Openstax Psychology - Ch2 - Psychological Research

Summary

Dr. Market Alum's lecture in the Open Stax Psychology textbook delves into the significance of psychological research, distinguishing it from opinions with empirical evidence. It explores research methods like induction and deduction, and various approaches including case studies, surveys, and observational studies. The lecture addresses ethical considerations in research, such as informed consent and the use of animals, emphasizing the importance of objectivity and the scientific method in understanding human behavior.

Takeaways

• 🔬 Research in psychology is crucial for gaining an objective understanding of human behavior and mental processes, moving beyond personal opinions and cultural superstitions.
• 🌐 Scientific knowledge in psychology is empirical, relying on observable evidence, but challenges arise with internal mental states that aren't directly observable.
• 📺 The impact of media violence on aggression and the effectiveness of prevention programs like DARE are examples where research is necessary to test claims and separate facts from opinions.
• 🔍 Deductive reasoning starts with a generalization and moves to specifics, while inductive reasoning builds theories from observations and tests them, highlighting the importance of both in psychological research.
• 🧠 Theories like Freud's psychoanalytic theory explain observed phenomena, but hypotheses derived from them must be testable and falsifiable to be scientifically valid.
• 📝 Clinical or case studies provide in-depth data on individuals but may not generalize well to the broader population, pointing to external validity concerns.
• 🐵 Naturalistic observation, such as Jane Goodall's chimpanzee studies, offers ecological validity but can be limited by observer effects and high resource investment.
• 📊 Surveys and archival research allow for the collection of large datasets but come with challenges in external validity and potential biases in existing records.
• 📉 Longitudinal and cross-sectional research designs help understand changes over time or differences between age groups, respectively, but each has its own set of limitations and biases.
• 🔗 Correlation indicates a relationship between variables but does not imply causation, often confounded by external factors or misinterpreted due to illusory correlations.
• 🔬 Experimental designs involve control and experimental groups, with operational definitions and manipulations of variables, aiming to eliminate bias and placebo effects for reliable results.
• 📋 Ethics in research are paramount, with Institutional Review Boards (IRB) and Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUC) ensuring the protection of human and animal participants.

Q & A

Why is psychological research important?

Psychological research is important because it allows us to gain an objective understanding of ourselves and our world by divesting ourselves of preconceived notions and superstitions through systematic scientific research.

What is the difference between empirical knowledge and the study of the mind in psychology?

Empirical knowledge is grounded in objective, observable evidence, but the study of the mind in psychology is challenging because behaviors are observable, while the mind is not.

How does research help differentiate between facts and opinions?

Research helps differentiate between facts and opinions by examining claims through systematic investigation. Facts are observable realities, while opinions are personal and may not be accurate.

What is the difference between deductive and inductive reasoning in psychological research?

Deductive reasoning is top-down, starting with a generalization and testing it against real-world observations. Inductive reasoning is bottom-up, using empirical observations to formulate theories and generate hypotheses that are then tested through deduction.

Why might a clinical or case study be conducted in psychological research?

A clinical or case study is conducted to gain an enormous amount of data and insight into specific individuals or a small group, although it may have issues with generalizing to a larger population.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of naturalistic observation in psychological research?

Naturalistic observation has the advantage of high ecological validity as it observes behavior in its natural context. The disadvantages include potential changes in behavior due to awareness of being observed and issues with observer bias.

How do surveys contribute to psychological research?

Surveys contribute to psychological research by allowing researchers to collect data from a subset of the population through a list of questions answered by research participants.

What is archival research and what are its potential issues?

Archival research uses existing records to answer research questions without direct interaction with participants. Potential issues include lack of control over data collection and inconsistency between datasets.

What is the difference between longitudinal and cross-sectional research?

Longitudinal research involves data gathering repeatedly over time from the same subjects, while cross-sectional research compares multiple segments of the population at the same time.

Why is correlation not the same as causation in psychological research?

