Research Methods in Social Psychology. Lecture Notes By Halford H. Fairchild Pitzer College September 4, 2013

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1 Research Methods in Social Psychology Lecture Notes By Halford H. Fairchild Pitzer College September 4, 2013

2 Quiz Review A review of our quiz enables a review of research methods in social psychology. Each of the following statements are true or false.

3 1. Basic research is designed to increase the understanding of and solutions to real-world problems by using current social psychological knowledge. (p. 26) Research can be thought of as basic or applied. Basic research seeks to add to our store of knowledge ( knowledge for knowledge sake ). Applied research seeks to solve real-world problems. Which is more sociological? Which is more descriptive? Which is more likely to be conducted in the laboratory? What are examples of basic and applied approaches?

4 2. The very first step in conducting research in social psychology is to review past research (conduct a review of the relevant research literature). The very first step is picking a topic. How do you pick a topic? Other research Personal interests Things in the news (social problems) The Fairchild Method Make a list of interesting topics, then narrow that list down. Picking one (without a preliminary list) can be very difficult.

5 Parts of the Research Article Abstract a word summary of the article Introduction provides the rationale for the study, based on a review of the relevant literature. Includes purposes, and hypotheses. Methodology case study, survey, and/or experiment Results Often with statistics Discussion References Tables and Figures (if any)

6 The importance of the literature review To contextualize your study in the extant (existing) literature. To avoid blind alleys To build on a research tradition (to add to the literature) To determine methodological approaches (e.g., procedures, measures, etc.) To develop hypotheses

7 How to search the literature Use PsychInfo, an online database. Log onto the Honnold Library. Choose databases. Choose your subject area (e.g., psychology) Use keywords, and combinations of keywords, to search the database. (Class demonstration.) To narrow down the search, it takes an artist s sensibility.

8 3. A hypothesis is an organized system of ideas that seeks to explain why two or more events are related. The above definition is for a theory. Despite assertions to the contrary (in the text), theories are generally NOT directly examined in research. Instead, theories generate testable hypotheses, which are geared toward aspects of the theory. Disconfirmation of the hypothesis does NOT necessarily cast doubt on the theory. Why?

9 4. Experimental methods are more likely to be practiced by sociological social psychologists than by psychological social psychologists. The reverse is true. Sociological social psychologists are more likely to rely on observational studies; archival studies; and correlational studies. Correlational studies (usually, surveys) are used by both disciplinary approaches to social psychology.

10 5. Observational studies are more likely to be practiced by psychological social psychologists than by sociological social psychologists. (see previous slide) Sociological social psychologists are more likely to deal with societal-level variables; therefore individual-level data are often not important (rather, group data, or group averages, come to the fore). Sociological social psychologists are more likely to emphasize qualitative data. Fairchild s approaches.

11 6. A sample is almost always larger than a population. Samples are derived from populations, and are smaller by definition. A correctly drawn sample should represent a population. Random selection is used to enhance a sample s representativeness. How would you draw a representative sample of the students at Pitzer College? At the Claremont Colleges? Of voters in the U.S.?

12 Drawing samples Pitzer College Get a numbered list Decide how big the sample should be Draw a number, randomly, and select every n th name to generate the desired sample size. The Claremont Colleges Same as above, but stratify for the various colleges. Sample in a way that is proportional to the size of the various colleges. The resulting sample is a stratified random sample. Voters in the United States Sample (randomly select) voting precincts (or areas) The resulting sample is an areal probability sample. Sample size determines precision. (the larger the better)

13 7. Non-numeric data are also called quantitative data.

14 8. A finding is said to be statistically significant if its likelihood of having occurred by mere chance is less than one in ten; that is, a probability of less than 10 percent. Social scientists (and physical scientists) have (arbitrarily) picked significance levels of.05 (less than one in twenty chance of occurring by chance, or less than 5 percent). To understand this approach, one has to understand the idea of the null hypothesis.

15 The Null Hypothesis The Null Hypothesis is the research hypothesis in its null form. If you hypothesize that the experimental group will be more aggressive than the control group, then the Null Hypothesis says that there is no difference. If you hypothesize that, for example, SAT scores and college grades are positively correlated (when one goes up, the other goes up), the Null Hypothesis says that they are not related.

