Types of research: Basic vs. Applied

1. Basic Research Identify functional relationships or regularities May not have immediate relevance Critical to the survival of applied research Applied Research Aimed to solve problems, help clients Based on basic research Types of research: Basic vs. Applied Lect 2

2. Basic or Applied Research?(ask, will the research help the participants in the study or immediately be useful?) Applied • Studying how we can train people to be better drivers • Studying how to effectively calm children before and after surgery • Studying how cross-cultural language differences can influence the perception of color • Studying the nature of sleep-wake cycles • Studying the influence of testosterone levels on the accuracy of spatial memory • Studying how the placement of dials and levers on a machine will best reduce worker fatigue and errors Applied Basic Basic Basic Applied? Lect 2

3. Types of research: Basic vs. Applied • Is applied research more valuable than basic research? • Some think that the research doesn’t seem very useful • Politicians often see it as a waste of money • But applied research rests on the foundations provided by basic research Lect 2

4. Basic research example: Precursors to the development of a chlorpromazine for schizophrenia (Kety, 1974) • Synthesis of phenothiazone by chemist interested in methylene blue • Study of anaphylaxis in guinea pigs • Identification of histamine • Role of histamine in anaphylaxis & search for antihistiminic drugs • Histamines as causal factor in surgical shock • Studies of peripheral sympathetics • Operant conditioning in animals • Search for antihistiminic-sympatholytic drug to mitigate surgical shock • Use of promethazine by french military surgeon Laborit 1950 to manage surgical shock “Virtually none of the precursor discoveries for this treatment of schizophrenia would have been recognized as having anything to do with schizophrenia!” (Stanovich, 2001) Lect 2

5. Psychological research with nonhumans What do results of psychological studies with pigeons and rats have to do with human behavior? • Many behavioral principles were first developed with research with nonhumans, e.g., operant and classical conditioning principles - see “The value of behavioral research on animals (Miller, 1985, in coursepack) "Humans may doubt the generalizability to their own lives about the foraging [food finding] strategies of rats, but they would not eat anything that causes a rat to drop dead." (Seechrest & Walsh, 1997) Lect 2

6. The research process • Develop an idea • Select a generalarea- Where do research questions come from? • Observations & serendipity • From theory • From prior research • Creativity Lect 2

7. The research process Where do research questions come from? • Observations & serendipity Observation = paying attention to the world around you e.g., Observation - Newton conceived the concept of universal gravitation when he observed an apple falling and at the same time noticed the moon in the sky e.g., Observation – current events = war in Iraq, global warming, obesity Lect 2

8. The research process Where do research questions come from? • Observations & serendipity Serendipity = chance or lucky accidents e.g., Serendipity - Skinner & partial-reinforcement effect e.g., Serendipity - Olds & Milner (1954) Reward center Richard Feynman, Nobel Laureate in physics: "To develop working ideas efficiently, I try to fail as fast as I can". Lect 2

9. Where do research questions come from? Where do research questions come from? • From theory = Examples e.g., Piaget theorized that cognitive development proceeds in four genetically determined stages that always follow the same sequential order. e.g., Watson argued that behavior could be explained as reactions to environmental stimuli. e.g., Theory of serotonin as a cause of depression e.g., Delay reduction theory – stimuli that signal a shortening to delays to reinforcers themselves become reinforcers Lect 2

10. Theories Term “theory” used to refer to: • Set of logically consistent statements about a behavioral phenomena • Summarizes knowledge • Organizes knowledge into statements among behaviors • Explanatory system • Basis for predictions Lect 2

11. Theories What makes a good theory? • Testable and can be falsified • Parsimonious - Simple • Generality – wide applicability • Fruitfulness - productivity • Agrees with data You can never truly confirm a theory, only support it Lect 2

12. Falsification?Blood toxins cause illness and bloodletting will cure illness In 1793 a severe epidemic of yellow fever (a deadly illness) struck Philadelphia. Doctors treated it with a popular treatment of the day - bloodletting (cutting the patient and letting them bleed away the toxins). Some who received the bloodletting survived to tell the tale, and to convince the doctors that the treatment cured them. Others died. Doctors rationalized away the deaths by saying that those patients were too far gone. If they had been treated sooner, the bloodletting would have saved them. Doctors concluded that bloodletting was an effective treatment of yellow fever. What is wrong with the doctors' conclusion?  Lect 2

13. Parsiomony: Example from astronomy Ptolemy: Geocentric view required many epicycles: http://www.lasalle.edu/~smithsc/Astronomy/retrograd.html Copernicus: Heliocentric, circular orbits, required less epicycles Kepler: Heliocentric, elliptical orbits required no epicycles, planets don’t move at constant rates around sun Lect 2

14. The research process Where do research questions come from? • From prior research • Continuing research lines – a related series of studies • Replications & extensions Lect 2

15. Follow-up: Lines of research? • In a study of aggression, some preschool boys see cartoons with violent themes, while others see interesting but nonviolent cartoons. Later, when given a chance to be aggressive, children in th first group hit a punching bag more frequently and with greater force than children in the other group. Lect 2