Correlation is not the same as causation because correlation only indicates a relationship between variables, but does not imply that one causes the other, due to the possibility of confounding variables.

What is the role of an Institutional Review Board (IRB) in psychological research?

An IRB is a committee that reviews proposals for research involving human participants to ensure ethical standards are met, including obtaining informed consent and protecting participants' rights.

Outlines

00:00

🔬 Importance and Methods of Psychological Research

Dr. Market Alum introduces the second chapter of the Open Stax psychology textbook, emphasizing the significance of psychological research. Research is crucial for an objective understanding of human behavior and the mind, grounded in empirical evidence. The paragraph distinguishes between observable behaviors and the non-observable mind, highlighting the challenges in psychological research. It discusses the link between media violence and aggression, questioning the impact of TV on children's violence and the effectiveness of programs like DARE. The importance of differentiating facts from opinions is stressed, with a focus on the scientific method involving induction and deduction. The paragraph also explains the development and testing of theories and hypotheses, and the challenges of falsifiability in theories like Freud's psychoanalytic theory. Finally, it touches on different research methods, including clinical studies, which provide deep insights into individual cases but may not be generalizable to larger populations.

05:02

🌿 Observational and Survey Research Methods

This paragraph delves into various research methods, starting with naturalistic observation, which involves studying behavior in natural settings but may be affected by observer bias. It mentions Jane Goodall's extensive research on chimpanzees, noting the controversy over assigning names to subjects and the high ecological validity of such studies. The paragraph then discusses surveys, emphasizing the importance of sample size and representativeness for external validity. Archival research, which uses existing records, is introduced, noting the lack of control over data collection and potential inconsistencies across datasets. Longitudinal and cross-sectional research designs are compared, with the former tracking the same subjects over time and the latter comparing different age groups simultaneously. The paragraph concludes with a discussion on correlation, explaining the difference between positive and negative correlations and the concept that correlation does not imply causation due to potential confounding variables.

10:03

🧬 Experimental Designs and Research Bias

The focus of this paragraph is on experimental designs, beginning with the distinction between experimental and control groups and the importance of operational definitions. It addresses the issue of experimenter bias and how blind studies can mitigate it. The placebo effect is introduced as a phenomenon where expectations can influence outcomes. The paragraph explains the roles of independent and dependent variables in experiments and the challenges of generalizing from college student participants to the broader population. It also touches on the importance of random sampling and assignment for valid experimental design. Statistical analysis is discussed in the context of determining significant differences between groups, with an emphasis on the alpha level. The paragraph concludes with a mention of the APA style manual and the process of peer review, which ensures the replicability and validity of research findings.

15:04

📜 Research Ethics, Reliability, and Validity

This final paragraph addresses ethical considerations in research, including the role of Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) in protecting human participants. It discusses the process of informed consent and the importance of debriefing participants, especially when deception is used. The paragraph also covers research ethics concerning animals, mentioning the use of rats, mice, and birds, and the function of Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUC). The concepts of reliability and validity in research instruments are explained, with examples to illustrate the difference between consistent but incorrect measures and accurate measures. The paragraph ends by promoting the speaker's resources on learning APA style for writing in psychology and social sciences, reinforcing the importance of ethical and methodologically sound research practices.

Keywords

💡Psychological Research

Psychological research refers to the systematic and scientific study of human behavior and mental processes. In the video, Dr. Market Alum emphasizes the importance of research in psychology to gain an objective understanding of ourselves and our world, moving beyond preconceived notions and superstitions. The video discusses various approaches to research, such as induction and deduction, and how they contribute to the field's knowledge base.

💡Empirical

The term 'empirical' is used to describe knowledge that is based on observable and verifiable evidence, derived from experience or experimentation. In the context of the video, Dr. Alum explains that scientific knowledge in psychology is empirical, meaning it is grounded in data that can be observed and measured, which is crucial for making objective claims about behavior and mental processes.

