PSYC 1010 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Dependent And Independent Variables, Institutional Review Board, Demand Characteristics
101 views5 pages
The Scientific Method- outline or structure we use to do all the research
Process Overview
•What do you want to know? (Question)
•Yeah, but what do you REALLY mean by that? (operational
definitions)
•What do you expect the answer to be? (hypothesis)
•Where you this info come from? (population)
•How do you get this info without testing every single potential
person? (sample)
•Once you have people, how do you find out the info for which you’re
looking? (design)
•How can you be sure your brilliant results aren’t due to something
else? (power)
Observe and describe
•Formulate a question of interest
Build a hypothesis
•Testable statement about the predicted relationship between two or
more variables
Develop a testable question
•If my hypothesis is correct, then I expect…
•If then questions
Operational definitions
•Variable- any measurable conditions, events, characteristics, or
behaviors that are either controlled or observed in a study
•All variables must be clearly defined
oNot frequent but 4 times per hour
Study design and data collection
•What is the best way
Analyze data- draw conclusions
•Data is analyzed using statistics
•Conclusions based on analysis support or fail to support the
hypothesis
•Hypotheses are not proved or disproved. Rather, they are rejected or
not rejected
Research Methods
Method types –vary by results desired
•Descriptive – describes what occurs
oObservational- watching participant in his or her environment
without interaction
oSelf-reports- questionnaires or interviews to gather information
about specific aspects of an individuals experience
oCase studies- in depth examination of the experience of a
single subject
•Correlational – tells you how two things are correlated, test
relationships
oUsed to detect naturally occurring relationships
oAlso used to assess the extent to which one variable predicts
another
oExamine data of 2+ variables
oNot intervention or manipulation
oReveal strength of relationship
•Experimental- investigate causes
oExamine cause and effect relationships
oDependent on careful design at every step