PSY 150A1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Nazi Human Experimentation, Statistical Inference, Meta-Analysis
15 Sep 2016
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5 steps to science: identify problem, form hypothesis about relationship between variables, test the hypothesis by collecting data using operational definitions of variables, formulate a theory, test the theory by generating new hypothesis. Variable - an aspect of study that can you can manipulate (changed) or measure in a study. Operational definition- definition of a variable that specifies how it is measured/manipulated in a particular experiment. Theory- set of principles that explain a set of observations. Descriptive research describes characteristics of a certain phenomenon/group of ppl. Case study: studying 1 person/group in depth (used to examine exceptional, rare cases) Examples -- brain-damage patients -- highly hypnotizable ppl. Cons- any given person may be atypical, nonrepresentative. Samples- subset of the population that participates in the research. Set of questions about beliefs, attitudes, preferences, or behaviors. Random sample- sample that is representative of the population, because every member of the population has an equal chance of inclusion.
