01:830:377 Study Guide - Spring 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Major Depressive Disorder, Tobacco Smoking, Mortality Rate
01:830:377
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
1/22/16
Research Methods
• Health psychologists make discoveries through the scientific method
o Operational definition: statement about the procedures the researcher used to
measure a variable
▪ ie stress: you know what it is, but you don’t know how to measure it
without an operational definition
• could operationally define it by heart rate, cortisone levels, stress
inventory (self-report), etc
▪ ie optimism
• use an established inventory
o Steps in the research process-the Scientific Method
▪ Specify the hypothesis-a testable prediction
• The incidents of colds will be higher during final exam period than
during the beginning of the semester
▪ Form an operational definition
• Final exam period is a period of high stress, and beginning of
semester is low stress
• Observing colds through nasally voices, coughs, change in
behavior, asking, etc
▪ Collect data
• Surveys-asking people or giving a physical survey
▪ Analyze data
• Quantify (count) and compare people who have colds in the
beginning vs the end of the semester
▪ Form a theory
• People have more colds during the end of the semester rather than
in the beginning because:
o High levels of stress compromise the immune system
o Cold weather, general allergies
o Lack of sleep due to studying
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
o Correlation vs causation
▪ Correlation: an association between 2 variables
• Does not indicate causation
• If you don’t do an experiment, you don’t know the cause
▪ Interpreting correlations
• Measure of the strength of the association between two variables
(ranges from -1 to +1)
o Never a perfect correlation unless you correlate a variable
with itself, can’t get a perfect -1 or +1
▪ .1 is considered small, .3 is medium, and .5 is large
o Positive correlation: variables change in the same direction
o Negative correlation: variables change in opposite
directions
▪ Causation: we can only speak about causation if an experiment has been
conducted
• Comparison between a treatment (experimental) group and a
control (comparison) group
• Experimental design (a randomized clinical trial)
o Manipulation of the independent variable
o Random assignment
o Experimental control
o Moderating factors
▪ Moderator: difference between groups in which the
relation between the IV and DV is different for
different groups
• You can determine the moderator by asking:
‘does it depend?’
• Not always measured
• Problems with experiments
o Problem with generalization
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
If you don"t do an experiment, you don"t know the cause. Interpreting correlations: measure of the strength of the association between two variables (ranges from -1 to +1, never a perfect correlation unless you correlate a variable with itself, can"t get a perfect -1 or +1. 01/26: quasi-experimental design, main difference between experimental and quasi-experimental design: Individual difference variable: sgoutas-emch et al. , 1995, participants subjected to laboratory stressor (speech) Chd, and are 7x more likely to die from any cause (not just chd: barefoot et al. , 1983, hostility increased risk of all-cause morality, potential mechanisms, cardiovascular reactivity, powch and houston, 1996-hostility and stress. In high stress lab condition, conversations about passionate social issues, hostility predicted increased cardiovascular response to stress: biobehavorial mechanism, greater interpersonal conflict, lower levels of social support, health behaviors, appraisal. Just cardiac counseling (control group: 21. 2% had another heart attack, no counseling (comparison group, 28. 2% had another.