Introductie in onderzoeksmethoden -
Psychologie
CHAPTER 1
Producers of research: The skills you acquire by conducting research can teach
you how psychological scientists ask questions and how they think about their
discipline.
Consumers of research:
- Understanding research methods enables you to ask the appropriate
questions so you can evaluate information correctly. Research methods
skills apply not only to research studies but also to much of the other
types of information you are likely to encounter in daily life.
- being a smart consumer of research could be crucial to your future career.
⇒ evidence-based treatments—that is, therapies that are supported by research
Empiricists: do not base conclusions on intuition, on casual observations of
their own experience, or on what other people say. Empiricism involves
using evidence from the senses (sight, hearing, touch) or from instruments
that assist the senses
In the theory-data cycle: scientists collect data to test, change, or update their
theories. Example: One theory, referred to as the cupboard theory of mother-
infant attachment, is that a mother is valuable to a baby mammal because she
is a source of food. Another theory: babies are attached to their mothers
because of the comfort of cozy touch ⇒ contact comfort theory
⇒ As the theory hypothesized, Harlow’s baby monkeys spent most of their
time on the warm, cozy cloth mother, even though she did not provide any
food.
A theory is a set of statements that
describes general principles about
how variables relate to one another.
A hypothesis, or prediction, is
the specific outcome the
researcher expects to observe
in a study if the theory is
accurate
Data are a set of observations.
⇒ Depending on whether the
data are consistent with
hypotheses based on a theory,
the data may either support or
challenge the theory.
Good theories:
- are supported by data
- are falsifiable: A theory must
lead to hypotheses that, when tested, could actually fail to support the theory
- have parsimony: Theories are supposed to be simple.
The word prove: is not used in science. Researchers never say they have proved
their theories. At most, they will say that some data support or are consistent
with a theory Rather than thinking of a theory as proved or disproved by a single
study, scientists evaluate their theories based on the weight of the evidence, for
,and against.
,Applied research: is done with a practical problem in mind; the researchers
conduct their work in a particular real-world context.
Basic research, in contrast, is not intended to address a specific, practical
problem; the goal is to enhance the general body of knowledge. Basic
researchers might want to understand the structure of the visual system, the
capacity of human memory
Translational research: is the use of lessons from basic research to develop and
test applications to health care, psychotherapy, or other forms of treatment and
intervention. For example, basic research on the biochemistry of cell
membranes might be translated into a new drug for schizophrenia.
The Publication Process: the articles in a scientific journal are peer-reviewed. The
journal editor sends the submission to three or four experts on the subject.
Through publishing their work, scientists make the process of their research
transparent, and the scientific community evaluates it
Journalism, in contrast, includes the kinds of news and commentary that
most of us read or hear ⇒ niet ondersteunt door wetenschappers
Mozart effect”: Media coverage of a phenomenon called the “Mozart effect”
provides an example of how journalists might misrepresent science when they
write for a popular audience
CHAPTER 2
Experience vs Science:
- Experience Has No Comparison Group: A comparison group enables us to
compare what would happen both with and without the thing we are
interested in. Only a systematic comparison can show you whether your
knee improves when you use a special tape (compared with when you do
not), or whether your anger goes away when you play a violent online
game (compared with doing nothing).
- Experience Is Confounded: When you notice a difference in your knee
pain after using kinesio-tape, maybe you also took it easy that day or
used a pain reliever.
Which one caused your knee pain to improve?
In research, these alternative explanations are called confounds:
Essentially, a confound occurs when you think one thing caused an
outcome but in fact other things changed, too
- Research Is Better Than Experience: woede-onderzoek
a confederate, an actor playing a specific role for the experimenter.
- Research Is Probabilistic: which means that its findings are not expected
to explain all cases all of the time. Instead, the conclusions of research
are meant to explain a certain proportion ⇒ your own experience is only
one point in that overall pattern
THE RESEARCH VS. YOUR INTUITION
⇒ Biased: neiging om onbewust meer waarde te hechten aan het ene dan
aan het ander.
Biases:
1. accepting a conclusion just because it makes sense or feels natural.
We tend to believe good stories—even ones that are false
Catharsis: gooi het eruit, dan ben je het kwijt. Verhaal gebaseerd op de druk van
een stoommachine
, 2. availability heuristic: which states that things that pop up easily in our
mind tend to guide our thinking. When events or memories are vivid,
recent, or memorable, they come to mind more easily, leading us to
overestimate how often things happen.
3. present/present bias, is a name for our failure to consider appropriate
comparison groups. For example, the anger research: When thinking
intuitively, we tend to focus only on experiences that fall in the
present/present cell, the instances in which catharsis seemed to work.
But if we think harder and look at the whole picture, we would conclude
catharsis doesn’t work well at all.
4. Confirmation bias: The tendency to look only at information that agrees
with what we already believe
5. a bias blind spot, the belief that we are unlikely to fall prey to the
other biases previously described
Scientific researchers are aware: of their potential for biased reasoning, so they
create special situations in which they can systematically observe behavior.
They create comparison groups, consider all the data, and allow the data to
change their beliefs.
