Psych 350 Unit 1 Study Guide

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Unit #1 -- Introduction to Research Hypotheses, Validity & Research Designs Research Hypotheses  producers vs. consumers of knowledge  description vs. prediction vs. understanding  sources of hypotheses vs. sources of knowledge  attributive vs. associative vs. causal hypotheses  proof vs. probabilistic conclusion  initial vs. replication vs. convergent research  critical experiment vs. converging operations Producers of psychological knowledge are often called researchers, while consumers of psychological knowledge are often called practitioners. Descriptive involves detailing characteristics or behaviors of interest, understanding involves demonstrating that characteristics or behaviors are related to each other, and predictive involves establishing that changes in one characteristic or behavior leads to changes in another. Intuition, authority, rational induction, and empiricism are each useful sources of knowledge, but only the latter is an accepted source of hypotheses. Attributive hypotheses are related to descriptive knowledge, associative hypotheses to predictive knowledge, and causal hypotheses to understanding. Attributive hypotheses are about the description of characteristics or behaviors, associative hypotheses are about the statistical relationships between characteristics or behaviors, and causal hypotheses are about how characteristics or behaviors influence each other. proof comes only from rational induction, while probabilistic conclusion comes from empirical research Applications of the Research Loop involve initial studies of new research hypotheses, replication studies of previous research to test the reproducibility of previous research findings and convergent research studies to test the specificity and generalizability of previous research findings. The critical experiment approach is based on the idea that one properly completed study will give us reliable and correct knowledge, while converging operations approach is based on the idea that reliable and correct knowledge is only obtained from repeating the exact and similar studies to find a pattern of consistent findings 1. Briefly describe each of the sources of new knowledge. What is the accepted role of each source of knowledge in modern scientific psychological research? Intuition – feelings ; authority – consistently 2. Contrast "proof" vs. "evidence." Which is preferred, what keeps us from obtaining it, and what do we do instead? What do we do to convince ourselves that our new knowledge is correct? Proof – certainty, evidence – probabilistic; prove – rational axiom, behavior, empirical 3. Describe the research loop (be sure to briefly describe each stage). Tell the (3) different ways that it is applied and what we learn from that each type of application.

External Validity  Internal, external, measurement & statistical validity  population vs. setting vs. task/stimulus validity vs. societal/temporal validity  representative sample vs. random sample  complete population vs. purposive sampling frame  researcher selected vs. self-selected participants  simple vs. stratified sampling plan  population vs. sampling frame  selected sample vs. data sample  generalizability vs. applicability Internal validity is about causal interpretability, external validity is about generalizability, measurement validity is about proper representation of characteristics or behaviors with our data, and statistical validity is about correctly deciding whether or not two characteristics or behaviors are related. population is the component of external validity related to who is in the study, setting is the component related to where the study is conducted, task/stimulus is the component related to what participants do and interact with during the study, and societal temporal is the component related to when the study is conducted. A representative sample “looks like” the target population, while a random sample is one procedure used to obtain this goal. A complete population sampling frame includes the identity of or access to all members of the target population, while a purposive sampling frame includes the identity of or access to individuals who are expected to represent the target population. Each member of a research selected sample is individually chosen from the sampling frame and approached to participate in the research, while those from a self- selected sample respond to a general invitation to the sampling frame. In a simple sampling plan each member of the sampling frame has an equal probability of selection, while in a stratified sampling plan each member of a given subsection of the sampling frame has an equal probability of selection. A population includes all members of the group(s) to which the researcher would like to generalize the results of the research, while the sampling frame is a list or access process for the group(s). The selected sample incudes all those selected to complete a study, while the data sample includes all those who actually complete participation in the study. generalizability is when the results from a study tell us about a broad range or populations, settings, task/stimuli and societal/temporal possibilities, while applicability is when the results from a study tells us about a specific combination of population, setting, task/stimuli and societal/temporal event. 4. Briefly describe the kinds of validity we want our research to have and the dependent nature among them. 5. What is required to have a “truly random sample”? Is this often accomplished? When you are told that a sample is "random," what has usually been done?

Internal Validity  internal validity vs. external validity  constant vs. measured variable vs. manipulated variable  causal variable vs. confounding variable  control constant vs. control variable  initial vs. ongoing equivalence  subject vs. procedural variables  single blind vs. double blind  IV conditions vs. procedural conditions  RA to control initial equivalence vs. ongoing equivalence Population, setting, task/stimulus and societal/temporal are the components of external validity, while initial equivalence and ongoing equivalence are the components of internal validity external validity is about generalizability and internal validity is about causal interpretability All participants have the same value of a constant , participants’ different characteristics or behaviors lead them to have different values of measured variables , while differential treatment of participants leads to their having different values of manipulated variables The causal variable is intended to have an influence on the DV, whereas a confounding variable is an unwanted influence that eliminates causal interpretability of the results. A control constant is not a confound because all participants have the same value on this characteristic, whereas a control variable is not a confound because members of the different treatments have the same average value on this characteristic. initial equivalence is accomplished when all subject variable are controlled and ongoing equivalence is accomplished when all procedural variable are controlled. Subject variables are measured, while procedural variables are manipulated We use single blind procedures to ensure that the participants will not know the hypothesis or treatment conditions of the study; we use double blind procedures ensure that neither the participants nor the data coders will know the hypothesis or treatment conditions of the study We randomly assign participants to IV conditions to help control initial equivalence, while we randomly assign them to procedural conditions to help control ongoing equivalence. We randomly assign participants to IV conditions to help control initial equivalence , while we randomly assign them procedural conditions to help control ongoing equivalence. 6. Compare and contrast IVs & confounds. Respond to the statement, “You only have to worry about confounds when you are testing a causal research hypothesis.” 7. Describe the variables that exist “before the study begins” and “after the study is completed” and how they are related. What determines what variables exist after the study is completed? 8. Distinguish between participant selection and participant assignment and tell the specific type of validity associated with each. Tell how “randomization” is applied to each and whether or not it is considered necessary. 9. Describe the two different characterizations of the relationship between internal validity and external validity. Which do you prefer and why? (You are free to prefer either characterization -- points are awarded based on the quality and completeness of you description of why you prefer that characterization. Be sure you articulately defend the opinion you state!)

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