Types of Research in

Psychology
Epistemology
How does one acquire new knowledge?
How do you know what you know?
Truthiness
Truthinessisatruththatapersonclaimstoknowintuitivelyfromthegut
without regard toevidence,logic,intellectualexamination,orfacts.
Distort reality to be what you prefer
Authority
Eperience
Reason and !ogic
"hat method could you use?
"hat does the scienti#c method
entail?

Asking a question $most people don%t get this far&

'ee what other people know already

(ollect data
)b*ecti+ely and logically analy,e data to answer
question
Recogni,e !-.-TAT-)/'

'ub*ect #ndings to criticism from other smart people

0 0 0 0 Ask more questions
"hy is the scienti#c method
important?
To de+ise a unique research study and write
an 1 2 34 page Research Proposal according
to the format of the American Psychological
Association $APA&0
-n order to do this5 you need6
30 To understand how the scienti#c method is
applied to research in the #eld of
psychology
40 To de+elop critical thinking skills that you
can apply to7
8 de+eloping and #ne2tuning your research
ideas
8 reading psychology literature
8 planning a research study
To DESCRIBE

e0g05 Describe pre+alence of psychiatric disorders9

describe the relationship b:t stressful life e+ents
and depression
To PREDICT

e0g05 Research shows early family +iolence is

strongly associated with a person%s use of +iolence
in the future
To EXPLAIN

e0g05 !inking depression to imbalanced

neurotransmitters in the brain
To CHANGE/CONTROL

e0g05 4 therapies are compared to test their e;ect

on le+els of depressi+e symptoms
The American Psychological Association
$APA& manual di+ides articles into the
following categories7
30 Empirical studies
40 Re+iew articles
<0 Theoretical articles
=0 .ethodological articles
>0 (ase studies
?"e will only focus on Empirical studies
EMPIRICAL STUDIES

Empirical studies are reports of original

research

"e will focus on two types of empirical

studies7
True Eperiments
(orrelational 'tudies
TRUE EXPERIMENTS

This is the ONLY type of research design

that allows us to make causal statements

True eperiments allow us to determine

whether @AA $the -ndependent Bariable5 or
predictor +ariable& causes changes in @CA
$the Dependent Bariable5 or outcome
+ariable&
IV DV
True eperiments utili,e random assignment
Do in*ections of high le+els of
testosterone cause aggressi+e
beha+ior in men?

The sample of men would be randomly

assigned to a group that gets the injections
and a group that does not
Men +
Testostero
ne
Men
Testostero
ne
Aggresson
!
Aggresson
!
TRUE EXPERIMENTS CONTINUED
Why use an experiment?
8
"hen there is a lot of data about a speci#c
research topic that pro+ides strong preliminary
suggestions that @AA inDuences @CA

e0g05 longitudinal studies show that A precedes C

8
"hen you want to change:control a beha+ior
CORRELATIONAL STUDIES
To ask7 @"hat is the relationship
between 4 or more +ariables for a gi+en
set of sub*ects?A
?NOTE7 (orrelation E (ausation
"e are /)T e+aluating the e;ect of one +ariable on
another $as in a true eperiment& and5 therefore5
cannot say that one +ariable causes the other
Why use a correlational design?
Why use a correlational design?

Whenyoucantconductanexperimentbecause
Whenyoucantconductanexperimentbecause
youcantmanipulatethepredictorvariablee.g.,
youcantmanipulatethepredictorvariablee.g.,
genderorageordiagnosticstatus!
genderorageordiagnosticstatus!

Whenyouwanttodescribebehavior
Whenyouwanttodescribebehavior
showthat"
showthat"
co#occurswith$orthat"precedes$!
co#occurswith$orthat"precedes$!
CORRELATIONAL STUDIES CONTINUED
"hat is the relationship between gender and
"hat is the relationship between gender and
FPA in college?
FPA in college?

This cant be a true experiment because

This cant be a true experiment because
you cant randomly assign people to be
you cant randomly assign people to be
either male or female, and you are just
either male or female, and you are just
interested in the relationship between the
interested in the relationship between the
two variables (Gender G!"#
two variables (Gender G!"#
CORRELATIONAL STUDIES
CONTINUED
Gse the Correlation Coefcient (r) to
indicate the degree of relationship between
two +ariables

Ranges from 30H to I 30H

The closer r is to J30H or 230H5 the more closely

the two +ariables are related
r K 3 perfect positi+e correlation
r K H no correlation $no relationship between 4
+ariables&
r K 23 perfect negati+e correlation
"pplicationofthescientificmethodto
psychologicalresearch

Research psychologists use the scientifc

method to de+elop theories and conduct
studies
8According to the scienti#c method5 F))D
RE'EAR(H must be7
O"#e$t%e7 .easures and methods should be
ob*ecti+e and not sub*ect to bias:error
&e''($ontro''e)7 )ther +ariables $etraneous5
nuisance& that could inDuence the results of
research are minimi,ed
Re*'$+te)7 Eperiments ought to be repeated
to con#rm the original results
.ake an obser+ation
Ask a question
Father information
Re#ne research question:form research hypotheses
Design a study
'eek re+iew board appro+al:grant submission
(onduct study:(ollect data
Analy,e data:E+aluate your hypotheses
"rite research paper
'ubmit to *ournal

