Bachelor of Social Sciences (Honours)

in Psychology

Research Methods in Psychology

Lecture 1
Introduction and Basics of Research Methods
Academic Policies and Regulations
 See Student Handbook, Program Handbook
https://www.eduhk.hk/re/student_handbook/
The Science of Psychology
Psychologists
 Develop theories
 Conduct research
 Answer questions about behavior and mental
processes
Scientific Method
 An abstract concept
 Not a particular technique or method
 Ways in which scientists ask questions about
behavior, thoughts and feelings
 Logic and methods used to gain answers
 Two characteristics: empirical approach and
skeptical attitude
Group Discussion
Let’s take legal system as an example, identify:
 An assumption made in seeking truth
 Rules or guidelines in seeking evidence for truth
 A decision rule for claiming truth
Conclusion
 Science, like the legal system and other societal
institutions, is guided by
- assumptions
- rules of evidence
- decision rules
 This research methods course provides an
introduction to the scientific method
 Scientific method is one of the ways of knowing
truth
Getting Started Doing Research
Three basic questions:
 What should I study?
 How to develop research hypothesis for testing?
 Is the research question a good one?
What should I study?
Choose a research topic by reviewing
 Psychology journals
 Textbooks
 Courses
Develop hypothesis
Research hypothesis (plural: hypotheses)
 A statement in the form of a prediction and an
explanation
 It provides direction for the research
Example hypothesis
 It is hypothesized that research participants who
play violent video games will behave more
aggressively than participants who passively
watch televised violence

because

video-game participants’ aggression is

reinforced (rewarded) while playing the game
Different hypothesis
 It is hypothesized that research participants who
play violent video games will behave less
aggressively than participants who passively
watch televised violence

because

video-game participants have the opportunity to

release aggressive impulses
Characteristics of good hypotheses:
 Plausible
 Refutable
 Testable
 Have clearly defined concepts (operational
definitions) that can be observed and measured
How to develop a hypothesis?
 Imagine how you would behave in a situation
 Consider similar problems and responses
 Perform sustained observations of a person or
phenomenon
 Use ideas or theories from other disciplines
 Read reports of psychological research
Group Discussion
The concepts in the following pairs have been
shown to be related. Identify a testable hypothesis
for why they might be related.

A) stress / smoking behavior

B) anxiety / test performance
Is the research question a good one?
 What is the scope of this question?
 What are the likely outcomes to carry out the
research?
 Is the question theoretically important?
 Is the question practically important?
 Anyone interested in the results?
Multimethod Approach
 No single research method can answer all of the
different questions in psychology
 Each method has strengths and limitations
 Using multimethod approach can achieve more
complete understanding of psychological
phenomenon
Some Research Methods
 Correlational research
- investigate the relationships among variables
- e.g. survey, case study, observation
 Experimental research
- investigate the cause-and-effect relationship
among variables
Basics of Research Methods
Approaches to Gaining Knowledge
Nonscientific Scientific
General Approach Intuitive Empirical
Observation Casual, Systematic,
uncontrolled controlled
Reporting Biased, subjective Unbiased, objective
Concepts Ambiguous Clear
Instruments Inaccurate, Accurate, precise
imprecise
Measurement Not valid or reliable Valid and reliable
Hypotheses Untestable Testable
Attitude Uncritical, accepting Critical, skeptical
General Approach
Nonscientific
 Intuitive
 Judgments are based on “what feels right”

Scientific
 Empirical
 Judgments are based on direct observation and
experimentation
Observation
Nonscientific
 Casual, uncontrolled
 Personal biases and other factors affect
observation

Scientific
 Systematic, controlled
 Control is the essential ingredient of science
 Experiment involves the greatest control;
experiment has at least one independent
variable and one dependent variable
Independent variable (IV)
 Factor that is controlled/manipulated in order to
determine its effect on behavior
 Must have at least two levels or conditions
(experimental condition vs control condition)

Dependent variable (DV)

 Measure of behavior that is used to assess the
effect of IV
 Most studies involve several DVs
Example 1
In the Pennebaker and Francis (1996) study on
adjustment to college, students wrote about their
emotions associated with beginning college or they
wrote about superficial events that took place
during their day. Pennebaker and Francis obtained
information about the participants’ GPA and their
frequency of visiting the student health center.

What is the independent variable and what are the

dependent variables?
Example 2
In a study on factors that influence people’s
willingness to help others, a researcher mimicked
(copied) the behavior of participants (e.g., sitting
position, posture) or did not mimic the participants’
behavior. The researcher then dropped pens and
observed whether participants helped to pick up the
pens.

What is the independent variable and what is the

dependent variable?
Reporting
Nonscientific
 Biased, subjective
 Personal impressions

Scientific
 Unbiased, objective
 Separate observations from inferences
 Interobserver agreement
Concepts
Nonscientific
 Ambiguous

Scientific
 Clear, specific definitions
 In psychology, “construct” means concept
 Examples of psychological constructs:
aggression, depression, emotion, intelligence,
memory, personality, stress, well-being
 Operational definition is the procedure used to
produce and measure a construct
Advantages of operational definitions
 Define constructs specifically
 Allow clear communication

Disadvantages of operational definitions

 Limitless number of operational definitions for
any construct
 Some operational definitions may be
meaningless
Match each construct with an operational definition
Instruments
Nonscientific
 Inaccurate, imprecise
 Accuracy: difference between what an
instrument says and what is actually true
 Precision: the level at which an event is
measured

Scientific
 Accurate, precise
Measurement
Nonscientific
 Not valid or reliable
 Validity refers to truthfulness. A valid measure is
one that measures what it claims to measure.
 Reliability refers to the consistency of a measure.

