten der Stichprobe 4- Relevante Kovariaten die das Ergebniss beeinflussen konnten Chapter 2.4 Page 13 Testothek joi, 10 octombrie 2024 15:04 A testothek is a library of psychological tests. You can borrow licensed psychological tests ranging from the Beck Depression Inventory (Hautzinger, Keller, Kühne; 2009) to the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (Petermann, 2012). Most universities’ psychology departments have a testothek, we recommend you to check with your institution for more information. The following brief tutorial introduces the search functionality at the University of Basel. From -listetests of The Testothek is a library for psychological Tests - for unibas (testothek.psycho.unibas.ch) For searching, use the menu button "Testbereiche" - youn either select a restriction or browse something more specific. Clicking on the test will show you some advanced information about the test. You can also search only the ones with status "verfugbar" On the right side you can see the status- the status shows if somebody else has already borrowed the test or not - If the test is "verfugbar", you can click on "reservieren", fill out a form and then the library will reserve a test for you. You can pick up the test at the University of Basel Library Chapter 2.5 Page 14