
Psychology 242, Dr. McKirnan. Right click for “full Screen” or “end show”. Left click to proceed, . 1/6/10. Lectures 2: Core features of a research study. General types of research designs. Introductory lectures 2: The Role and Structure of Science. What does science do?
Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author.While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server.
Right click for “full Screen” or “end show”. Left click to proceed,
1/6/10
Lectures 2:
Core features of a research study.
General types of research designs.
Major personality "types"?
Categories of mental illnesses
"Types" of drug users.
Distribution of HIV/AIDS: sifts by time, place, demographics
Uniform crime rates
Distribution of drug use types across ages…
Consumer decision making processes.
Actual mechanics of drug acquisition & use...
Paleontology attempts to accurately describe the predecessors of humans to understand evolution
Carefully describing specimens and the conditions where they are found produce insights into environmental change and evolution.
E X A M P L E
solve a practical problem
test a theory
What test score or personal attribute predicts college success?
How can I predict which employees will develop a drug problem?
What child rearing style correlates with extroversion?
What personality types correlate with drug use?
Test efficacy of a heroin agonist v. placebo in treating drug addicts
1. Two groups differ in one attribute (Independent variable)
-- an existing condition / behavior
-- an imposed treatment
2. Do they also differ in a second attribute? (Dependent var.)
Correlating certain anatomical features of “proto-humans” with physical environments can test or develop theories about natural selection pressures.
Scientists can than predict the types of fossils that should appear in different places.
E X A M P L E
What causes individual differences in academic ability?
How does personality create vulnerability to drug use?
How is language consolidated in the brain?
What brain & behavioral changes underlie drug tolerance?
Mediation:Do drugs lead to risk by making people more impulsive?
Moderation:Do drugs lead to risk primarily among men who are depressed? (Does depression create vulnerability to drug-related risk…?)
New data have led us to completely reframe the basic process of evolution from a simple progression to a widening “bush” of parallel species.
E X A M P L E
Simple empirical effect:
Drug use
Risky
behavior
Mediating (theory testing) hypothesis:
Drug use
Impulsivity
Risky
behavior
Moderating (theory limiting) hypothesis:
Drug use
Risk
Depressed men
Non-depressed men
Drug use
Risk
Using basic learning theory to “teach” people to no longer have phobias.
Designing alternatives to drug use for people with high “sensation seeking” disposition…
Comparing drug treatment to cognitive-behavioral treatment for depression.
Testing social network approaches to drug prevention among college students.
Abstract statement of how two processes relate to each other…
Answers why or how the phenomenon “works.”
Theory:
“stress”, “depression”, “learning”, “attraction”…
Interview data, behavioral symptoms, questionnaire…
stress + genetics depression
A theory has two core ingredients…
Hypothesis
A concrete statement of how processes relate to each other..
about variables derived from your theory.
Methods
Turn variables into research procedures.
Verbal behavior
“vegetative”; sleep, eating
Depression
Appearance
Suicide, drug use, work…
Survey / questionnaire answers…
1. Specify a manipulation that creates the variable.
2. Specify a measurement to capture a variable
Behavior?
Self-perception?
Physiological?
Statistics
or Inferential.
How representative was…
Theory
Hypothesis
Methods
Data & Analysis
Results
Discussion
Each element of the project corresponds to a later / earlier issue…
Phenomenon
Big picture /question
Theory
Hypothetical Constructs
Causal explanation
Move from the “big question” and theory…
Hypothesis
Operational definition
Specific prediction
…to a concrete hypothesis…
Methods
Measurement v.
experimental
To specific methods, the core of a scientific study…
To actual data…
Discussion
Implications for theory
…then back to larger issues.
Conclusions
Future research?
A hypothetical construct is:
A = A concrete description of a variable
B = An abstract statement about a ψ process that cannot be seen directly.
C = An excuse you construct to explain why you are late.
D = An abstract use of statistical theory to test a hypothesis.
A theory is:
A = Wild-eyed speculation about some topic that most people are not interested in.
B = An authoritative statement of how something works: truth.
C = Always tentative or provisional.
D = A statement about how two (or more) hypothetical constructs are related.
An operational definition is:
A = The specific way we manipulate an independent variable.
B = A surgical procedure we use to test a hypothesis.
C = The particular procedures we use to measure a study variable.
D = An abstract statistical statement using probability theory to test hypotheses.
Research Question:
Does one form of drug treatment work better than another?
Research Question:
What brain centers control “drug craving”?
Research Question:
How does drug use actually occur?
Research Question:
Who tends to use drugs, how often, etc.? (epidemiology of drug use).
Research Question:
What social or ψ variables are associated with drug use?
Methods: Experimental design:
Methods:
Direct observation of “shooting galleries” or corner drug markets, in-depth interviews with drug users…
Methods:
Methods:
Experiment
High control / ‘lab’ conditions
Determine “cause and effect”: validly interpret data
Internal
validity
Measurement
Less control; ‘research in nature’
Data can generalize to “real world” & capture more complexity
External
validity
External validity Internal validity
Less control:
More control:
Test causality, theory
Exploration & description, epidemiology.
Non-experimental theory test
Naturally occurring events or groups.
Often not, descriptive only
Yes, or complex description
Typically
Always
Behavior, text, status markers
Subjective ratings, behavior
Measured and/or manipulated
Manipulated & measured
Little to moderate
Moderate, via context or stats.
Moderate to high, except sampling
High, via I.V. & exp. procedures
None or simple descriptive
Complex correlations
Analysis of variance
Analyses of variance
Often low to moderate
Moderate, high in some designs
Moderate to High
Very high
High (given sampling)
Moderate to high
Moderate to high
Often low
Overview
How do we know things?
What does science do?
Features of research: Key terms
Phenomenon
Big picture /question
Theory
Hypothetical Constructs
Causal explanation
Hypothesis
Operational definition
Specific prediction
Methods
Measurement v.
experimental
Discussion
Implications for theory
Conclusions
Future research?
External validity Internal validity