💡Deduction

Deductive reasoning is a top-down approach to research where a generalization is tested against real-world observations. The video provides an example of deductive reasoning with the syllogism about Socrates, illustrating how a specific conclusion is drawn from broader premises. This method is contrasted with inductive reasoning, which is bottom-up and data-driven.

💡Induction

Inductive reasoning is a bottom-up approach where theories are formulated from empirical observations, generating hypotheses that are then tested deductively. The video explains how theories by psychologists like BF Skinner or Jean Piaget were developed through induction, starting from observations to form general principles.

💡Hypothesis

A hypothesis is a testable prediction often framed as an 'if-then' statement. It serves as a bridge between ideas and reality in scientific research. The video mentions that a scientific hypothesis should be falsifiable, meaning it can be proven incorrect, which is a key aspect of the scientific method. An example from the script is the hypothesis about the effect of gravity on a dropped pen.

💡Case Study

A case study is a research method that focuses on an individual or a small group, providing in-depth data and insights. The video discusses the benefits of case studies for detailed understanding but also points out the challenges in generalizing findings to a larger population, which is an issue of external validity.

💡Naturalistic Observation

Naturalistic observation involves studying behavior in its natural context without manipulating the environment. The video references Jane Goodall's research on chimpanzees as an example of naturalistic observation, highlighting the high ecological validity of such studies but also the potential for observer bias and the significant time and resource investment required.

💡Survey

A survey is a research method that involves asking a series of questions to a sample of the population. The video discusses the importance of sample size in surveys, noting that larger samples are more likely to accurately represent the population, which is crucial for external validity.

💡Archival Research

Archival research involves analyzing existing records to answer research questions. The video provides examples of archival research, such as studying personal ads or media portrayal of age, and discusses the limitations of this method, including lack of control over data collection and potential inconsistencies between datasets.

💡Longitudinal Research

Longitudinal research involves collecting data from the same subjects over an extended period. The video explains how this method is useful for studying developments over time, such as disease progression, but it also points out the challenges, including high costs, participant attrition, and survivor bias.

💡Correlation

Correlation refers to a statistical relationship between two or more variables. The video clarifies that correlation does not imply causation and discusses the concept of Pearson's R, which measures the strength and direction of the relationship. An example given is the positive correlation between height and weight, illustrating a direct relationship without implying causation.

Highlights

Psychological research is crucial for gaining an objective understanding of human behavior and the mind.

Scientific knowledge in psychology is empirical, grounded in observable evidence.

Research helps to differentiate between facts and opinions, with facts being observable realities.

Deductive reasoning starts with a generalization and applies it to a specific case, as illustrated by Socrates' mortality.

Inductive reasoning involves formulating theories and hypotheses from empirical observations.

Theories in psychology, such as Freud's psychoanalytic theory, aim to explain observed phenomena.

Hypotheses are testable predictions that bridge the gap between ideas and reality.

Falsifiability is a key criterion for a scientific hypothesis, allowing it to be proven incorrect.

Clinical or case studies provide in-depth data on individuals but have limitations in generalizing to larger populations.

Naturalistic observation occurs in the subject's natural context, offering high ecological validity.

Surveys allow researchers to gather data from a subset of the population, with larger samples improving external validity.

Archival research uses existing records to answer research questions without direct interaction with participants.

Longitudinal research tracks the same subjects over time, useful for studying developments like diseases.

Cross-sectional research compares different age groups at the same time, limited by cohort differences.

Correlation indicates a relationship between variables but does not imply causation due to potential confounding variables.

Experimenter bias can skew study results, and blind studies help mitigate this by concealing group assignments.

The placebo effect demonstrates how expectations can influence outcomes in studies.

Random assignment to experimental groups is critical for sound experimental design and external validity.

Statistical analysis determines if differences between groups are significant, using the alpha level to assess chance.

Peer review ensures that research can be replicated, a fundamental aspect of the scientific method.

Reliability refers to the consistency of a measure, but consistency does not guarantee accuracy.

