PSYC 215 Chapter Notes - Chapter Chapter 2: Test Validity, External Validity, Longitudinal Study

• School: McGill University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 215
• Professor: Lauren Human

Document Summary

Sometimes research confirms our expectations: e. g. money can make us happy. It feels good so we keep doing it: example hypothesis born of a social psychology theory: Found that across the world, there was a positive association between spending money on other people and having more happiness: pros, naturalistic, unobtrusive, often larger scale and more systematic than observation, cons: Investigators can only look at the degree of relationship between 2 or more variables. Longitudinal study (study with multiple assessments over time: pros, allows stronger tests of causality, cons, need to consider key concepts: Sampling and generalizability: validity, replication, ethical concerns. If you cannot get a random sample, you can run your study in a very different sample group: researchers need to consider certain types of validity, reliability, and statistical significance of their findings. Validity: experiments can determine causation because variables are controlled, but manipulating the situation may limit the validity of the results.