RESEARCH METHODS

RESEARCH METHODS:

HINDSIGHT BIAS:

•  the tendency to believe after leaving the outcome.
•  that you “knew along”

 OVERCONFIDENCE:

•  tending to think we more than we do

THE BARNUM EFFECT:

•  The tendency for people to accept very general characteristics of themselves take understand them to be accurate.

 APPLIED v. BASIC RESEARCH:
applied:
 - clear and practical applications
- you can use it
 basic:
 - explores questions that you might be curious about
 - not intended to be use (immediately)

HYPOTHESIS:
 - the relationship between two variables
 - variable can be anything
 - ex: “Participation in class leads to better grades, than not participating”

INDEPENDENT VARIABLE:
- whatever is being changed in the experiment

 DEPENDENT VARIABLE:
 - whatever is being measured in the experiment
 -DEPENDS on the independent variable

OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS:
- a statement of the specific methods used to measure a variable
 - “If, then” statement

 SAMPLING:
 - sample must be represent the population you want to study

 STRATIFIED SAMPLING:
 - allows researcher the ensure the sample represents the population on some criteria

EXPERIMENTAL METHODS:
 - looking to prove causal relationship
 - cause = effect

 EXPERIMENTAL v. CONTROL GROUP:
control group:
 - the group that doesn’t receive the independent variable experimental group:
 experimental group:
- group being tested on

HAWTHRONE EFFECT:
- the fact that you know that you’re being experimented on can cause change.

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SINGLE-BLIND: where one group is unaware of the experiment
DOUBLE BLIND: neither the researcher nor the participant is aware of who’s receiving the treatment, and who’s receiving the placebo

PLACEBO:
- harmless pill, medicine, or procedure prescribed more for psychology effect than a physiological effect

CORRELATION METHOD:
- expresses a relationship between two variables
- doesn’t show causation

- TYPES OF CORRELATION -
positive correlation:
- variables go the SAME way
negative correlation:
- variables goes in different directions


SURVEY METHOD:
- most common type of study
- measures correlation
- cheap and fast
- needs a good random sample
- low-response rate


NATURALISTIC OBSERVATION:
- watch subjects in natural environment
- do not manipulate environment
- good thing is the Hawthorne Effect
- bad thing is never shows cause and effect

CORRELATION COEFFICIENT:
- number that measures the strength of a relationship
- goes from -1 to +1
- relationship is weaker the closer to 0 it is

CASE STUDIES:
- detailed picture of one or more subjects
- tells a good story, but just a descriptive one
- does not give correlation data
- analyzes a sample of the population at one point in time

CROSS SECTION:

- analyzing the data from different parts of the population at a specific point in time

LONGITUDINAL:

- analyzing the same people over a period of time

DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS:

- describes sets of data

ANIMAL RESEARCH:

- clear purpose 

- they are treated in a humane way

- acquire animals legally

- least amount of suffering 

HUMAN RESEARCH:

- must debrief

- must be voluntary 

- informed consent 

- no significant risk