Validity is about the accuracy of a measure, and a valid measure must first be reliable.

Ethical considerations in research include obtaining informed consent and the use of deception and debriefing.

Animal research is regulated by IACUC to ensure humane treatment and is often a substitute for unethical human research.

Learn APA style is recommended for mastering APA formatting and writing in psychology and social sciences.

Transcripts

I'm dr. market alum and I want to

welcome you to the second chapter of the

open Stax psychology textbook today

we'll be discussing psychological

research why it's important approaches

to research analyzing findings and

ethics so let's get started with why is

research important well through

systematic scientific research were able

to divest ourselves of preconceived

notions and superstitions our goal is to

gain an objective understanding of

ourselves and our world now scientific

knowledge is empirical which means that

it's ground in objective observable

evidence the problem for psychology

though is that while behaviors

observable the mind is not so for

example you might see someone crying and

you don't know if they're crying because

they're happy if they're sad or if

they're in pain you need that sort of

insight into their mind the use of

research information well what is the

link between exposure to media violence

and later aggression this has been

argued for over 60 years

so does television make kids violent or

our kids who are prone to violence drawn

to violent TV shows similarly do

programs such as dare actually have any

effect on whether or not someone uses

alcohol or other drugs the data just

don't support the DARE program when

someone makes a claim they have to it

has to be examined through research and

this is a difference between facts and

opinions facts are observable realities

whereas opinions are personal and may or

may not be accurate as Senator Daniel

Patrick Moynihan once said you're

entitled to your own opinion but you're

not entitled to your own facts well

what's the difference between induction

and deduction deduction is top down

whereas induction is bottom up or

data-driven so deduction starts with a

generalization that is tested against

real-world observing

so that is Socrates in that picture it's

actually the death of Socrates

his last words famously being I drink

what but he came up or there's a

syllogism about Socrates that all men

are mortal Socrates is a man therefore

Socrates is mortal and that is an

example of deductive reasoning because

it starts with a generalization and it

ends with something specific

induction uses empirical observations to

formulate theories which generate

hypotheses that are tested through

deduction so BF Skinner or Jean Piaget

their theories were developed through

induction and then tested through

deductions a theory is a well developed

set of ideas that explain an observed

phenomena and so for example we can talk

about psychoanalytic theory now Freud

has a theory that you can divide the

mind into the it'd the ego and the

super-ego you can also have a hypothesis

which is a testable prediction often

word worded as an if-then statement and

it bridges the gap between ideas in

reality so I could say due to gravity I

would hypothesize that if I drop my pen

it'll hit my desk if you heard that that

is a confirmed hypothesis it's tougher

to make hypotheses about the it'd the

ego and the super-ego and a scientific

hypothesis is falsifiable which means

that it's capable of being shown to be

incorrect that's a problem with Freudian

theory it's difficult to disprove it or

make it falsifiable but if a theory is

or excuse me if a hypothesis is

falsifiable that provides us with some

confidence that the information is

correct a clinical or case study focuses

on one person or a small group of people

now why would you do this well when you

focus on just a few individuals you get

an enormous amount of data and insight

into those particular cases however

there may be issues with generalizing

from case studies to

general population and this is what we

would call an external validity issue

for example Freud studied hysteria which

we would now label as conversion

disorder and that's when you have a limb

that doesn't work but the cause is

psychological rather than physical

now Freud generalized from his hysteric

passions to everybody else and that is a

generalizability issue and as I said

earlier a issue of external validity

when you observe a behavior in its

natural context that's naturalistic

observation a problem is that people

might change their behavior if they know

they're being observed now Jane Goodall

spent five decades observing chimpanzee

behavior and she was criticized though

that forgiving the chimps names that

match their personality so she named one

Frodo and he eventually became an alpha

male and became aggressive with her

probably not due to the name though her

favorite chimp was named David Greybeard

and he was friends with another chimp

named Goliath today chimps would be

identified by numbers and letters

you wouldn't assign names based on their

personality now naturalistic observation

has a high degree of ecological validity

because it's better to observe chimps in

their natural environment than in the

zoo but the downside is that there's a

