PSY100H1 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2-3: Causal Inference, Random Assignment, Confounding

• School: UTSG
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSY100H1
• Professor: Ashley Waggoner Denton

Document Summary

Test research questions using many methods - most research relies on either correlations or experiments. Correlations - researchers measure variables as they naturally occur in people and compute the degree to which 2 variables go together. Many factors - including practical constraints - determine the type of methods researchers use. Often researchers survey people even though it would be better, but more expensive and time consuming, to track them longitudinally. One of the important steps in scientific inquiry is to test our hypotheses. Which method used will depend on the type of questions you are asking and what resources are available to you. All methods have limitations, which is why the best research uses a variety of methods. Psychologists measure many abstract concepts like happiness and intelligence by beginning with operational definitions of the concepts. Researchers manipulate the individual variable, and observe or measure any impact of those changes in the dependent variable.