Chapter 1: Research Methods – Detailed Notes
Why Psychologists Do Research
- Psychology is a science → uses research to study behavior, thinking, and emotions.
- We don’t just trust “common sense” or “facts.” These must be tested with evidence.
- Good research = well-planned + fair, so results aren’t misleading.
Main Research Methods
1. Experiments
- Purpose: Find cause-and-effect (does X cause Y?).
- Independent Variable (IV): What researcher changes.
- Dependent Variable (DV): What researcher measures.
Types:
1. Lab experiment – controlled, artificial setting. High control, low realism.
2. Field experiment – done in natural environment. More realistic, less control.
3. Natural experiment – IV happens naturally (not manipulated).
Key Issues:
- Extraneous variables = other things that might affect DV.
- Control condition = baseline group used for comparison.
2. Self-Reports
- Asking people directly what they think/feel/do.
- Questionnaires: open questions (qualitative), closed questions (quantitative).
- Interviews: structured (fixed), unstructured (flexible), semi-structured (mix).
- Problem: People may lie or answer to look good → social desirability bias.
3. Case Studies
- Detailed study of one person/group/event.
- Strength: Rich detail.
- Weakness: Hard to generalize findings.
4. Observations
- Watching & recording behavior.
Types: naturalistic, controlled, structured, unstructured, participant, non-participant, overt, covert.
- Important: Use behavioral categories, inter-observer reliability.
5. Correlations
- Looks for relationships, not cause-and-effect.
- Positive correlation: both go up.
- Negative correlation: one goes up, other goes down.
- No correlation: unrelated.
Research Process
Aims & Hypotheses
- Aim: General purpose of study.
- Hypothesis: Testable prediction.
- Directional (one-tailed): Predicts specific effect.
- Non-directional (two-tailed): Predicts difference but not direction.
- Null hypothesis: Predicts no difference/relationship.
Variables
- IV: changed.
- DV: measured.
- Extraneous variables: other factors.
- Confounding variables: variables that actually affect DV.
- Participant variables: differences between people.
- Situational variables: environmental differences.
Experimental Designs
1. Independent measures – different participants in each condition.
2. Repeated measures – same participants in all conditions (order effects may occur).
3. Matched pairs – matched participants split into groups.
Sampling
- Random: everyone has equal chance.
- Opportunity: whoever is available.
- Volunteer: people self-select.
Data & Analysis
- Quantitative: numerical data.
- Qualitative: descriptive data.
- Mean, median, mode = central tendency.
- Range, standard deviation = spread.
- Graphs: bar charts, histograms, scatter plots.
Ethics
- Informed consent, right to withdraw, protection from harm, deception, confidentiality, privacy,
debriefing, animal ethics.
Methodological Issues
- Validity: does it measure what it claims?
- Internal validity: due to IV?
- Ecological validity: real-life application?
- Mundane realism: is task realistic?
- Reliability: consistency of results.
- Test–retest reliability, inter-rater reliability, standardisation.
- Demand characteristics: when participants guess aim and change behavior.
- Objectivity vs. subjectivity.
Key Terms to Learn
- Experiment, IV, DV, extraneous/confounding variables
- Control condition, lab/field/natural experiments
- Self-report, open/closed questions, interviews
- Case study, observation types
- Correlation types
- Hypothesis types
- Experimental designs (independent, repeated, matched)
- Sampling methods
- Validity & reliability
- Ethics principles