huge investment of time and money and

also issues with observer bias meaning

that people may unconsciously alter

their observations to fulfill their

hypotheses surveys are lists of

questions answered by research

participants a sample is a subset of the

population that researchers are

interested in studying larger samples

are likely to be better because they

begin to approximate the population of

interest which is again an external

validity issue so the more people you

have the more likely they are to match

the characteristics in the population

that you're going to study for example

you might talk to or ask

and 40 people about their prejudicial

attitudes and the book talks about a

study that was done a decade after 9/11

and they found lingering prejudices

about some groups of people archival

research is something that I do quite a

bit of I study personal ads that people

place in online and used to be in

newspapers and I study things like the

way older people are portrayed in the

media now this is when you use existing

records to answer research questions

researchers doing archival research

never directly interact with research

participants so for example we've

studied the portrayal of Aging in

birthday cards and I can tell you that

older people are apparently the only

group that you can still mock about

issues that have to do with getting

older so issues of memory mobility and

sexual functioning it's very

inappropriate but it's still done a

problem with archival research actually

two problems one is that researchers

have no control over how the data was

collected and there's no guarantee of

consistency between datasets from one

source to another so in terms of the

datings research that I do and personal

ads some free sites may attract

different kinds of people than paid

personal ad sites might longitudinal

research is a design where data

gathering occurs repeatedly over time so

you might survey the same people about

their dietary habits at 30 then at 40

then at 50 but it's the same people

cross-sectional research is when

multiple segments of the population are

compared at the same time so a group of

people in who are 20 are compared to a

different group of people who are 30 and

to a different group of people who are

40 etc cross-sectional research is

limited by differences between cohorts

and because different people in

different generations go through

different social and cultural

experiences longitudinal research is

used or is best used in studying things

like disease and risk factors because

you can see how they develop over a

lifetime

how if however issues with time meaning

that they take a lot of time money they

cost a lot of money

attrition people drop out of

longitudinal studies all the time and

survivor bias which is when you

generalize from people who make it all

the way through a longitudinal design

are all issues with this research

correlation means that there's a

relationship between two or more

variables and that it's not necessarily

causal a correlation coefficient known

as Pearson's R is bounded by negative

one which means a perfect negative or

inverse correlation and plus one which

is a perfect positive or direct

correlation zero means no correlation so

a positive correlations that direct

relationship and a negative correlation

is an inverse relationship and an

example would be the relationship

between height and weight which is in

the figure to the right that's a

positive or direct relationship because

in general taller people weigh more so

I'm six-two and I weigh 180 which is

probably more than someone who's 5:2

correlation does not imply causation due

to the possibility of a confounding

variable so for example there is a

relationship a positive correlation

between ice cream and drowning the more

ice cream that's sold the more people

drown now that's not because ice cream

causes people to drown it's because both

are related to summertime where people

are swimming more people are eating ice

cream you might also find illusory

correlations those occur when people

believe relationships exist between

variables so some people think that

there's a relationship between the moon

phase and mood and the DA P is the draw

person test which is also an illusory

correlation i always remember and it

Stroeve peanuts cartoon where Charlie

Brown tells Linus that he drew his hands

behind his back because he's insecure

and Linus says no it's because he can't

draw hands that's illusory correlation

so why does this occur well one answer

is confirmation bias and this is when we

believe something to be true we seek

supportive evidence and ignore non

supportive evidence so for example

research shows that an automotive

shopping people do research after they

buy a car to confirm that they made a

good choice when obviously you should do

the research before you go shopping most

basic experimental designs have two

groups an experimental group in a

control group and they're treated the

same except for the experimental

manipulation an operational definition

is the precise meaning of a variable

within an experiment now operational

definitions are necessary but they're

always insufficient so if we are

studying something like violent behavior

we might include hitting and kicking but

not abusive verbal behavior which is

