PSYC 3604 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Longitudinal Study, Structured Interview, Psychophysiology
5 Apr 2016
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Document Summary
A study of an individual (one person) Useful when your theory is unclear and you need additional information in order to formulate a clear theory/hypothesis. Limitations: lack of generalizability to others (external validity, isolating treatment from extra-treatment events (internal validity) Not enough data to find any patterns. Looks at whether the treatment had an effect or not. Group comparison study (case-control design: people diagnosed as having a particular mental disorder are compared with controls. Cross-sectional studies: observe subjects at one point in time. Epidemiology: the study of the frequency of disorders within a specific population. Prevalence: the percentage of the population that has the disorder at a particular time. Incidence: the number of new cases of a disorder within a given time period. Duration: the average length of a given disorder. Characteristics of the scientific method minimizing the effects of expectations. Demand characteristics: subjects respond according to an experimenter"s expectations.
