Psychology 105Chapter 2: Methods

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1. What is

psychology?a) What is “psychology?”

• Psychology: the study of behaviour

• Applied and academic streams

• Uses systematic & objective

procedures

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1. What is

psychology?b) Why study behaviour?

• Describe

• Explain

• Predict

• Control

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2. Science & knowing

a) What people think

• Psychologists know a lot about how

people think and about how people

behave

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2. Science & knowing

a) What people think

• I know my own mind

• I know how the world is

• I can see causes

• I can make reasonable decisions

• I can avoid the mistakes of others

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2. Science & knowing

b) Why it’s wrong

• Our experiences are creations

• Rapid emotional appraisal

• Misunderstand probability

• Not-me fallacy

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2. Science & knowing

c) What is “pseudoscience?”

• Belief/process with the appearance of

science, claims legitimacy, but lacks

support.

• Lacks carefully controlled and

thoughtfully interpreted research

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2. Science & knowing

c) What is “pseudoscience?”

• Lacks mechanistic explanations

• Dogmatic assertions, resemblance

thinking

• No comparisons of theories

• Post-hoc explanations

• Lack of progress

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2. Science & knowing

d) Why it is dangerous

• Harm & even death

• Wasting opportunities

• Lending legitimacy

• Thinking critically

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2. Science & knowing

e) What is “science?”

• Science is a way

• Disinterestedness, communalism, hu

mility, tolerance & curiosity.

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2. Science & knowing

e) What is “science?”

• Mechanistic explanations

• Statistics to find patterns in nature

• Comparisons of theories

• A-priori explanations

• Cumulative & constantly refining

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3. Starting your

researcha) Testing your idea

• Where do good ideas come from?

• Theory

• Hypothesis

• Operational definition

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3. Starting your

researchb) Principles of ethical conduct

i. Respect for the dignity of persons

ii. Informed consent

iii.Minimizing harm

iv.Freedom to withdraw

v. Privacy & confidentiality

vi.Use of deception13

3. Starting your

researchc) Reliability and validity

i. Reliability

ii. Validity

• Internal

• External

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3. Starting your

researchd) Selecting your participants

• Random selection

• Extraneous (confounding) variables

• Demand characteristics

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3. Starting your

researche) Funding

• SSHRC (Social Sciences &

Humanities Research Council)

• NSERC (National Sciences and

Engineering Research Council)

• CIHR (Canadian Institutes of Health

Research)

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4. Research designs

a) The experimental design

• Experimental design: a design that

involves experimenter control over IV

& random assignment to conditions.

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4. Research designs

b) The non-experimental designs

i. Correlations

ii. Naturalistic observations

iii.Case studies

iv.Surveys

v. Archival research

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4. Research designs

c) The quasi-experimental designs

• Quasi-experimental design: like the

true experimental design, except

there is no random assignment.

i. Matched samples

ii. Matched pairs

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5. Interpreting your

dataa) What are statistics?

• Statistics: using math to describe and

analyze data.

• Population & sample

• Parameter & statistic

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5. Interpreting your

datab) Why use statistics?

• Summarize

• Characterize

• Reveal patterns

• Separate the probable from the

possible

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5. Interpreting your

datac) Two categories of statistic

i. Descriptive statistics

• Central tendency & variability

ii. Inferential statistics

• Chi-square, z test, t test, F test

• p-value & significance

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5. Interpreting your

datad) Ways to measure things

• Nominal

• Ordinal

• Interval

• Ratio

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5. Interpreting your

datae) Variables

• Discrete vs. continuous variables

• Levels

• Interactions

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5. Interpreting your

dataf) How to graph your data

• Distributions

• When do I use a bar graph?

• When do I use a line graph?

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