16 Statistical Significance We calculate statistical significance be determining the probability of a given effect (group difference; or correlation; etc.) would occur if the Null Hypothesis was true. If the null hypothesis is that there is NO correlation between X and Y, and we know that a correlation coefficient can range from -1 to +1, what is the probability of getting a correlation of.01? Of.10? Of.9? See question 12. Note the importance of sample size.

17 9. Observational research is best used for identifying cause and effect relationships. Observational research is mostly descriptive. So and so happens. Correlational research demonstrates that a relationship exists; but it says nothing about cause and effect. (X and cause Y, or Y can cause X, or X and Y may be related because of some unmeasured variable, Z.) Experimental research is the method of choice for identifying cause and effect relationships.

18 10. The goal of experimental research is description. Experimental research is used to demonstrate causal relationships. See Question 13.

19 11. Leon Festinger s research assistants infiltrated a cult in the 1950s to see what happened when their doomsday predictions failed to materialize. This study utilized the naturalistic observation methodology. Festinger s study was a participant observation strategy.

20 12. When the value of X decreases, and the value of Y also decreases, this is known as a negative correlation. This is a tricky question. When the direction of change in one variable is the same as the direction of change in the other variable (they both increase, or they both decrease), then the correlation is positive. When the directions are opposite (when one goes up, the other goes down), then the correlation is negative. It is best to visualize a graph of the data to see what is going on here.

21 XY (Scatter) 1

22 Understanding Correlation Correlations compare the values of two variables (X and Y, for example). It is used when both variables can take a range of values. In the preceding figure, when the values of the horizontal axis (X) increased, so did values of the vertical axis (Y). This is a positive correlation. Note that when one variable decreased, the other one decreased, and it is still a positive correlation.

23 A negative correlation (When X goes up, Y goes down) XY (Scatter) 1

24 13. In experimental research, the variable that is manipulated by the experimenter is known as the dependent variable. The manipulated variable is the independent variable. It is under the independent control of the experimenter. The outcome variable, or the criterion variable that is dependent upon the independent variable, is the dependent variable. Think of the IV as the cause, and the DV as the effect.

25 14. In laboratory research, a confederate of the experimenter is one of the research participants or subjects. The confederate is an assistant to the researcher. They often pretend to be a research participant, to fool the real research participant into behaving in a particular way. The confederate in the study on anger and media violence, reported in our text, was the person who angered the research participants and was allegedly given electrical shocks (which were the operational definition of aggressive behaviors in that study). In the Milgram study on obedience, the learner (who received shocks was a research confederate.

26 15. Laboratory experiments generally have greater external validity than field experiments. External validity deals with how much the study reflects the real (external) world. Studies in the laboratory suffer from external validity; field studies enhance it. Reliability: How consistent (repeatable) are the findings? What are some forms of reliability? Validity: How true are the findings to what one is interested in? What are some forms of validity?

27 16. A meta-analysis is a statistical technique best used in a single study. A meta-analysis is a statistical technique to examine the results from many (dozens or hundreds) of studies. They are used to determine effect sizes in various areas of investigation (e.g., effects of televised violence).

28 17. The broad scope of the Internet pretty much guarantees that research samples are representative. The primary weakness of Internet studies (usually surveys) is representativeness. Samples are typically non-random and suffer from self-selection biases (people interested in the topic participate). The primary advantages of Internet studies are many: large samples, easy coding and analysis, low cost. See Fairchild s studies on the SAT, at Pitzer College, for examples of some Internet studies. (Linked on Professor Fairchild s website, on the SAT page.)

29 18. The fmri explores brain functioning by examining the brain s metabolic activity using radioactive glucose. Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging rely on magnetic activity in brain molecules. The above definition applies to PET (Positron Emission Tomography) scans.

30 19. The first thing that researchers should do when working with research participants is to provide them a debriefing of what the study is about. Debriefing is done at the END of the study. Telling the participants what the study is about before the study could ruin the study, especially when deception is part of the research design.

31 20. The value-free perspective in social psychology suggests that studying society and its problems without a commitment to changing society for the better is irresponsible. The above quote is derived from Kurt Lewin s idea of no research without action; no action without research. The above quote is pertinent to the value-laden perspective approach. Minority groups place more emphasis on changing society for the better.

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