Chapter 1
Learning Objectives:
- Explain reasons why understanding research is important
- Describe the scientific approach to learning about behaviour and contrast it with
pseudoscience
- Define and give examples of the 4 goals of scientific research in psychology
- Compare and contrast basic and applied research
Why study Research Methods?
- allows you to read reports critically, evaluate methods and decide whether the conclusions
and assertions being made are appropriate and justifiable.
- helps in separating and concluding pseudoscience.
- also helpful for careers when evaluating reports
- Example: in business, reading reports and studies before making a decision;
psychologist read studies of treatments and medications before applying it to people.
Describe the scientific approach to learning about behaviour and contrast it with
pseudoscience:
- humans rely on intuition and authority solely (but lead to biased conclusions).
Methods of Acquiring Knowledge:
- Intuition = based on anecdotal evidence to draw general conclusion. It is the unquestioning
acceptance of own judgement (the “gut feeling”).
- Often involves the finding an explanation of own behaviours.
- This is pseudoscience, because has many cognitive and motivational biases, affecting
our perception (where we can arrive at an incorrect conclusion).
- cognitive bias called ILLUSORY CORRELATION (when two events occur closely
together, this draws our attention, and we often conclude that one must cause the
other).
- its perceiving a relationship between 2 variables, even though there is no actual
relationship.
EXAMPLE: - arthritis and cold weather.
, - a woman was attacked by a man with ginger hair. She now fears people
with the same hair colour.
- it’s not long-term, but more short-term, when thinking and using intuition
Authority = When we place our trust in someone else who we think knows more than we do,
someone who is “credible”.
- having blind trust to authority, are prone to draw incorrect conclusions from statistics.
- many people readily accept anything they encounter from news media, books,
government officials, or religious leaders.
- ***PROBLEM, statements from any authority figure may not be true. Scientific
approach requires lots of evidence and good quality evidence, before coming to any
conclusion ***
● The Scientific Method
○ Scientific Skepticism: Ideas must be evaluated on the basis of careful logic
and results from scientific investigations.
○ Empiricism: The use of objective observations to answer a question about the
nature of behaviour.
○ The 4 norms of the Scientific Method
1. Universalism: Observations are systematically structures and
evaluated objectively using accepted methods of the discipline.
2. Communality: Methods and results are shared openly, encourage
replication.
3. Disinterestedness: Accurate results are more important than pride.
4. Organized skepticism: Results should be peer reviewed to reduce
major flaws from being published in scientific literature.
● Falsifiable: Capable of being shown to be false when tested with scientific
methods. A good theory should be falsifiable.
● Pseudoscience: Claims made on the basis of evidence that’s designed to appear
scientific. Such evidence is not based on the principles of the scientific method.
○ Claims not falsifiable
○ Ignore conflicting evidence
○ Stated in scientific sounding terminology and ideas
Features that make a study
pseudoscience.
○ Tend to be vague
○ Never revised to account for new data
2
, ● Goals of Scientific Research in Psychology
1. Describing behaviour
2. Predicting behaviour
○ Once observed with regularity that 2 events are related to each other it
becomes possible to make predictions and anticipate events.
○ Predicted relations do not imply causation.
3. Determine causes of behaviour
○ Experiments help us identify cause and effect relationships
○ Causal inference
4. Understand/explain behaviour
○ An explanation that appears satisfactory may turn out to be inadequate
○ Explanation of behaviour are often revised when new evidence appears
● Criteria for causal claims → causal inference
1. Covariation of cause and effect: observing change in one variable is
accompanied by a change in a second variable.
2. Temporal precedence: the cause precedes (comes before) the effect in a
time sequence
3. Alternative explanation: potential alternative cause of an observed
relationship between variables.
● Basic and applied research
○ Basic research: research that attempts to answer fundamental questions
about the nature of behaviour
■ Has four goals of scientific research
■ The studies are designed to test aspects of theories
○ Applied research: Research is conducted to address practical problems and
potential solutions
■ Program evaluation: Research designed to evaluate programs that are
designed to produce certain changes or outcomes in a target population
○ Integrating Applied and Basic Research
■ Progress in science is dependent on the two working together
3
Learning Objectives:
- Explain reasons why understanding research is important
- Describe the scientific approach to learning about behaviour and contrast it with
pseudoscience
- Define and give examples of the 4 goals of scientific research in psychology
- Compare and contrast basic and applied research
Why study Research Methods?
