Summery Research methods in psychology
Chapter 1: Psychology is a way of thinking
Research producers and research consumers
For your future coursework in psychology, it is important to know how to be a producer of
research. To succeed, you will need to know why scientists randomly assign people to
groups, how to measure attitudes accurately, or how to interpret results from a graph. You
will also develop job-related skills such as how to organize and analyse data or how to
measure behaviour accurately. Being a smart consumer of research could be crucial to your
future career. Whether your goal is to be a social worker, a teacher, a sales representative, a
human resource professional, an entrepreneur, or a parent, you will need to know how to
interpret research data with a critical eye.
How scientist work
Empiricists do not base conclusions on intuition, on casual observations of their own
experience, or on what other people say. Empiricism, also referred to as the empirical
method or empirical research, involves using evidence from the senses (sight, hearing,
touch) or from instruments that assist the senses (such as thermometers, timers,
photographs, weight scales, and questionnaires) as the basis for conclusions.
In the theory-data cycle, scientists collect data to test, change, or update their theories. Even
if you haven’t yet conducted formal research, you have probably tested ideas and hunches
of your own by asking specific questions that are grounded in theory, making predictions,
and reflecting on data.
The cupboard theory versus the contact comfort theory
One theory, referred to as the cupboard theory of mother-infant attachment, is that a
mother is valuable to a baby mammal because she is a source of food. The baby animal gets
hungry, gets food from the mother by nursing, and experiences a pleasant feeling (reduced
hunger). Over time, the sight of the mother acquires positive value because she is the
“cupboard” from which food comes.
An alternative theory, proposed by psychologist Harry Harlow (1958), is that babies are
attached to their mothers because of the comfort of their warm, fuzzy fur. This is the contact
comfort theory.
Theory, hypotheses, and data
A theory is a set of statements—as simple as possible
—that describes general principles about how
variables relate to one another.
The theory not only led to the questions but also to
specific hypotheses about the answers. A hypothesis,
or prediction, is stated in terms of the study design.
It’s the specific outcome the researcher will observe
in a study if the theory is accurate.
Data are a set of observations. Depending on
whether the data are consistent with hypotheses
based on a theory, the data may either support or
challenge the theory.
,A replication means the study is conducted again to test whether the result is consistent.
Scientists therefore evaluate their theories based on the weight of the evidence—the
collection of studies, including replications, of the same theory.
Strong scientific theories set up gambles. A theory should lead to hypotheses that, when
tested, could fail to support the theory—in other words, falsifiability is a characteristic of
good theories.
Merton scientific norms:
Name Definition Interpretation and application
Universalism Scientific claims are evaluated Even a student can do science –
according to their merit, you do not need an advanced
independent of the researcher’s degree or research position
credentials or reputation. The same
preestablished criteria apply to all
scientist and all research
Communality Scientific knowledge is created by a Scientists should transparently
community and its findings belong and freely share the results of
to the community their work with other scientists
and the public
Disinterestedness Scientists strive to discover the Scientists should not be
truth, whatever it is: they are not personally invested in whether
swayed by conviction, idealism, their hypotheses are supported
politics, or profit by the data. Scientists do not
spin the story; instead, they
accept what the data tells them
Organized Scientists question everything, Scientists accept almost
skepticism including their own theories, widely nothing at face value. Nothing
accepted ideas, and ‘ancient is sacred – they always ask to
wisdom’ see the evidence
Applied research is done with a practical problem in mind and the researchers conduct their
work in a local, real-world context.
The goal of basic research, in contrast, is to enhance the general body of knowledge rather
than to address a specific, practical problem.
Translational research is the use of lessons from basic research to develop and test
applications to health care, psychotherapy, or other forms of treatment and intervention.
Translational research represents a dynamic bridge from basic to applied research.
,Chapter 2: sources of information: why research is best and how to find it
In real-world situations, there are several possible explanations for an outcome. In research,
these alternative explanations are called confounds. Confounded can also mean confused.
Essentially, a confound occurs when you think one thing caused an outcome but in fact other
things changed, too, so you are confused about what the cause really was.
Although research is usually more accurate than individual experience, sometimes our
personal stories contradict the research results. Personal experience is powerful, and we
often let a single experience distract us from the lessons of more rigorous research.
The results of behavioral research are probabilistic, which means that its findings do not
explain all cases all of the time. Instead, the conclusions of research are meant to explain a
certain proportion (preferably a high proportion) of the possible cases.
In practice, this means scientific conclusions are based on patterns that emerge only when
researchers set up comparison groups and test many people. Your own experience is only
one point in that overall pattern.
The research versus your intuitions
Another is intuition—using our hunches about what seems “natural,” or attempting to think
about things “logically.”
Sometimes a good story will turn out to be accurate, of course, but it’s important to be
aware of the limitations of intuition. When empirical evidence contradicts what your
common sense tells you, be ready to adjust your beliefs on the basis of the research.
Automatically believing a story that seems to make sense can lead you astray.
Another bias in thinking is the availability heuristic, which states that things that pop up
easily in our mind tend to guide our thinking. When events or memories are vivid, recent, or
memorable, they come to mind more easily, leading us to overestimate how often things
happen.
When testing relationships, we often fail to look for absences; in contrast, it is easy to notice
what is present. This tendency, referred to as the present/present bias, reflects our failure to
consider appropriate comparison group.
The tendency to look only at information that agrees with what we want to believe is called
the confirmation bias. We “cherry-pick” the information we take in—seeking and accepting
only the evidence that supports what we already think.
Even when we read about the biased ways people think (such as in a research methods
textbook like this one), we nevertheless conclude that those biases do not apply to us. We
have what’s called a bias blind spot, the belief that we are unlikely to fall prey to the other
biases previously described.
Now we have an additional nuance for what it means to reason empirically: To be an
empiricist, you must also guard against common biases when you look at the data.
, Chapter 3: three claims, four validities: interrogation tools for consumers
of research
Variables
A variable, as the word implies, is something that varies, so it must have at least two levels,
or values. A constant is something that could potentially vary but that has only one level in
the study in question.
A measured variable is one whose levels are simply observed and recorded.
In contrast, a manipulated variable is a variable a researcher controls, usually by assigning
study participants to the different levels of that variable.
Each variable in a study can be referred to in two ways. When researchers are discussing
their theories and when journalists write about their research, they use more abstract
names, called constructs or conceptual variables. When testing hypotheses with empirical
research, they create operational definitions of variables, also known as operational
variables, or operationalizations. To operationalize a concept of interest means to turn it
into a measured or manipulated variable.
