Research Ideas & Hypotheses

1. Research Ideas & Hypotheses

2. The Scientific Method (Review) • Involves formulating specific Qs, then systematically finding answers. • Produces most accurate answers. • Principles of the Scientific Method: 1) It is empirical 2) It is public 3) It is objective

3. The Scientific Method (Review)

4. The Research Process 1. Find a research idea 2. Form a hypothesis & prediction 10. Refine or reformulate your research idea 3. Define your variables 9. Report the results 10 Steps in the Research Process 4. Identify & select participants 8. Evaluate the data 5. Select a research strategy 7. Conduct the study 6. Select a research design

5. The Research Process/TheScientific Method Step 1 1. Find a research idea Steps 2 & 3 Step 5 2. Form a hypothesis & prediction 10. Refine or reformulate your research idea 3. Define your variables 9. Report the results 10 Steps in the Research Process 4. Identify & select participants 8. Evaluate the data 5. Select a research strategy 7. Conduct the study 6. Select a research design Step 4

6. Chapter 2 Overview • Discuss steps 1 & 2 of the research process • Step 1 – finding a research idea • Selecting a topic • Searching the literature to find an unanswered question • Step 2 – forming a hypothesis

7. The Research Idea • A gap in current knowledge or unanswered Q that interests you. • Do your homework! • Get a solid, basic understanding of current knowledge in the area. • Narrow your topic.

8. The Research Idea • Step 1 in the Research Process. • Pick a topic you like!!!! • Do your homework. • Keep an open mind. • Be flexible, but critical. • Focus! • Cannot answer all questions at once. • 1 step at a time.

9. Defining a Research Area: Pick a topic you like • Several ways to define an interest area: • General Topic • e.g., Job stress, child abuse, aging, personality, motivation • A particular behavior • e.g., language development, adolescent dating, anxiety, depression, color preferences, overeating • Specific population or group • e.g., preschool children, police officers, elderly, single-parent families

10. Defining a Research Area:Pick a topic you like • Key: really wanting to learn more about the topic you select • This way… • Preparing, planning, and conducting the research will be interesting • Less chance of burn-out • If the task is important to you = will enjoy this more • Or at least not hate it as much…

11. Defining a Research Area:Do your homework • Most of your research time is actually spent preparing • Once you identify your topic… • Collect background information • Read books and journal articles to familiarize yourself with: • What is already known • What research has been done • What questions are still unanswered

12. Defining a Research Area:Do your homework • No matter what your topic is there will be 100+ articles and books devoted to the topic • DON’T PANIC • Keep in mind: • You don’t need to know everything. • You should read enough to gain a solid, basic understanding of the current knowledge in the area. • You will quickly narrow down your research topic.

13. Defining a Research Area:Do your homework General • Narrow your focus • Developmental psychology  • Social development  • Play and peer relations  • The role of siblings in the development of children’s social skills • This will greatly reduce the amount of relevant background reading as well Specific

14. Defining a Research Area:Keep an open mind • Best strategy is to start with a general topic • Let your background reading lead you to a specific area • Don’t try to start with a specific question this can be a mistake • Question may already be answered • Difficult to find relevant background research • May not have the equipment, time, or participants to test your idea • So best to be flexible and keep an open mind

15. Defining a Research Area:Focus • Developing a single, specific research idea is a weeding-out process. • 1 hour of reading can lead to a dozen ideas. • But you cant answer all questions in a single study. • You will have to throw most of the ideas out • At least for now. • Goal = develop one research question at a time and find the background info directly relevant to that question

16. Defining a Research Area:1 step at a time • This is a major project • Planning and conducting research can be a long and difficult process • In the beginning you may feel that the task is impossible • Remember: you don’t need to do the whole thing at once • Take it one step at a time

17. Finding a General Topic Area • Sources: • Personal interests & curiosities • What are you interested in? What do you wonder about? Interests from previous courses? • Casual observation • e.g., noticing behavior of others or yourself

18. Finding a General Topic Area • Sources: • Reports or observations of others • Critically thinking about what others notice • Newspaper & Magazines, Television, Internet • Classroom Lectures • Past Research – highlight any knowledge gaps or unanswered questions in that area. • A failure to replicate raises additional Qs.

