Week 1 - Research Methods Pt 1 Notes PDF

2023-09-07 PSYC 1400 WEEK 1: RESEARCH METHODS PART 1 1 Social Psychology: An Empirical Science Can properly answer questions about behaviour by conducting scientific research:  Folk wisdom & personal hunches often too contradictory  Social science findings often seem obvious  Hindsight is...

2023-09-07 PSYC 1400 WEEK 1: RESEARCH METHODS PART 1 1 Social Psychology: An Empirical Science Can properly answer questions about behaviour by conducting scientific research:  Folk wisdom & personal hunches often too contradictory  Social science findings often seem obvious  Hindsight is 20/20 (remember hindsight bias) is making predictions before you know the outcome of the research  Key 2 The Scientific Method  The scientific method is the best way yet discovered for separating the truth from delusion  Ultimately, the scientific method is a method for generating accurate knowledge 3 1 2023-09-07 Formulating Hypotheses and Theories Theory: Organized set of principles used to explain observed phenomena  Hypothesis: Hunch, educated guess, something to test empirically  Research process: Scan existing research, develop hypotheses, test hypotheses, develop/refine theory, formulate new hypotheses…  4 Psychological Research: Three Main Types Descriptive Correlational Experimental • Description of variables • Non-causative • Observation/recording of variables • Non-causative • Manipulation of variables • Experimental control • Causative 5 Descriptive Methods 6 2 2023-09-07 Descriptive Methods  Involves observing phenomena  Often in naturalistic environments   Examples:  Interview research  Case studies Allows researchers to gather very detailed information  Often about a small number of individuals 7 Observational Methods (Descriptive)  Researcher observes people and systematically records measurements of their behaviour  Variation in the degree to which the researcher becomes involved in the situation:  Naturalistic  Participatory  No involvement, just watching situation  Active involvement in situation 8 Correlational Methods 9 3 2023-09-07 Correlations: Goal is Prediction Correlational Methods:  Typically: Surveys/Questionnaires  Correlational findings are reported as correlation coefficients  What is a correlation coefficient?  A numerical calculation of the strength and direction of the relationship between 2 (or more) variables 10 The Correlational Method  Goal: To understand the relationships between variables  Correlation: Two variables systematically measured  Correlations can be positive or negative 11 Correlation Direction and Strength Correlation coefficients range from -1 to +1 Positive correlation  As one variable increases, the other variable also increases  Negative correlation  As one variable increases, the other variable decreases  No correlation  Correlation coefficient is close to zero   ___________________________________________________ -1 0 Negative No Correlation Correlation +1 Positive Correlation 12 4 2023-09-07 Understanding Correlations  Newspaper headline:  “Video games increase violent behaviour”  Is this an accurate statement?  Does playing video games actually cause a violent and aggressive behaviour?  If so, how, specifically?  We need to read the full article, to understand what kind of study was done… 13 Answer: NO (if the study is correlational)  What this headline is most likely referring to is a correlational relationship some kinds of video games are related to some measures of violent behaviour, according to some research  i.e.,  Most common way of studying this: survey people about how much time they spend playing video games and how aggressive they are  Observational/descriptive and correlational methods CANNOT tell us about causation 14 Correlation Does not Equal Causation!!  Possible Relationships:  Video games  Aggression (causal explanation)  Aggression  Video games (not as likely, but still plausible)  Something else is at play…i.e., some third variable may be responsible for the relationship between these 2 variables  What might that third variable be??? 15 5 2023-09-07 What Else Could be Behind this Relationship?  Alternative Explanations  Aggressive personality  Aggressive  Aggressive personality  Enjoy violent media behaviour (e.g., video games)  So maybe people who are already predisposed to violence are also attracted to playing violent video games  Maybe it’s not the video games themselves that causes anything 16 Confounds: Alternate Explanations  A confound is any extraneous variable that can influence the relationship between 2 other variables  Example: There is a positive correlation between ice cream eating and shark attacks (seriously, there is)  Does this mean that consuming ice cream makes us tastier to sharks?  i.e.,  does eating ice cream cause sharks to attack us? What is a possible confound in this relationship? 17 Summary: Correlations  Correlations describe the relationships between variables  They are either positive or negative, and vary in strength  They do NOT describe cause and effect  They are often the only way we can describe how things are related  i.e., some variables can’t be manipulated to examine causal relationships 18 6 2023-09-07 For Next Class  Read about experimental methods and research ethics in your textbook  Start to think of ways that we could experimentally study the link between aggression and video games (part of next week’s in-class Discussion assignment) 19 7