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Research Methods

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Course
PSYC 217 (PSYC217)

Institution
University Of British Columbia (UBC )

Book
Methods in Behavioural Research

This talks about the chapters of the textbook for the first midterm exam for the course. This includes definitions along with examples. As well as the concepts are broken down into specific categories.

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Uploaded on June 13, 2021
Number of pages 17
Written in 2021/2022
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Chapter 1

Learning Objectives:
- Explain reasons why understanding research is important
- Describe the scientific approach to learning about behaviour and contrast it with
pseudoscience
- Define and give examples of the 4 goals of scientific research in psychology
- Compare and contrast basic and applied research
Why study Research Methods?
- allows you to read reports critically, evaluate methods and decide whether the conclusions
and assertions being made are appropriate and justifiable.
- helps in separating and concluding pseudoscience.
- also helpful for careers when evaluating reports
- Example: in business, reading reports and studies before making a decision;
psychologist read studies of treatments and medications before applying it to people.
Describe the scientific approach to learning about behaviour and contrast it with
pseudoscience:
- humans rely on intuition and authority solely (but lead to biased conclusions).
Methods of Acquiring Knowledge:
- Intuition = based on anecdotal evidence to draw general conclusion. It is the unquestioning
acceptance of own judgement (the “gut feeling”).
- Often involves the finding an explanation of own behaviours.
- This is pseudoscience, because has many cognitive and motivational biases, affecting
our perception (where we can arrive at an incorrect conclusion).
- cognitive bias called ILLUSORY CORRELATION (when two events occur closely
together, this draws our attention, and we often conclude that one must cause the
other).
- its perceiving a relationship between 2 variables, even though there is no actual
relationship.
EXAMPLE: - arthritis and cold weather.

, - a woman was attacked by a man with ginger hair. She now fears people
with the same hair colour.
- it’s not long-term, but more short-term, when thinking and using intuition
Authority = When we place our trust in someone else who we think knows more than we do,
someone who is “credible”.
- having blind trust to authority, are prone to draw incorrect conclusions from statistics.
- many people readily accept anything they encounter from news media, books,
government officials, or religious leaders.
- ***PROBLEM, statements from any authority figure may not be true. Scientific
approach requires lots of evidence and good quality evidence, before coming to any
conclusion ***
● The Scientific Method
○ Scientific Skepticism: Ideas must be evaluated on the basis of careful logic
and results from scientific investigations.

○ Empiricism: The use of objective observations to answer a question about the
nature of behaviour.

○ The 4 norms of the Scientific Method

1. Universalism: Observations are systematically structures and
evaluated objectively using accepted methods of the discipline.

2. Communality: Methods and results are shared openly, encourage
replication.

3. Disinterestedness: Accurate results are more important than pride.

4. Organized skepticism: Results should be peer reviewed to reduce
major flaws from being published in scientific literature.

● Falsifiable: Capable of being shown to be false when tested with scientific
methods. A good theory should be falsifiable.

● Pseudoscience: Claims made on the basis of evidence that’s designed to appear
scientific. Such evidence is not based on the principles of the scientific method.
○ Claims not falsifiable
○ Ignore conflicting evidence
○ Stated in scientific sounding terminology and ideas
Features that make a study
pseudoscience.
○ Tend to be vague
○ Never revised to account for new data

2

, ● Goals of Scientific Research in Psychology
1. Describing behaviour
2. Predicting behaviour
○ Once observed with regularity that 2 events are related to each other it
becomes possible to make predictions and anticipate events.
○ Predicted relations do not imply causation.

3. Determine causes of behaviour
○ Experiments help us identify cause and effect relationships
○ Causal inference

4. Understand/explain behaviour
○ An explanation that appears satisfactory may turn out to be inadequate
○ Explanation of behaviour are often revised when new evidence appears

● Criteria for causal claims → causal inference
1. Covariation of cause and effect: observing change in one variable is
accompanied by a change in a second variable.

2. Temporal precedence: the cause precedes (comes before) the effect in a
time sequence

3. Alternative explanation: potential alternative cause of an observed
relationship between variables.

● Basic and applied research
○ Basic research: research that attempts to answer fundamental questions
about the nature of behaviour
■ Has four goals of scientific research
■ The studies are designed to test aspects of theories

○ Applied research: Research is conducted to address practical problems and
potential solutions
■ Program evaluation: Research designed to evaluate programs that are
designed to produce certain changes or outcomes in a target population

○ Integrating Applied and Basic Research
■ Progress in science is dependent on the two working together

3

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