Methods
Eveliene Quaijtaal
2020-2021 VU Amsterdam
For this course, there are multiple goals:
1. You know the methodological foundations underlying three main types of empirical
research: Experiment, survey, and case study.
2. You are able to judge the quality of research done by others, and this will provide you
with the basic knowledge of developing your own empirical research.
3. You are able to translate from quantitative research questions to quantitative date
4. You are able to understand basic quantitative information in research publications
Exam contents:
Chapter 1: Modules 1 and 2.
Chapter 2: Module 3 (pp.44-45).
Chapter 3: Modules 5and 6.
Chapter 4: Modules 7 and 8.
Chapter 5: Modules 9 and 10.
Chapter 6: Modules 12, 13, and 14.
Chapter 7: Module 15 (excluding calculations and formulas) and module 16 (not: pp.247-
254).
Chapter 8: Module 17 and 18 (concepts only, no calculations or formulas).
Chapter 9: Modules 19 and 20 (concepts only, no calculations or
formulas).
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Chapter 1: Thinking like a scientist (module 1 + 2)
Psychology is a very diverse discipline that encompasses many areas of study.
There are many ways to gain knowledge, and some are better than others. As scientists,
they must be aware of these methods.
Knowledge is based on:
- Superstition & intuition
Superstition: Knowledge based on subjective feelings, belief in chance, or belief in magical
events. “The number 13 is unlucky.”
Intuition: Knowledge gained without being consciously aware of its source. “I don’t know, it’s
a gut feeling”
This knowledge is usually not based on observation; sometimes based on misperception.
- Authority
Knowledge gained from those viewed as authority figures (Problem: an authority does not
have knowledge of everything) The earth is round. Most knowledge comes from authorities.
, - Tenacity
Knowledge gained from repeated ideas and stubbornly clung to dispute evidence to the
contrary. Frequently used in advertising. (Problem: repeating a false claim does not make it
true)
- Rationalism
Knowledge gained through logical reasoning. All humans are mortal. I am human. Therefore,
I am mortal. (Problem: valid reasoning can be unsound)
- Empiricism
Knowledge gained through objective observations of phenomena in the real world. The
empiricist gains knowledge by seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, and touching. If scientists
solely rely on empiricism, there’s nothing more than a long list of observations or facts. For
these facts to be useful, they need to organize them, think about them, draw meaning from
them, and use them to make predictions.
- Science
Knowledge gained through a combination of empirical methods and logical reasoning. What
we say and believe must make logical sense (rationalism) and it must correspond to what we
observe (empiricism). There are 3 important aspects of doing scientific research:
> Theory (with a hypothesis that predicts the outcome of the study): organized system of
assumptions and principles that attempts to explain phenomena and how they are related.
> Collecting data
> Data analysis
Humans need to answer what and why question because our survival depends on knowing
which events cause other events. Our species is extremely good in detecting causal patterns
in the world around us, but our minds frequently deceive us.
“Don’t believe everything you think.” The 6 basic mistakes we, as humans, make in thinking:
1. We prefer stories to statistics
2. We seek to confirm, not to question our ideas
3. We rarely appreciate the role of chance and coincidence in shaping events
4. We sometimes misperceive the world around us
5. We tend to oversimplify our thinking
6. We have faulty memories
The scientific method requires developing an attitude of skepticism. A skeptic is a person
who questions the validity, authenticity, or truth of something purportedly factual. You don’t
blindly accept any new idea being promoted at the time. Being a skeptic and using the
scientific method involve applying three important criteria that help define science:
- Systematic empiricism
Simply observing a series of events does not lead to scientific knowledge. The observations
must be made structurally and systematically to test a hypothesis and to refuse or develop a
theory. Conclusions will be more reliable and valid.
- Public verification
,The research is presented to the public in such a way that it can be observed, replicated,
criticized, and tested for veracity by others. We should be suspicious of any claims made
without the support of public verification. They are simply the claim of individuals with no
evidence to support them. Publication can be done in a journal, a paper, a book or at a
conference, workshop etc.
- Empirically solvable problems
Science always investigates empirically solvable problems - questions that are potentially
answerable by means of currently available research techniques. “Is there life after death?”
is an example of a study that can not be tested scientifically.
When solvable problems are studied, they are always open to the principle of falsifiability,
meaning that a scientific theory must be stated in such a way that it is possible to refute or
disconfirm it. An irrefutable theory is not good.
An example, pseudoscience: a claim that appears to be scientific but that actually violates
the criteria of science.
“If ESP (Extrasensory Perception) were ever demonstrated under empirical conditions, they might say
their belief is supported. However, when ESP repeatedly fails to be demonstrated in controlled
laboratory conditions, they say their belief is not falsified because the conditions were not right for
ESP to be demonstrated. Thus, because ESP believers have set up a situation in which they claim
falsifying data are not valid, the theory of ESP violates the principle of falsifiability.” (page 14)
Thus, statements have to be testable, meaning they can be verified and can be falsified.
Examples of non testable statements are
- Speculative statements
Ghosts exist.
- Normative statements: never true or false; no objective way
One ought to eat with a knife and fork.
- Definitions: never true or false. It is only useful.
A family is a social group consisting of parents and their children
- Statements referring to unclear place or time
In 2010, the inhabitants of some European countries voted relatively more frequently
for right wing parties.
To conclude:
Criteria Description Purpose
Systematic empiricism Making observations in a To refute or develop a
systematic manner theory or to test hypotheses
Public verification Presenting research to the To determine the veracity of
public so that it can be a theory
observed, replicated,
criticized, and tested
Empirically solvable Stating questions in such a To determine whether a
problems way that they are theory can potentially be
answerable by means of tested using empirical
currently available research techniques and whether it is
, techniques falsifiable
There is two different kinds of scientific research
- Basic research: the study of psychological issues in order to seek knowledge for its
own sake
- Applied research: the study of psychological issues that have practical significance
and potential solutions.
Scientific research has three basic goals:
1. To describe behaviour/state of affairs:
Description begins with careful observations. Psychologists might describe patterns of
behaviour, thoughts, or emotions in humans or other animals. Description allows us to learn
about behaviour as well as when it occurs: what and how questions. Without description,
predictions cannot be made.
There are different descriptive methods
- The observational methods: The researcher simply observes human or other
animal behaviour. It can be done in two ways: Firstly, naturalistic observation; it
involves a natural habitat. Secondly, laboratory observation; it entails observing
behaviour in a contrived and controlled situation, usually the laboratory.
- Case study method: A case study method is an in-depth study of one or more
individuals.
- Survey method: It involves questioning individuals on a topic or topics and then
describing their responses. This has many disadvantages. Firstly, one concern is
whether the group of people who participate (the sample) is representative of all the
people about whom the study is meant to generalize. Another concern is the wording
of questions. Are the questions easy to understand?
2. To predict behaviour:
Prediction allows us to identify the factors that indicate when an event or events will occur.
Knowing the level of one variable allows us to predict the level of the other variable. When
using predictive methods, they do not systematically manipulate the variables; they only
measure them.
Major disadvantage: causal interpretations are logically weak. The evidence in support of
cause-effect relation is usually not convincing. Causal interpretations are difficult to justify in
the presence of alternative explanations.
There are different predictive (relationals) methods:
- Correlational method: it assesses the degree of relationship between two measured
variables. It can be a positive or negative relationship.
- The quasi-experimental method: it allows us to describe and predict by permitting
us to compare naturally occurring groups of individuals. The type of variable used in
a quasi-experimental research is often referred to as a subject or participant variable.
There is a characteristic of the subjects that cannot be changed.
3. To explain behaviour:
