PSY100H1 Chapter Notes -Participant Observation, Observer-Expectancy Effect, Dependent And Independent Variables

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

Document Summary

Textbook notes week 2. What is scientific inquiry: descriptive, correlational, experimental. Random assignment is used to establish equivalent groups. Examine the effect of culture on some variable of interest, thereby making psychology more applicable around the world. Observation might alter the behaviour being observed, an effect known as reactivity. Hawthorne effect refers to changes in behaviour that occur when people know that others are observing them. Case studies examine individual lives and organizations. Observing is an unobtrusive strategy. Asking takes a more active approach. Can provide extensive data about one or a few individuals or organizations: disadvantages: Can be very subjective: if a researcher has a causal theory, this theory can bias what is observed and recorded. Self- report methods such as questionnaires can be used to gather data from a large number of people. They are easy to administer, cost- efficient, and a relatively fast way to collect data.