Authorities: Before taking the advice of authorities, ask yourself about the source
of their ideas. Did the authority systematically and objectively compare different
conditions, as a
Psychologie
CHAPTER 1
Producers of research: The skills you acquire by conducting research can teach
you how psychological scientists ask questions and how they think about their
discipline.
Consumers of research:
- Understanding research methods enables you to ask the appropriate
questions so you can evaluate information correctly. Research methods
skills apply not only to research studies but also to much of the other
types of information you are likely to encounter in daily life.
- being a smart consumer of research could be crucial to your future career.
⇒ evidence-based treatments—that is, therapies that are supported by research
Empiricists: do not base conclusions on intuition, on casual observations of
their own experience, or on what other people say. Empiricism involves
using evidence from the senses (sight, hearing, touch) or from instruments
that assist the senses
In the theory-data cycle: scientists collect data to test, change, or update their
theories. Example: One theory, referred to as the cupboard theory of mother-
infant attachment, is that a mother is valuable to a baby mammal because she
is a source of food. Another theory: babies are attached to their mothers
because of the comfort of cozy touch ⇒ contact comfort theory
⇒ As the theory hypothesized, Harlow’s baby monkeys spent most of their
time on the warm, cozy cloth mother, even though she did not provide any
food.
A theory is a set of statements that
describes general principles about
how variables relate to one another.
A hypothesis, or prediction, is
the specific outcome the
researcher expects to observe
in a study if the theory is
accurate
Data are a set of observations.
⇒ Depending on whether the
data are consistent with
hypotheses based on a theory,
the data may either support or
challenge the theory.
Good theories:
- are supported by data
- are falsifiable: A theory must
lead to hypotheses that, when tested, could actually fail to support the theory
- have parsimony: Theories are supposed to be simple.
The word prove: is not used in science. Researchers never say they have proved
their theories. At most, they will say that some data support or are consistent
with a theory Rather than thinking of a theory as proved or disproved by a single
study, scientists evaluate their theories based on the weight of the evidence, for
,and against.
,Applied research: is done with a practical problem in mind; the researchers
conduct their work in a particular real-world context.
Basic research, in contrast, is not intended to address a specific, practical
problem; the goal is to enhance the general body of knowledge. Basic
researchers might want to understand the structure of the visual system, the
capacity of human memory
Translational research: is the use of lessons from basic research to develop and
test applications to health care, psychotherapy, or other forms of treatment and
intervention. For example, basic research on the biochemistry of cell
membranes might be translated into a new drug for schizophrenia.
The Publication Process: the articles in a scientific journal are peer-reviewed. The
journal editor sends the submission to three or four experts on the subject.
Through publishing their work, scientists make the process of their research
transparent, and the scientific community evaluates it
Journalism, in contrast, includes the kinds of news and commentary that
most of us read or hear ⇒ niet ondersteunt door wetenschappers
Mozart effect”: Media coverage of a phenomenon called the “Mozart effect”
provides an example of how journalists might misrepresent science when they
write for a popular audience
CHAPTER 2
Experience vs Science:
- Experience Has No Comparison Group: A comparison group enables us to
compare what would happen both with and without the thing we are
interested in. Only a systematic comparison can show you whether your
knee improves when you use a special tape (compared with when you do
not), or whether your anger goes away when you play a violent online
game (compared with doing nothing).
- Experience Is Confounded: When you notice a difference in your knee
pain after using kinesio-tape, maybe you also took it easy that day or
used a pain reliever.
Which one caused your knee pain to improve?
In research, these alternative explanations are called confounds:
Essentially, a confound occurs when you think one thing caused an
outcome but in fact other things changed, too
- Research Is Better Than Experience: woede-onderzoek
a confederate, an actor playing a specific role for the experimenter.
- Research Is Probabilistic: which means that its findings are not expected
to explain all cases all of the time. Instead, the conclusions of research
are meant to explain a certain proportion ⇒ your own experience is only
one point in that overall pattern
THE RESEARCH VS. YOUR INTUITION
⇒ Biased: neiging om onbewust meer waarde te hechten aan het ene dan
aan het ander.
Biases:
1. accepting a conclusion just because it makes sense or feels natural.
We tend to believe good stories—even ones that are false
Catharsis: gooi het eruit, dan ben je het kwijt. Verhaal gebaseerd op de druk van
een stoommachine
, 2. availability heuristic: which states that things that pop up easily in our
mind tend to guide our thinking. When events or memories are vivid,
recent, or memorable, they come to mind more easily, leading us to
overestimate how often things happen.
3. present/present bias, is a name for our failure to consider appropriate
comparison groups. For example, the anger research: When thinking
intuitively, we tend to focus only on experiences that fall in the
present/present cell, the instances in which catharsis seemed to work.
But if we think harder and look at the whole picture, we would conclude
catharsis doesn’t work well at all.
4. Confirmation bias: The tendency to look only at information that agrees
with what we already believe
5. a bias blind spot, the belief that we are unlikely to fall prey to the
other biases previously described
Scientific researchers are aware: of their potential for biased reasoning, so they
create special situations in which they can systematically observe behavior.
They create comparison groups, consider all the data, and allow the data to
change their beliefs.
Authorities: Before taking the advice of authorities, ask yourself about the source
of their ideas. Did the authority systematically and objectively compare different
conditions, as a
