AP Psych Duez Unit Plan - Chapter 2 "The Research Enterprise in Psychology" Themes: Psychology is Empircal & People's experience

e of the world can be highly sujective. Scientific Approach: 3 Laws of nature that can be discovered through empirical approach: 1 measurement & description of behavior 2 understanding and predicting behavior 3 application of this knowledge to the task of controlling behavior

Theories permit psychologists to make the leap of behavior to understanding behavior

Scientific investigation that follows a systematic pattern that includes 5 steps: 1 formulate testable hypothesis; 2 select the research method & design the study; 3 collect data; 4 analyze the data & draw conclusions; 5 report findings 2 major advantages to scientific approach: 1 clarity in communication; 2 relative intolerance of error Experimental Approach:

Involves manipulation of independent variable to ascertain its effect on dependent variable. Research is done by comparing experimental & control groups, which must be alike in regard to important extraneous variables.

Experimental designs may vary. And experiments are powerful research method that permits conclusions about cause-and-effect relationships between variables. However, experimental method is often not useable for a specific problem & can be artificial. Descriptive/Correlational Research: When unable to manipulate the variables they want to study, can rely on this approach - naturalistic observation, case studies, & surveys.

Allow psychologists to explore issues that might not be open to experimental investigation. Also less artificial than experiments. However, these research methods cannot demonstrate cause-effect relationships. Statistics & Research: Measures of central tendency & variability - organize & summarize their numerical data. Mean, median, mode widely used measures of central tendency. Variability is usually measured by standard deviation. Correlations may be either positive or negative. The closer the correlation is to either +1.00 or -1.00, the stronger the association is. Higher correlations yield greater predictability. However, a correlation is no assurance of causation.

Hypothesis testing involves deciding whether observed findings support researcher's hypothesis. Significant only when unlikely to be due to chance. Anecdotal evidence Case study Confounding of Control Group Correlation variables Correlation Data collection Dependent variables Descriptive Double-blind coefficient techniques statistics procedure Experimental bias Experimental Hypothesis Independent Inferential Statistics variables variable Mean Median Meta-analysis Mode Naturalistic observation Operational Placebo effects Random assignment Response set Sampling bias definition Social desirablility Standard deviation Statistical Variability Variables bias significance

Major points to understand: 1. Observation is the most important aspect of psychological research. 2. Operationalism means to define our variables in the manner in which we are going to measure them. 3. Correlation measures degree of relationship between variables and ranges from -1 to +1. 4. Correlation does not imply causation. 5. Independent variables are controlled by researchers, while dependent variables are what researchers are measuring. (remember, dependent variable is dependent upon the independent variable) 6. Experimental, correlational, and descriptive methods all have strengths and weaknesses in describing human behavior. 7. Descriptive statistics describe the data gathered in research, while inferential statistics allow us to draw conclusions about how this data can be generalized to a larger population. 8. Following ethical principles is vitally important in any kind of psychological research. *emphasized on resent AP exams*

Questions to consider: 1. What is the difference between natural observation, case studies, & surveys. 2. What is the problem with sampling bias? 3. Explain when placebo effects are likely to be a problem. 4. What typical kinds of distortions occur in self-report data. 5. Describe Rosenthal's research on experimenter bias. 6. What is the controversy surrounding animals as research subjects (humans?)? 7. Why is anecdotal evidence flawed and unreliable?