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Research Methods in Psychology: Evaluating a World of Information
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RESEARCH METHODS IN PSYCHOLOGY EVALUATING A WORLD OF INFORMATION 1ST EDITION: BY BETH MORLING (AUTHOR)
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Introductie in onderzoeksmethoden
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Research Methods in Psychology: Evaluating a World of Information (3rd edition) Beth MorlingPART I: Introduction to Scientific Reasoning
Chapter 1: Psychology is a Way of Thinking
sources of information
● intuition: using your gut feeling, plays an important role in obtaining
knowledge and could be the start of a scientific discovery (apple - Isaac
Newton)
➡ problem: good story, availability heuristic, present/present bias (I
focus on this, coincidental hit, no comparison group, availability heuristic +
tendency to ignore „absent“ cells; e.g. Holmes focus on absent cells),
confirmation bias (look only at information that agrees with what we
already believe; e.g. IQ test), bias blind spot (thinking to be aware of all
biases)
● personal experience: I know because I have seen it myself, is also important
for generating ideas
➡ problem: confounds (several possible explanations for outcome; e.g.
Bushman venting anger: systematic comparison that controls for potential
confounds), no comparison groups
● common sense: everybody knows that; problem: massive groups of people
can have completely incorrect ideas about the world
● authority: he must know because he is a doctor, so “ought to know”;
important to know if the conclusions have been tested and stood under the
tests
● the scientific method: testing our ideas against observations, replace old
beliefs with new beliefs
○ probabilistic findings are not expected to explain all cases of all time,
rather a certain proportion —> strong probability = reliable
○ science is self-correcting
cycles
● De Groot, The empirical cycle
○ Observation: I see different people speaking different languages.
○ Theory: Egyptian is the original language.
○ Prediction: If Egyptian is the natural language humans should
automatically speak Egyptian.
○ Testing: Baby says bekos.
○ Evaluation: example, interpreted the baby’s babbling as evidence
against his theory.
● Morling - theory-data cycle: theory - research question - research design -
hypothesis - data (nonsupporting data -> review research design)
research producers, research consumers
● producers of research, consumers of research: „interrogating information“ -
how to ask the right questions (many psychologists engage in both)
1
, ● consumer-of-research skills: evaluate the evidence behind the claims of a
salesperson, journalist, or researcher & making better, more informed
decisions by asking the right questions
● evidence-based treatments: professions require knowing the research
behind treatments, that is therapies supported by research
how scientists approach their work
● psychological researchers are empiricists: they systematically observe the
world and test their theories through research and revisions, they take an
empirical approach to both applied research which directly targets real-world
problems and basic research which contributes to real-world problems. They
go further once they have discovered an effect, scientists plan further
research to test how the effect works. Psychologists make their work public by
submitting results to journals for review and respond to the opinions of other
scientists.
● science is self-correcting, open methodology, connection evidence &
conclusion —> public, other researchers can dispute conclusions and redo
the research
● empiricism/empirical method/empirical research: evidence from the
senses (sight, hearing touch) from instruments (such as thermometers, scales
etc) —> basis for conclusions; systematic, rigorous and independently
verifiable by other observers of scientists
○ good theory: data, falsifiable & parsimonious (simple)
■ e.g.: cupboard theory vs. contact comfort theory (Harlow)
‣ theory: set of statements that describes general principles
about variable relate to one another; change to
accommodate data
‣ hypothesis: a prediction that is the specific outcome the
researcher expects to observe in a study if the theory is
accurate; one single theory —> many theories
‣ data: set of observations, and depending on if it is
consistent with the hypothesis it will either support to
challenge the theory
❖ matches theory —> strengthens confidence
❖ doesn’t match —> needs to be revised
○ weight of evidence: evaluation of theory
■ data: supports/is consistent // inconsistent/complicated
■ theory: well supported/well established/ not refuted (NEVER
proved —> you can never rule out all alternative explanations,
theory makes infinite amount of predictions, you made only one
<— NEVER refuted)
● applied researcher: real-world problems; basic researchers: general
understanding; translational researcher: basic research —> applied
research
● initial study: is followed up — why, when, for whom
● publication process: peer-review process
2
, ● journalism: to reach general public; Mozart effect: media exaggerate
importance
Chapter 2: Sources of Information
finding and reading the research
finding:
● scientific/scholarly journals: articles written for other psychological
scientists
○ empirical journal articles: first results of an empirical research study,
containing details about the studies method, statistical tests used and
the results of the study
○ review journal articles: provide a summary of all the published
studies that have been made one research area; review from a
conceptual standpoint
■ meta-analysis: the results of many studies, gives a number that
summarizes the magnitude/effect size of a relationship
● chapters in edited books: good place to find a summary of a set of research
a particular psychologist has done (less peer reviewed then empirical journal
articles)
● full length scholarly books: not commonly used in psychology, rather in
history
● finding scientific sources:
○ college/university library
○ working on own:
■ PsycINFO: tool/database/search engine; psychological
research articles
disadvantage: university must have subscribed to it
■ Google scholar: google search engine; empirical journal
articles disadvantages: no limit of search to specific fields, does
not classify peer-reviewed articles
reading:
● standard format: American Psychological Association (APA)
○ section order
■ abstract: summary of 120 words, hypothesis, method and major
results
■ introduction: first paragraph: explains the topic of study, middle
paragraph: background for the research, final paragraph:
specific research questions, goals or hypotheses
■ method: details on how the study was conducted
■ results: quantitative and as relative qualitative results: statistical
tests, tables and figures summarizing key results
3
, ■ discussion: summarizes research questions and method and
indicates how well the results supported the hypothesis and
discusses the study’s importance and alternative explanations
for their data
■ references: bibliographic listing of all the sources the authors
cited
● reading with a purpose
○ empirical journal articles
■ don’t read every word — two questions: 1) What is the
argument? -> end of the introduction - hypothesis 2) What is
the evidence to support the argument? -> first paragraph of
the discussion - key results
○ chapters and review articles
■ heading —> particular topic, question 1): argument = entire
theory; question 2): How much previous research?
● finding research in less scholarly places
○ peer-reviewed? criticizing research? —> references
● wikis as a research source
○ not comprehensive in their coverage (not covering all subjects),
references are not comprehensive (representing preferences of
contributors), might be incorrect, vandalism
● popular media
○ journalists who are not trained in science writing might not correctly
summarize a journal article correctly
Chapter 3: Three Claims, Four Validities
● irrefutable theories: when you can’t derive a testable prediction from this
hypothesis which makes it structurally irrefutable
● falsifiable: concrete prediction; you should be able to test against it, if not it
does not speak of reality
— if we don’t confirm our prediction —> anomaly: not understood
inconsistency theory vs. data <— new theory: can defeat old theory & can
explain anomaly
● from theory to hypothesis
○ theory: general principles, can’t be tested
○ hypothesis: derived from theory
● from hypothesis to prediction
○ prediction: concrete, exactly
○ hypothesis & prediction: interchangeable
● correction mechanisms: there are only two real mechanisms: during the
publication process: peer review (publication lag) and after the publication
4
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