Scientific
 Valid and reliable
Reliability
 measurement consistency
 Test-retest reliability: comparison of scores
yielded in two occasions
 Alternative form reliability: comparison of scores
in two forms of the test
 Inter-rater reliability: comparison of scores
between raters
Validity
 Whether the test is measuring what it is supposed
to measure
 Content validity: whether the content is
representative of the domain it is supposed to
measure
 Criterion-related validity: correlation between the
test score and the score of a criterion measure
 Construct validity: whether the test is measuring a
particular hypothetical construct
Which test is more reliable?

Test A Test B
Is it reliable?
Is it valid?
Is it reliable?
Is it valid?
Is it reliable?
Is it valid?
Psychological measurement
 Constructs have no agreed-upon standards or
instrument, e.g. beauty, intelligence, aggression
 Researchers develop measures to assess
psychological constructs
 To be scientific, measures must be reliable and
valid
 A measure may be reliable but not valid
Hypotheses
Nonscientific
 Untestable

Scientific
 Testable; concepts are clearly defined and
measured
A hypothesis is not testable if it has any of these
three characteristics:
 Constructs are not adequately defined
e.g. People become aggressive following exposure to media
violence because the violence is disturbing.
 The hypothesis is circular: the event itself is used
as an explanation of the event
e.g. People become aggressive following exposure to media
violence because they become verbally and physically abusive.
 The hypothesis appeals to ideas or forces that are
not recognized by science
e.g. People become aggressive following exposure to media
violence because they are overcome by the Devil.
Attitude
Nonscientific
 Uncritical, accepting
 Accept claims without evidence, ignore
contradictory evidence

Scientific
 Critical, skeptical
Goals of the Scientific Method
Four research goals
 Description
 Prediction
 Explanation
 Application
Description
 Define, classify, catalogue or categorize events
and their relationships
 E.g. psychologists describe symptoms of
depression; one operational definition of
depression is the list of symptoms in the DSM
 Most psychology research is nomothetic, not
idiographic
 Nomothetic: large sample size, “average”
performance of a group
 Idiographic: individual case studies
 Nomothetic researchers emphasize similarities
among individuals
 Most psychology research is quantitative, not
qualitative
 Quantitative: statistical summaries of behavior
 Qualitative: verbal summaries of research
findings
Prediction
 Correlations (relationships) among variables
allow researchers to predict mental processes
and behavior
 Correlation means two measures of the same
people, events, or things vary together or go
together
 E.g. the more stressful life events persons
experience (variable 1), the more likely they are
to experience physical illness (variable 2)
 Based on a correlation, if we know people’s
score for variable 1, we can predict their score
for variable 2
 Correlation does not imply causation
 E.g. stressful life events  physical illness ?
physical illness  stressful life events ?
Explanation
 Researchers understand and can explain a
phenomenon when they can identify its cause(s)
 Controlled experiments are conducted to identify
causes
 Causal inference is a statement about the cause
of an event or behavior
 Three conditions
- covariation of events
- time-order relationship
- elimination of plausible, alternative causes
Confounding
 When two independent variables covary
together, we cannot determine which IV caused
effect on DV
 For causal inference, experiment must be free of
confoundings
Describe the confounding:
A psychologist seeks to demonstrate the
effectiveness of a new therapy for helping students
to cope with stress. One group of students
receives the new treatment during the fall term; a
second group of students is placed on a waiting
list to receive the treatment during the next term
(control group). To make sure the students in the
control group maintain their interest in the
research project, an assistant calls them every
week to “check in and see how they’re doing.” The
psychologist measures the coping of students in
both the treatment and control groups at the end of
the fall term and discovers no difference in coping
for the two groups and both are coping well. The
researcher decides to abandon the new therapy.
Intervening variables
 Processes or mechanisms used to explain
relationship between IVs and DVs

Independent Variable Intervening Variable Dependent Variable

insult (present/absent) ? aggressive response
amount of time spent studying ? score on a test
amount of positive feedback ? improved performance
Application
 Apply knowledge and research methods to
improve people’s lives
 Applied research: research to change people’s
lives for the better; often done in real or natural
settings
 Basic research: research to understand behavior
and mental processes and to test theories; often
done in laboratory settings
Steps of Research Process
1. Develop a research question
2. Generate a research hypothesis
3. Form operational definitions
4. Choose a research design
5. Evaluate the ethical issues
6. Collect and analyze data; form conclusions
7. Report research results
Reference
 Shaughnessy, J. J., Zechmeister, E. B., &
Zechmeister, J. S. (2014). Research methods in
psychology (10th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
(Chapters 1 & 2)