16. Replication = repeating the study Types of replications: • Direct replication – “exact replication.” Purpose is to determine reliability: Reliability = how consistent or replicable are the research findings? 2 kinds of direct replications: • Within a study (same participants) – intrasubject / intragroup replication • Across studies (different participants) – intersubject / intergroup replication Lect 2

17. Types of replications cont. • Systematic replication (extension)– at least one aspect of the study is different, e.g., different subject population, setting, variations in the independent variable, etc. • demonstrates that the finding can be observed under conditions different from those in the original experiment. • In other words, its purpose is to establish the generality of the functional relationship over a range of situations. • Allows you to get additional, related data. • is necessary for scientific progress Lect 2

18. The research process Where do research questions come from? • Creativity – using your imagination to find new ways to answer questions. • Einstein –started his work on relativity by imagining what things would look like if he traveled on a beam of light. When asked what single event was most helpful in developing the Theory of Relativity, Einstein replied: "Figuring out how to think about the problem." • Skinner - Built many novel apparatuses to answer questions about behavior – “Skinner Box” Lect 2

19. Much can be gained from group creativity or brainstorming: “Borrowing from one source is called plagiarism, but borrowing from more than one source is called research” Lect 2

20. Creativity in Science • Edward Land was taking pictures of his family while on a vacation trip in the southwest. His young daughter asked "Why do we have to wait to see the pictures?" and Land thought to himself "good question!", sketched out some ideas and tried them after he returned to his lab in Boston. The Polaroid Camera and the science of instant photography appeared soon thereafter. • Philo Farnsworth had the inspiration which led to television while sitting on a hillside in Idaho. The neat rows in a nearby farm gave him the idea of creating picture on a cathode ray tube out of rows of light and dark dots. From: http://www.quantumbooks.com/Creativity.html#0 Lect 2

21. After you develop an idea, you need to conduct a literature review! What keywords would you search for if you were interested in a study investigating: • Do people take more risks if they drink alcohol? • How does stress affect athletic performance? • Is timeout an effective technique for child misbehavior? Lect 2

22. The research process • Generate a hypothesis (Deductive research) OR form a research question (Inductive Research). • Hypothesis - a statement describing the relationship between two variables • A good hypothesis must be testable and refutable Lect 2

23. Deductive Research Inductive Research Develop Hypothesis Data Data Data Test hypothesis Regularities/Laws Hypothesis/theory supported or disconfirmed Theory Science usually uses both types of reasoning/logic Lect 2

24. The research process • Determine the independent and dependent variables • Independent- what is manipulated • Dependent – what is measured • Determine how you will define and measure variables – Requires operational definitions Lect 2

25. Operational definitions • Operational definition means defining terms in ways that are precise, measureable, and concrete • Behavior needs to be defined in terms of observable events (two people could agree on occurrence) • In laboratory, behavior is often operationally defined functionally by switch closures, e.g., button presses, lever presses, mouse clicks • Example, an operational definition of “correctly read word” is a word that is pronounced correctly according to standard usage 3s after presentation of the printed world.” Lect 2

26. Exercises: Identify the IV and DV and come up with an operational definition for each research question • Does memory improve with exercise? • Does frustration cause aggression? • Does anxiety interfere with logical thinking? Lect 2

27. The research process • Determine the participants/subjects • Select a research strategy • Determine the type of research: • Descriptive research – nothing manipulated. Answers the question: does a relationship exist? • Experimental research – An IV is manipulated. Answers the question: Is there a functional relationship between the IV and DV? Lect 2

28. Examples of experimental research: • Effects of feedback on posture in the workplace • Effects of pairing sugar/fat with flavors on flavor preference • Effects of peer modeling on social skill acquisition in children • Effects of placebo or caffeine on response times In each case, a variable is manipulated by the researcher. Lect 2

29. Examples of descriptive research: • Differences in timing between individuals with and without attention problems • Observing territorial behavior in birds • Differences in attitudes on sexual behavior across generations. • An observation of behavior in a depressed individual across time and after therapy In each case, nothing is manipulated – the researcher only records behavior. Lect 2

30. The research process • Ethical considerations/constraints • Select a research design • Conduct the study • Evaluate the data • Report the results • Refine your research idea - Good research generates more questions that it answers Lect 2

31. Developing an idea for your proposal: • What are you passionate about? What interests you? • What are your career goals? What are your graduate school plans? • What research programs of other faculty members has interested you? You need to write an original proposal, but it can be related to other research programs • What about previous research? You may find a study from our coursepack or from your own searching that could be replicated and extended. You can look in previous literature for a specific topic that interests you, or you can browse through journals and books. You can do this online through Psycinfo or by going to the Library. From: GETTING IDEAS FOR RESEARCH PROJECTS , John Davis, Ph.D. Lect 2

32. Practice with coming up with an experiment: Pseudoscience • How might you test ESP? • How might you test astrology? Lect 2