PSYCH 1100H Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Sampling Bias, Dependent And Independent Variables, Psych
22 Jan 2016
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Psychology vs psychobable : psychology is based on rigorous research and empirical evidence. Empirical: evidence gathered by careful observation, experimentation and measurement: psychobable: tends to rely on anecdotal evidence. Steps in a scientific investigation: develop a theory, formulate a hypothesis, select a research method and design a study, collect and analyze data. Key data collection techniques: report the findings (published, hopefully, observation (naturalist, laboratory, questionnaires/surveys, interviews (dialog, standardized tests, physiological recordings (cat scans, heart rate, etc, case study (one individual) Research methods: different approaches to observations, measurement, manipulation and control of variables. Correlational research: permits investigator to explore relationships between variables, correlation coefficient: strength and direction of relationship (r, can be used to predict (only if strong, correlation does not mean causation. Experimental research: correlated, related, associated, linked, connected, not just describe, but explain why, manipulation of a variable under controlled conditions to observe a possible change in a 2nd variable, allows for detection of cause and effect.