- allows you to read reports critically, evaluate methods and decide whether the conclusions
and assertions being made are appropriate and justifiable.
- helps in separating and concluding pseudoscience.
- also helpful for careers when evaluating reports
- Example: in business, reading reports and studies before making a decision;
psychologist read studies of treatments and medications before applying it to people.
Describe the scientific approach to learning about behaviour and contrast it with
pseudoscience:
- humans rely on intuition and authority solely (but lead to biased conclusions).
Methods of Acquiring Knowledge:
- Intuition = based on anecdotal evidence to draw general conclusion. It is the unquestioning
acceptance of own judgement (the “gut feeling”).
- Often involves the finding an explanation of own behaviours.
- This is pseudoscience, because has many cognitive and motivational biases, affecting
our perception (where we can arrive at an incorrect conclusion).
- cognitive bias called ILLUSORY CORRELATION (when two events occur closely
together, this draws our attention, and we often conclude that one must cause the
other).
- its perceiving a relationship between 2 variables, even though there is no actual
relationship.
EXAMPLE: - arthritis and cold weather.
, - a woman was attacked by a man with ginger hair. She now fears people
with the same hair colour.
- it’s not long-term, but more short-term, when thinking and using intuition
Authority = When we place our trust in someone else who we think knows more than we do,
someone who is “credible”.
- having blind trust to authority, are prone to draw incorrect conclusions from statistics.
- many people readily accept anything they encounter from news media, books,
government officials, or religious leaders.
- ***PROBLEM, statements from any authority figure may not be true. Scientific
approach requires lots of evidence and good quality evidence, before coming to any
conclusion ***
● The Scientific Method
○ Scientific Skepticism: Ideas must be evaluated on the basis of careful logic
and results from scientific investigations.
○ Empiricism: The use of objective observations to answer a question about the
nature of behaviour.
○ The 4 norms of the Scientific Method
1. Universalism: Observations are systematically structures and
evaluated objectively using accepted methods of the discipline.
2. Communality: Methods and results are shared openly, encourage
replication.
3. Disinterestedness: Accurate results are more important than pride.
4. Organized skepticism: Results should be peer reviewed to reduce
major flaws from being published in scientific literature.
● Falsifiable: Capable of being shown to be false when tested with scientific
methods. A good theory should be falsifiable.
● Pseudoscience: Claims made on the basis of evidence that’s designed to appear
scientific. Such evidence is not based on the principles of the scientific method.
○ Claims not falsifiable
○ Ignore conflicting evidence
○ Stated in scientific sounding terminology and ideas
Features that make a study
pseudoscience.
○ Tend to be vague
○ Never revised to account for new data
2
, ● Goals of Scientific Research in Psychology
1. Describing behaviour
2. Predicting behaviour
○ Once observed with regularity that 2 events are related to each other it
becomes possible to make predictions and anticipate events.
○ Predicted relations do not imply causation.
3. Determine causes of behaviour
○ Experiments help us identify cause and effect relationships
○ Causal inference
4. Understand/explain behaviour
○ An explanation that appears satisfactory may turn out to be inadequate
○ Explanation of behaviour are often revised when new evidence appears
● Criteria for causal claims → causal inference
1. Covariation of cause and effect: observing change in one variable is
accompanied by a change in a second variable.
2. Temporal precedence: the cause precedes (comes before) the effect in a
time sequence
3. Alternative explanation: potential alternative cause of an observed
relationship between variables.
● Basic and applied research
○ Basic research: research that attempts to answer fundamental questions
about the nature of behaviour
■ Has four goals of scientific research
■ The studies are designed to test aspects of theories
○ Applied research: Research is conducted to address practical problems and
potential solutions
■ Program evaluation: Research designed to evaluate programs that are
designed to produce certain changes or outcomes in a target population
○ Integrating Applied and Basic Research
■ Progress in science is dependent on the two working together
3
