1. An Introduction to Research Methods in Psychology James Neill (2010) Centre for Applied Psychology University of Canberra

3. What is research?

4. Quick Fun Survey

5. Research process

6. Research methods

7. Bias in research

8. Ethical issues

9. Reading Research methods in psychology (Gerrig et al. 2008, Ch. 2)

10. disciplined inquiry What is research?

11. What is research?

12. What is research? Research is formalised curiosity . It is poking and prying with a purpose. - Zora Neale Hurston

14. Psychological research is a systematic attempt to understand human experiences of themselves and the world . What is psychological research?

16. Disciplined enquiry into human thinking, feeling, and behaviour . What is psychological research?

18. UG study, especially 1st year, is about acquiring the language skills to access and make sense of recorded research knowledge

19. Psychological research ...holds out the promise of discovering the architecture of our psyche and understanding our behaviour in the world around us.

23. Theory: An organised set of concepts that explains a phenomenon or set of phenomena.

24. Use theory to formulate research questions. Process of research

27. Form a hypothesis

28. Design the study

29. Analyse the data and draw conclusions

30. Report the findings

31. Consider open questions

32. Act on open questions The research process Gerrig et al. (2008)

34. What is your favourite number?

35. What sex is the number 4?

36. What sex is the number 8?

37. Design Your Own Psychological Study

39. What is the effect of meditation on stress?

40. Do “smart drugs” really make people “smarter”?

41. My first study What changes in stress, anxiety, crisis and flow occur for novice abseilers?

43. Create research questions & choose one.

44. What variables are to be measured?

45. What research method would you use?

46. What population and sampling method would you use?

48. Research seminars

51. Electronic copies

52. Scientific method

54. Philosophy of science

55. The scientific attitude

56. The scientific method

58. Developing theories

59. Testing hypotheses

60. Public and repeatable procedures

61. If you are a scientist you believe that it is good to find out how the world works, that it is good to find out what the realities are, that it is good to turn over to mankind at large the greatest possible power to control the world... It is not possible to be a scientist unless you believe that the knowledge of the world, and the power which this gives, is a thing which is of intrinsic value to humanity, and that you are using it to help in the spread of knowledge, and are willing to take the consequences. - J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904-1967)

64. Discerns hidden values

65. Evaluates evidence

66. It is a good morning exercise for a research scientist to discard a pet hypothesis every day before breakfast - It keeps him [sic] young. - Konrad Lorenz

69. The doctrine that all events - physical, behavioural, and mental - are “determined” by specific causal factors that are potentially knowable . Concept of determinism

71. Theory = a specific set of assumptions and principles about a phenomenon.

72. Derive testable hypotheses (or guesses / predictions)

73. Systematically test hypotheses in various conditions in order to determine the utility of the theory .

74. Theories, hypotheses & research observations Theories Low self-esteem feeds depression Hypothesis People with low self-esteem score higher on a depression scale Test with observations Administer tests of self-esteem and depression. See if a low score on one predicts a high score on the other.

78. Dependent Variable (DV) (or “outcomes”) Research variables

79. Independent vs. dependent variables Independent Variable(s) Dependent Variable(s)

82. in psychology it is usually a behaviour or mental process

84. No graffiti condition: 13% took the $

90. Psychological research methods

92. Quasi-experimental – natural sampling

93. Non-experimental – cross-sectional sampling Psychological research methods

96. Experimental group = treat same as control group except for the IV manipulation

97. Resulting differences are concluded to be due to the IV

102. Occurs when the experimental participants change their behaviour in the absence of any kind of experimental manipulation. Placebo effect

104. Double-blind control

105. Between-subjects designs

106. Within-subjects designs Control procedures

108. e.g., real pills vs. placebo pills Placebo control

110. Seen as the strongest way of controlling for experimenter and expectancy biases Double-blind control

112. Ways of gathering psychological data

114. Quantitative – numbers

115. Mixed - words and numbers Qualitative vs. quantitative research data

117. Participant observation

118. In-depth interviews

120. Questionnaires

121. Physiological measures

122. Mixed methods Involves a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods.

124. Observations

125. Behavioural

127. Interviews

132. Tests - researcher presents stimuli or problems and records responses

134. Field-rich data, time consuming, difficult to generalise.

137. Can be aided by technology

143. Values of: - 1.0 = perfect negative correlation 0.0 = no correlation +1.0 = perfect positive correlation Correlational methods

147. Predictive, longitudinal studies

148. Correlation vs. causation

150. Provides uniform conditions for all participants

151. Permits elimination of irrelevant factors

152. May seem artificial

154. Aims to reveal things true of all.

155. Rich data, time consuming, difficult to generalise. Is language uniquely human?

157. Affected personality and behaviour

158. Suggested function localisation Case study example: Phineas Gage

160. Ascertains self-reported attitudes or behaviors of people

161. Ideally question a representative, random sample of people

162. Experiential sampling

164. Nothing is generally “proven” until at least several studies have been conducted showing similar results.

165. Usually replicate with different participants, in different situations, in different cultures.

166. Sampling Sampling

168. Ethical issues in research Guidelines and procedures for conducting ethical psychological research

171. Tuskegee Syphilis Study (1932-1972).

172. Declaration of Helinski (1964)

177. And there must be likely gains which outweigh the risks/costs. Risk/gain assessment

179. National Health and Medical Research Council (NH-MRC) has further restrictions Intentional deception

183. “ Failed” research can often tells us as much as “successful” research.

185. Biases: observer, participants; use standardisation and controls

186. Ways of gathering data: Quantitative, qualitative, mixed

187. Research methods: Archival, Lab research, Survey, Observation, Case study

188. Ethics: Consent, privacy, risk etc.

190. Myers, D. G. (2007). Thinking critically with psychological science (Ch1). In Psychology (8 th ed.) . New York: Worth.

191. University of Gronigen. People surrounded by grafitti more likely to steal .

193. Free and open source software.

194. http://www.openoffice.org/product/impress.html