STEP ,- M+.e +n o"ser%+ton
$xample% &any college students tend
to procrastinate when studying for exams
STEP /- As. + 01eston
$xample% '(o students who procrastinate
do worse in school than students who do
not procrastinate?)
8 Try to #nd the answer to your question by
re+iewing pre+ious research in the
literature
Has anyone researched this question before?
-f yes5 what did they #nd? "ere the #ndings
replicated? -f so5 were they consistent?
-f no5 are there any similar studies $e0g05 studies
of procrastination among high school students5
studies assessing the association of
procrastination with something other than
grades&?
* +n this example, there are several studies
showing that academic procrastination is
associated with lower G!",
Cased on your re+iew of #ndings from
pre+ious studies5 modify your research
question so that it7
Addresses a new question that will make a
contribution to the general area of research
$xample% (o students who li-e their professors
procrastinate less than those who do not rate
their professors highly?
STEP 2 Contn1e)
.esearch /ypothesis% The researcher%s
prediction about the relationship between
the +ariables being studied $in this case5
professor ratings and procrastination&
$xample% 0tudents who rate their professors highly
show lower rates of procrastination in those
classes1
8>a0 Lirst5 determine the type of research
design you will use7
Eperiment
(orrelational
8>b0 /et5 identify the rele+ant +ariables in
your study7
V+r+"'e7 Any e+ent5 situation5 beha+ior5 or
indi+idual characteristic that +aries $i0e05 has at
least two +alues&
$xamples%
Bariable /ame !e+els $+alues&
Fender .ale:Lemale
Procrastination rating M days from due
date
Professor rating M on 3H2pt scale
>c0 Ligure out which +ariable$s& is the
-ndependent Bariable and which +ariable$s& is
the Dependent Bariable0
-ndependent Bariable $-B&7 A +ariable the
researcher directly manipulates to determine
its inDuence on beha+ior
Dependent Bariable $DB&7 A response or
beha+ior that the researcher measures
33T4e IV +n) DV +re on'5 re'e%+nt n
e6*er7ent+' rese+r$4 )esgns33
$xample% "n experimenter wants to 2nd out whether
lowering the room temperature in a restaurant results in
customers consuming more food1 What is the IV? What
is the DV?
$xample% "n experimenter wants to 2nd out
whether lowering the room temperature in
a restaurant results in customers
consuming more food1 What is the +3? "nd
what is the (3?
+3 4 ?
(3 4 ?
$xample%

An eperimenter wants to determine the e;ect

of ca;eine on performance on a math eam0
%&' ( )&'(
Example:

"nexperimenterwantstodetermineifpeople
whoreceived*$+willhavelowerdepression
scoresonthe$eck)epression%nventory$)%!
thanpeoplereceivedpsychoanalytictherapy.
%&'( )&'(
>d0 -dentify your sample0
8"H) will your sub*ects be?
8H)" will you recruit them?
.emember7 -n order for your results to be
generali,able5 you want to get a
representati+e sample7
Representative sample% " subset of the
population that closely matches the overall
characteristics of the population with respect to
distribution of males5females, racial and ethnic
groups, etc1
8>e0 "HE/ will you assess your sub*ects?
Cross(se$ton+'7 All assessment occurs during
the
same limited time period
$xample% 6ou assess students one time 7 at the
end of their freshman year
Longt1)n+'7 Research data is obtained from
the
same group of indi+iduals at multiple points
o+er an etended period of time
$xample% 6ou assess students multiple times 7
once during their freshman year, then again at
the end of their sophomore, junior, and senior
years for a total of 8 assessment points
8>f0 H)" will you assess your sub*ects?
8 -nter+iew
8 Nuestionnaire
8 Performance tests
8 (hart re+iew
8 (ollect physical samples $e0g05
sali+a5 urine&
8 (ollect physiological data
$e0g05 heart rate5 blood pressure&
8>g0 Lor eperiments5 how will you ()/TR)!
your study?
8 -n real life5 one thing does not act on
another in isolation9 there are
many things going on at one time that
may inDuence beha+ior
*9ontrol procedures% (onsistent procedures
for gi+ing instructions5 scoring responses5
and holding all other +ariables constant
ecept those being systematically +aried by
the eperimenter
8 -n the real world5 all research studies must be appro+ed
by a re+iew board to ensure the protection of
participants who may be enrolled into the study I called
the @-RCA I -nstitutional Re+iew Coard
Cefore any participant is recruited into the study5 it
must ha+e appro+al

How do psychologists pay for this research?

Psychologists who conduct research need money to
pay for their studies9 therefore5 they write grants
$detailed research proposals& and submit them to a
+ariety of institutions with the hope of obtaining
funding0
)nce you ha+e recei+ed appro+al by the
-RC5 you are ready to conduct your study
and collect your data
8)nce your data are collected5 you may
begin e+aluating your hypotheses to
determine if your ideas about the outcome
were correct
8Oou should ha+e a series of speci#c
hypotheses to eplore in your data to a+oid
going on @#shing epeditionsA in the hopes
of #nding signi#cant results in your data
Research articles are written in the shape of an
hourglass I they mo+e from broad general
statements $introduction& to progressi+ely narrower
speci#cs about the study $method and results&5 and
then broaden again to more general issues and
considerations $discussion&
%,+-.)/*+%.,
01+2.)
-13/4+3
)%3*/33%.,
STEP 10: Subit to !ourna"