certainly a violent act but again that's

why these are necessary but always

insufficient where do you draw the line

at what is a violent act or violent

behavior experimenter bias is when

researchers expectations may skew the

results of the study and so a way to

deal with experimenter bias is through

single or double blind studies in a

single blind study participants don't

know what group they're in so they don't

know if they're in the experimental

group of the control group in a

double-blind study neither the

participants nor other researchers know

the group that the participants are in

the placebo effect is shows that

expectations can influence outcomes so

if you're given a pill and told that

it'll make you drowsy you might actually

fall asleep

an independent variable is manipulated

by the experimenter and a dependent

variable is measured by the experimenter

so one of the reasons why it's called a

dependent variable is because its value

is thought to be dependent on whether

you receive the independent variable or

not

participants are often college students

and this leads to what's called the

volunteer problem because college

students tend to be younger more

educated more broad-minded and less

diverse than the general population

so again this is an external validity

issue ideally we like to work from a

random sample and that's when every

member of the population has an equal

chance of being selected for being in

the study but those really occur only in

textbooks much more common is random

assignment and this is when all

participants have an equal chance of

being assigned to either group in an

experiment and that's really critical

for sound experimental design once your

data is collected a statistical analysis

is conducted to see if there are

meaningful differences between your

groups differences are significant if

there's a 5% or less likelihood that

that result is due to chance and that's

what's known as the alpha level

experiments assert that significant

differences are due to the impact of the

independent variable now

the APA publishes a style manual for

submitting your paper for peer review

and that's the book that I wrote on how

to teach to teach students how to write

in APA style these peers anonymously

judge the value of your research and

they're usually professionals and

scholars who are actively involved in

research themselves one of the reasons

why they are studying or examining your

research is due to their replication so

peer review makes sure that other

scientists can replicate the research

which means that they can repeat it and

get the same results which is crucial to

the scientific method

reliability is all about consistency but

being consistent is not the same as

being correct so for example as I said

earlier I weigh a hundred and eighty

pounds but I may get on a scale that

says I weigh 130 pounds that I might

step off it again and step on it again

and it says I weigh 130 degrees 30

degrees 130 pounds again now that scale

is reliable because it's giving me the

same weight over and over again but it's

not valid at least unless I've lost

several limbs and suddenly weigh 50

pounds less validity is all about truth

so the extent to which a given

instrument accurate accurately measures

what it's supposed to measure is its

validity for a measure to be valid it

has to be reliable but like I said

before with weight a reliable measure

doesn't have to be valid so a legitimate

question to ask is to the acct and SAT

correctly measure scholastic aptitude

are they reliable and valid measures

let's talk about ethics and research so

an IRB is an institutional review board

and that's a committee that reviews

proposals for research involving human

participants now the in Fort you'll have

to sign an informed consent form and

that tells you what participants can

expect including the risks and

implications of the research and you're

also informed of your rights such as the

the fact that your participation is

completely voluntary and that you're

free to withdraw from the study at any

time

deception involves purposely misleading

participants and so the picture is

actually from the Milgram obedience

experiment where participants were told

that they were shocking people to death

now they weren't really they were being

deceived

debriefing happens at the conclusion of

a study and it tells participants what

the purpose of the experiment was how

the data was used

and if deception was used why it was

necessary let's talk about research with

animals - researchers often use rats

mice and birds as research subjects in

the APA estimates that 90% of animals

that are used in research are in fact

rats mice and birds they're considered

to be substitutes for research that

would be unethical if it was done to

human participants and you would have an

IACUC which is an institutional Animal

Care and Use Committee and that's

basically what an animal research IRB is

and they ensure the humane treatment of

animal research subjects well to finish

up I will remind you again that all your

APA problems can be solved through learn

APA style so when you want to learn to

write correctly or write write you can

consult my book and videos on learn APA

style which are about writing in

psychology and the social sciences

thanks for listening