19. Finding a General Topic Area • Sources: • Practical problems or questions • Issues with life, job, relationships, etc. • Example: B.F. Skinner and the Air Crib. • an easily cleaned, temperature & humidity-controlled crib designed to make child-rearing easier. • Research directed at solving a practical problem is known as applied research • Research intended to solve theoretical issues is known as basic research • Applied and basic research can overlap

20. Finding a General Topic Area • Sources: • Behavioral theories • Existing explanations for behavior & why/how environmental factors predict them • Should predict behavior in new situations • Testing predictions of a pre-existing theory –source for research ideas • Opposing theories – great research opportunity

21. Sources of Research Ideas • Sources can be… • Nonsystematic Sources • Just come to us. • Personal interests & curiosities • Casual observation • Practical problems or questions • Systematic Sources • Carefully organized; logically thought out • Reports/observations of others • Behavioral theories

22. Common Mistakes in Choosing Research Topics • Lack of interest in topic • Too safe/easy • i.e., very familiar topic, no challenge • Too difficult or broad • Failure to shift/modify plans • Being inflexible • Inadequate literature on topic • Testable?

23. Finding Background Literature: Conducting a Literature Search • Decide on general topic, then gather info. • Goals of literature review • Gain a general familiarity with the current research in your specific area of interest • Need solid, basic understanding of current knowledge in area. • Find a small set of research studies that will serve as the basis for your own research idea • Move from general to focused – reduces reading.

24. Finding Background Literature: Conducting a Literature Search • Your main goal: find a research question • Get familiar with current knowledge in the area and know what is currently known. • Then extend the current research one more step. • Could combine two or more established findings to reach a new conclusion or prediction. • Authors of research usually include limitations of their studies and offer suggestions of future research.

25. Terms in the Literature to Know • Primary Sources • Firsthand reports, descriptions of the authors’ observations • Including: why the research was done, how the study was conducted, results, how results were interpreted • e.g., theses, journal articles, conference presentations • Secondary Sources • Description/summary of someone else’s work • Incomplete; sometimes biased • A good starting point – guides you to primary sources • e.g., textbooks, review articles, meta-analyses, article introductions

26. The Purpose of the Literature Review • Research builds on existing knowledge. • Logical extension of past work. • Goal: use peer-reviewed sources to define current knowledge in an area & identify unanswered questions. • Intros to research reports outline previous work to justify new study

27. The Purpose of the Literature Review Current research is always based in previous research Current Research(the most recent research studies) Major Branching Points(studies that started a new research direction) Historical Studies(the foundation of the research area)

28. Surveying the Psychological Literature: Preparation • Narrowing your general idea • Start w/ reputable secondary sources (e.g., review article or text book) • Look at chapter headings and subheading to help focus in on a specific area • Make note of: • Subject words  words used to identify and describe variables and characteristics of participants (use to make literature search easier) • Ex. Narcissistic rage, forensic/institutionalized population • Author names  typically a small group of researchers is responsible for much of the work in a specific area (search for these authors’ research) • Then review key primary sources • Review multiple primary sources

29. Surveying the Psychological Literature: Preparation • Select Index terms or Subject words for your search • Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms • collection of index terms taken from abstracts of psychological research.

30. Surveying the Psychological Literature: What to use • Computerized Lit Searches – e.g., PsycINFO, OU library • See Table 2.1 for description of databases available from OU library • Index terms used to search database • Contains abstracts + some full text articles cross referenced by subjects, journal & author. • Abstract = brief summary of the publication ~250 words • Only contain reputable sources abstract

31. Surveying the Psychological Literature: Databases • Example: Google Scholar Search Key word search Number of search results Search results NOTE: Using google scholar from a university library computer can be a quick way to gain access to OU e-journals. Advanced search options

32. Surveying the Psychological Literature: Databases • Example: OU Library (library.oakland.edu) Library OneSearch gives you access to all available OU library records, including catalogue numbers and e-journals/pdfs. Key word search

33. Surveying the Psychological Literature: Databases • Example: OU Library (library.oakland.edu) Key word search Number of search results Search results Advanced search options

34. Surveying the Psychological Literature: Databases • Example: OU Library (library.oakland.edu) Log in to access full content (e.g., online .pdf files). Shows you whether content is available online.

