PY1101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Alcohol Advertising, External Validity, Confounding
14 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Eploring Pscholog: Lecture 2
PASS:
Tuesday 9am 018008
Thursday 11am 018008
Characteristics of good psychological research
A theoretical framework is the basis of research!
Example research question:
Does alcohol advertising contribute to excessive drinking & maladaptive behaviour in
young people?
Theoretical framework - Good research, regardless of the topic, is grounded in theory
- Theory is a systematic way of organising and explaining observations; different
schools of thought promoting different theories.
- A way of which we can sort through literature
- Depends on school of though on which your coming from / or subject of psychology
- Variety of different questions -> comprehensive understanding
The problem of Theory
- It is a framework / model.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
- Unfortunately, the general public has a fundamental misunderstanding of what a
theor i siee eas -> effects how science is reported in the media
- A theory is based on years, generations, of research evidence being accumulated– it
is not a whim
- Beauty of science is that you can challenge and question what is going on
- Yet the framework of science demands that scientists constantly explore, investigate
and revise evidence
- This is h e asers or eplaatios are ofte foud for old theories.
However it makes research look inconsistent. This a otriute to peoples
confusion
- Common confusion examples include
o Evolution
o Time Change
Rationale
- Presenting an argument for the context in which you are applying the theory Critical
review of existing evidence in the field
- Identifying inconsistencies, gaps, trends – always tends to be some sort of
disagreement.
- That within different population, samples, and research designs different answers
have been found – differences is valuable.
- Provides the evidence base for your hypotheses
Rationale Example:
- Observe
o Seems to be growing societal & behavioural issues around alcohol
consumption – is this to do with advertising and marketing?
- Theory
o The way in which people process information
- Rationale
o Exploring past research for evidence on how young people process
information about alcohol, and subsequently how this affects behaviour.
Hypotheses: theory provides the framework for a hypothesis
- A hypothesis is a tentative belief about the way two (or more) variables
interact/impact each other
- Based on the trends / gaps / differences we can be fairly confident in the hypotheses
Hypotheses example
- Theory
o The way in which people process information
- Rationale
o Exploring past research for evidence on how young people process
information about alcohol, and subsequently how this affects behaviour.
- Hypothesis
o The prediction of what you will find, based on the theory and the evidence of
the context
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Types of Research
- Descriptive Designs - Concerned with describing behaviour
- Correlational Designs - Concerned with predicting behaviour
- Experimental Design - Concerned with establishing the causes of behaviour – only
design you can use to control confounded variables.
Generalisability
- Generalisability refers to whether research results (from the sample) can be applied
to the entire population of interest, and requires:
o Internal validity: Are the procedures of the study sound or are they flawed?
Was the procedure consistent / standardised etc.
o External validity: Does the experimental situation resemble the situation
found in the real world? Hard to generalise findings
- Gives insight to limitations, and who else is can/cannot apply to, have the research
taken it beyond what their sample is.
- Not everybody can be involved; from there choose an appropriate sample of people
/ ensure its possible.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
A theoretical framework is the basis of research! Theoretical framework - good research, regardless of the topic, is grounded in theory. Theory is a systematic way of organising and explaining observations; different schools of thought promoting different theories. A way of which we can sort through literature. Depends on school of though on which your coming from / or subject of psychology. Variety of different questions -> comprehensive understanding. Unfortunately, the general public has a fundamental misunderstanding of what a (cid:858)theor(cid:455)(cid:859) i(cid:374) s(cid:272)ie(cid:374)(cid:272)e (cid:373)ea(cid:374)s -> effects how science is reported in the media. A theory is based on years, generations, of research evidence being accumulated it is not a whim. Beauty of science is that you can challenge and question what is going on. Yet the framework of science demands that scientists constantly explore, investigate and revise evidence. This is (cid:449)h(cid:455) (cid:858)(cid:374)e(cid:449)(cid:859) a(cid:374)s(cid:449)ers or e(cid:454)pla(cid:374)atio(cid:374)s are ofte(cid:374) fou(cid:374)d for (cid:858)old(cid:859) theories. Common confusion examples include: evolution, time change.
