Name: ANOOD J ALHAMMADI

ID: 201501114

General information in Psychology

Doing Psychology Research

Applied and Basic Research :

 Basic Research: Advance general scientific knowledge; designed to test a specific hypothesis
from a specific theory.
 Applied Research: How to use knowledge in real life situations. Goal is to enlarge our
understanding of naturally occurring events and find solutions to practical problems.

o Psychologists also conduct two types of research in order to learn and change the world. One
form of research is BASIC research. We call it basic because it refers to the type of knowledge
we are seeking. Here, we want to know things like how the brain works, different theories of
motivation, how emotions influence physiology. We are seeking to discover basic information
about how humans think and behave. This understanding is sort of like what we would find in an
encyclopedia. It is really a foundation, or the WHAT of psychology. This knowledge usually is
true across all people, and similar situations.

o The second type is called: Applied research. Here, we APPLY the information we have learned in
basic research to real life problems….so, for instance, if we know that the emotion of anger has
a negative effect on the immune system, we might use this information to develop a program to
help people with illness manage their anger with social and thinking skills to improve their
health and reduce their risk of getting cardiovascular disease. We USE the information we have
developed towards a real life problem.

The scientific method & research :

• Research expressed as: “Lambert (2012) stated that…”

• Cumulative; we can be disproven

• We follow the scientific method in all sciences. Psychology is a science. The scientific method is a
WAY to get at information we want to know so that we can produce change. In other words, we
use the scientific method in research – it is how we determine knowledge and apply it. ALL
researchers use the scientific method; this is known worldwide.

• The scientific method allows us to test (prove/disprove) hypotheses (guesses), concepts,

• The findings (the result of research) is used to promote, support, advance, expand, or even
suggest the termination of a theory, method, policy decision, or a particular course of action.

• Knowledge advances with time, this is why something may be true today - but in 20 years, with
advances in research, it may no longer be true. For example, we used to think that if you burned
yourself, you should put butter on it, but with research, we know this causes infection and
actually burns the skin worse, so, now we don’t do that. Research is a way to test the things we
do and see if they are indeed true, or still useful.

• As you progress in your studies, the role of research and theory becomes increasingly important.

Scientific method :

1. Literature Review

2. Develop a Hypothesis

3. Design Study (4 types); collect data

4. Analyze data

5. Publish

The scientific method is always the same whether you are in psychology, biology, medicine, chemistry,
and so on. It is a standardized way to discover knowledge. We do it in the same way so that we can
reduce the chances of error in research, and speak the same research language (a researcher in Iceland
and another in Thailand will do the same thing and understand what each other is doing). It is also the
best way to do research, the most scientific. If you do not follow the scientific method when you do
research, no one will read your research, it will be incorrect, and you will be made fun of! Let’s look at
each in detail….
Literature review – what have others said or done about this question or problem? Might be an
unknown issue for you, and you think it is worthy of research, but you look it up and realize that your
questions are already answered by others. It is important to look at the previous research or in the
sciences, you will hear it called, “in the literature” – what does the literature say about that? Important
to know what others have done for a few reasons:

a. you don’t look silly researching something everyone knows but you.

b. You don’t waste your time, money, effort, and resources researching something that is already known
when you could have discovered something really new.

c. Why is this important? Because science is cumulative, you have to pick up where others have left off.
Science progresses through the accumulation of knowledge (we build on what others have already done
and add something new at the end), there is no point repeating what others have already done unless
you want to confirm it in some manner on a different population, time, setting, etc.

Develop a hypothesis (a reasonable guess) – what do you want to test exactly? This must be clear. For
instance: I want to test how happy people are. This is not testable by using that exact question. Why?
What does happiness mean? Optimism, joy, how many times they laugh, some happy people don’t
laugh, others laugh a lot and are not happy, how about life satisfaction? What about if you’re happy
today but not overall in your life? Does this count?

Your hypothesis must be very clear so that everyone understands what you are talking about, including
your research subjects, who will ask you: What do you mean by happy, like right now? Or overall in my
life?

You must be able to prove or disprove your hypothesis. Otherwise, how will you know if your test was
valid, found something true, or people were just agreeing with you to be polite or kind? There has to be
the possibility that your guess was not true and there is no shame in proving something to be untrue;
that is still useful information. We still gain from knowing what is not true in life.

Develop a hypothesis: What is your question exactly?

Design study (4 types); collect data

 Now, we need to select a way to study this question. We must design a study so that we can
collect data (information) which will be useful in helping us determine whether the hypothesis is
true or not and under what conditions. There are at least 4 ways that we can study research
questions…

1. Descriptive

2. Correlational
 3. Experimental

4. Longitudinal

Descriptive (1st kind of research) :

• Goal is to describe, explore new or old topics

• Interviews, naturalistic observation, surveys, case studies

• Example: interview CUD students to learn about change from high school to university (not
trying to prove/ disprove, but understand only)

• Naturalistic observation – simply observing and looking at people in their natural environments
– is one way we can study things and people. Researchers observe and record behavior in its
natural setting without influencing or controlling it. It does NOT occur in a laboratory, we
observe people in their own natural settings, like at school, in their homes, an office, mall,
organization, institution, etc.