35. Surveying the Psychological Literature: Article screening • You will get a lot of results when you search the databases so… • Screen articles systematically, review… • Title (can use to discard ~90%) • Abstract (find out if the research is really relevant) • Article (skim intro and discussion first) • Carefully read relevant articles.

36. Surveying the Psychological Literature: How • Obtaining Relevant Publications • Interlibrary loan (if you cant get electronic copy) • Requests for reprints – e-mail author directly. • University searchable faculty e-mail databases • Usually available in PDF form • Can download Adobe Acrobat Reader

37. Surveying the Psychological Literature: Where NOT • Where NOT to obtain scientific sources: • Regular google • Website ≠ knowledge. • Wikipedia • Pop-psychology sources • e.g., Psychology Today, Dr. Phil • Media (news, magazines, TV, etc.) • Word of mouth • Non-peer-review sources useful for ideas, but not valid scientific sources for generating research questions.

38. Surveying the Psychological Literature: Where TO • Where to obtain scientific sources: • SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE • Peer-reviewed academic sources validate & refine ideas. • Only published peer-review sources will be accepted for your research presentation.

39. Surveying the Psychological Literature • Integrating results of Lit. Search • After eliminating irrelevant articles, make sense of your assembled materials. • Take notes on diff sections from important articles (should fit on 1 sheet of paper).

40. The Lit Review Process (recap) Continue until you no longer find new items Start with a general idea (e.g., body image) Use relevant articles to find more relevant articles (new subject words and author names) Narrow focus using recent secondary sources Use databases to search for primary source articles Weed out irrelevant articles

41. Finding a Research Idea from a Published Research Article • Find suggestions for future research • Suggested by author, usually toward the end of the discussion section • Sometimes called “limitations and future direction” • Combine or contrast existing results • Make new research idea by combining two (or more) existing results.

42. The Research Article • Sections of a research article: • Introduction (Lit review, hypothesis, prediction) • Method (Participants, procedures) • Results (Findings, statistics, figures/tables) • Discussion (Conclusions, applications, future research) • References (bibliographic info)

43. Reading Critically • Introduction • Literature review • Complete & up to date? Relevant or related topics not covered? • Hypothesis or purpose • Clearly stated? • Directly related to reviewed literature? • Prediction • Logically flow from hypothesis? • What other predictions (if any) could be made?

44. Reading Critically • Method • Participants • Representative? • Restrictions (e.g., men only) justified? • Procedure • Variables well defined? • Measurement procedures reasonable? Alternative measures/procedures better? • Will procedures answer research Q? • Are stimuli appropriate?

45. Reading Critically • Results • Statistics (significance & effect size) • Appropriate stats/tests used? • Significant results clearly outlined? • Effects large enough to be meaningful?

46. Reading Critically • Discussion • Relation of Results to Hypothesis • Support or refute? • Conclusions • Justified? • Alternative Explanations • Exist? Discussed? • EVs? • Generalization & Applications • Real-world applications? • Generalizable?

47. Reading Critically • References • Complete & current? • Tables/Figures • Necessary? • Clear?

48. Developing a Research Q • Goal: Turn idea into Q. • Be critical of past research – expand or challenge current ideas • Positives & negatives? Confounds? How could it be improved?

49. Characteristics of Good Research Ideas • Testable. • Falsifiable (Refutable) • Likelihood of success – Increased when your view of nature closely approximates reality.

50. Find a Research Question • 3 related pieces of research: • Male masculine features may signal genetic quality desirable in a potential mate. • Women are more attracted to masculine men around ovulation (when they are most fertile). • Women’s testosterone is highest at ovulation. • What could you test? What would you predict?