PSY 395 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Research Domain Criteria, Circadian Rhythm, External Validity
Document Summary
Describe: learn about a disorder"s symptoms, prevalence, duration (acute, chronic), and accompanying problems. Predict: discover how to provide the best patient care. Self-report data: surveys about anxiety symptoms, alcohol and marijuana consumption, etc. Systems for social processes (attachment, communication, perception of self and others) Units of analysis: genes, molecules, cells, circuits, physiology, behavior, self-reports, paradigms. An effort to explain, predict, or explore something. Often sparked by anecdotal accounts and unusual research findings. Frequently determine therapeutic approaches used to treat a particular clinical problem. Individuals who are similar in their behavioral abnormalities (representative) Study group should mirror underlying population in all important ways. Samples of convenience (using subjects who are easily accessible) Not a representative sample of the population as a whole. No study can be externally valid unless it is internally valid. Prospective: research strategies look ahead in time (more confidence) Categorization of increasing numbers of people as mentally ill.