Measuring Variables: Observations :

• Observations can be simple or elaborate

• Interrater reliability: degree to which multiple observers agree on their observations

• Advantages: Avoid our sometimes-faulty recollections and distorted interpretations of own

• Disadvantages: Observation risks altering behavior of the observed

Descriptive Research Methods

 The Case Study

– 1 person/small # of people studied in depth i.e. family

– Over a long period of time

– Combination of observation, interview, or other measures

– Limitations:

 Causes of behavior difficult to establish

 Observer bias (I could be wrong in interpretation)

 Hard to use on large groups or different cultures

 Advantages

– Surveys are cheap; get information quickly

 Disadvantages

– Analysis costly and time consuming

– Results can be affected by wording, content

– “Social desirability response” - false information

Correlational (2nd kind of research)

• Describes a relationship, it does NOT show causality. We want to know what GOES with what,
not what CAUSED what.

• Example: sitting in the front row of class is correlated with higher grades while sitting in the back
row of class is correlated with lower grades.

• These 2 factors do go together, but where you sit does not CAUSE higher/lower grades.

Correlations (two types) :

 Positive Correlation: Two variables move in same direction, i.e., when stress increases, illness
usually increases (positive does not mean good or more, but “in same direction”)

 Negative Correlation: One variable’s increase is associated with a decrease in another, i.e., more
cigarettes smoked = fewer years to live (negative does not mean bad or less, but “in different
directions”)

Examples of positive correlation :

• When one variable changes, so does the other. Both change in same direction.

• Example: Speaking English is positively correlated with having coronary heart disease around the
world.

Example of negative correlation :

• One variable goes up as the other variable goes down. Both change but in opposite directions.
 • E.g. Climbing a mountain is negatively correlated with temperature. As you climb (increase), the
temperature drops (decrease).

Example of ‘no correlation’ :

When variables do not change in relation to one another.

• E.g. intelligence and drinking tea; eating salt and growing tomatoes.

• no relationship

• No connection between variables, examples of no, positive or inverse relationships you can
think of in the classroom?

• They do change, but we see no pattern. And they also do not change in relation to each other
(they are not connected in any way). How bright the stars are has no impact (no clear pattern
we can see anyways) on the value of the euro.

Correlation Research:
Looking for Associations

• Advantages

– Can study the associations of naturally occurring variables that cannot be manipulated
or induced.

– Can examine phenomena difficult or unethical to create for research purposes.

– Offers freedom in settings in which the variables are measured.

• One very serious disadvantage

– CORRELATION IS NOT CAUSATION!

Experimental
(3rd kind of research)

• Establishes cause/effect; what CAUSED what?

• We manipulate one variable against another; thus, there must be 2 groups.

• E.g. What is effect of medicine on blood pressure? The medicine has a direct impact on pressure
(good/bad/neutral; there is a result). One CAUSES a change in the other, there is a direct
relationship; it was caused by the other factor.
 • Manipulation does not mean underhanded cheating, it simply means, doing something to a
variable to see what changes will happen as a result.

• A RESULT can also be no result. In this example, I want to test medication on blood pressure.
The medication can either increase it, decrease it, or do nothing at all. All three are in fact
results, even in the condition where nothing happened. That is still good to know, that means
we won’t bother selling it or using it because now we know for sure that it does nothing. And
depending on if you have low blood pressure or high blood pressure, the result of high or low is
also helpful. Therefore, the results themselves don’t actually matter, it’s that there was a result
of some sort (even no result is a result).

• Overall, experimental research is when we can say with certainty that something had an impact
on something else (whether good, bad, or none), but we can identify what was the exact ‘thing.’

The Experimental Method :

 Experimental group

– The group we “experiment” on.

 Control group

– A group similar to the experimental group, but not given the same treatment. The group
we observe but don’t experiment on or test.

– We use it for comparison purposes as it tells us what normally happens

Longitudinal (4th kind of research)

• Longitudinal = same group of people over time, impact of time is included

• Longitudinal: example of this is to follow grade 1 students and measure them on various
indicators such as intelligence, social skills, physical strength, etc., every year until they reach
grade 12. Therefore, the study would take 12 years to complete. Takes a long time to complete,
but get to see developmental changes in detail of the same subjects over time, higher validity,
although high attrition (or drop-out) rate (death, move away).

Theories:

• An organized set of principles used to explain observed phenomena

• Usually evaluated in terms of three criteria:

– Simplicity – it can’t be so complex, no one understands!

– Generativity – we can use it to predict things

• Preference for “mini-theories” rather than the all-encompassing grand theory