PSYC 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Measuring Instrument, Demand Characteristics, Naturalistic Observation

• School: UBC
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 101
• Professor: Catherine (Cathy) Rankin

Document Summary

To observe = to use one"s sense to learn about the properties of an event/ object. What"s wrong w/ casual observations: notoriously unstable, can"t tell us all the properties that might interest us. Must always do 2 things : de ne the property we want to measure, find a way to detect it. De nition & detection: what to measure & how to measure it. Operational de nition a description of a property in concrete, measurable terms. Instrument anything that can detect the condition to which an operational de nition refers. Steps to measure a phys. property = same to measure a psychological property. Validity extent to which a concrete event de nes a property. Most important feature of an operational de nition. To some extent in the eye of the beholder. Ex. frequency of smiles is a more valid way to operationally de ne happiness than freq. of eating, talking, or spending.