PSYC 100 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Canadian Psychological Association, Scientific Method, Research Question

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 100
• Professor: Jordan Poppenk

Document Summary

Psychology is based on scientific research in which people have strong opinions, which is why it is important for psychologist to be systematic and follow basic scientific method to avoid bias. By example, if a psychologist wants to study behaviour they may use descriptive method. Descriptive method: research is a study designed to depict the participants in an accurate way. The 4 main ways to collect this information are: naturalistic observation, laboratory observation, case studies, surveys. Another example is, if they want to measure relationship between two variables, they can use correlation design. Correlation design: correlations measure relationship between two variables. Experimental methods: experiments determine cause and effect. If they want to determine cause and effect they can design an experiment. Science is how we learn more about events that can be described precisely and objectively and can also be reliably (repeatedly) observed under similar circumstances. These scientific observations are sometimes organized into theories.