How do we know?

							Science and Psychology
      Psych 231: Research
      Methods in Psychology
   GA office hours:
       Desk 1 or 2, Southwest corner of 4th floor (the location
        could change later in the semester)
         •   Kelly: M 3-4
         •   Shauna: Tu 2-3
         •   Jordan: Th 2-3
         •   Jim: W 11-12
   My office hours:
       DeGarmo 435D
       M 11-12, Th 9-10, & by appt




Announcements
    Write down two things that you “know”.
    Write down HOW you “know” those things.




Exercise: How do we know?
                                               Type of knowledge
Our focus
                                        Objective                     Subjective
                                having existence outside of a
                                                                existing in a person’s mind
                                person’s mind (“real”)
Ways of knowing



                               Empiricism (Experience) Rationalism (Logical reasoning)
                  Analysis
                                  Scientific Method                  Persuasion

                                         Authority
                                                                        Tenacity
                  Acceptance            Instruction
                                                                          Faith
                               Regulation (rules & laws)
                                                                        Intuition




           Methods of Inquiry
 The Scientific Method
      A method used to test and analyze claims
       about behavior
      Uses systematic observation and
       experimentation
      4 Cannons of the Scientific method:
        • Empiricism, Determinism, Parsimony, Testability
      A 6 step process




Methods of Inquiry
   Step 1: Observation (Empiricism)
       Pay attention to the world around you, look for generalizations

         write down two generalizations that you have observed about
           people’s behavior

       Two classes of generalizations
         • Descriptive generalizations – just describe how it is/what was
           seen, without making predictions
         • Cause and effect generalizations – makes predictions about the
           observed relationship between two (or more) things.
             • (Determinism: phenomenon have identifiable causes)




Scientific Method
   Step 2: Develop a theory or hypothesis
       Identify the variables associated with your
        observations
            Variables
                The characteristics of the behavior
                and the surrounding context


       An explanation for the observed behavior(s)
         • How are the variables related to one another?
            • May be based on past research, common sense, intuition,
              logic, etc.




Scientific Method
   Step 3: Generate a testable prediction
       Testability: Need to specify how your hypothesis can
        be tested.
         • The relevant variables must be defined and observable.
       Falsification is at the heart of the scientific method
         • Scientists don’t try to prove a theory, but rather set out to
           refute (“disprove”) theories
         • Refutable hypotheses - must be stated in a way that allows
           the potential for it to be wrong




Scientific Method
   Step 4: Make systematic observations
       Observational and experimental methods
         •   Which variables will we examine?
         •   How do we measure these variables?
         •   Which variables can we systematically manipulate?
         •   What variables need to be controlled?
         •   Were (from whom) will we collect the observations?




Scientific Method
   Step 5: Evaluate your evidence
       Refutes theory
       Supports theory (not “proves the theory”)
       Leads to the revision of the theory
       Consider alternative theories
         • There are always alternative explanations
         • Parsimony: Simple explanations are preferred over
           more complex ones




Scientific Method
   Step 6: Repeat
                                    new
                                 hypotheses
         systematic
        observations
                        predictions
                                    new
                                 hypotheses
         systematic
        observations
                        predictions

                                  hypotheses
         observations


Scientific Method
   Write down the names of three scientists
       What field of science do they belong to?
   Write down the name of a famous psychologist



            Dr. Sigmund Freud       Dr. Phil (McGraw)
       Do they represent the standard psychologist?
         • NO!
       Psychology is a diverse discipline
         • ISU’s Psych Dept has 6 different groups
         • APA has 56 different divisions of psychology




Psychology as a science
   What is science?
   What are the goals of science?


   Is psychology a science?
       Yes
        • Studies the full range of human behavior using scientific
          methods
        • Applications derived from this knowledge is scientifically
          based




Psychology as a science
   Psychology’s goals are similar to the goals of
    the physical sciences (e.g., physics and
    chemistry)
       Psychologists are concerned with the behavior of people (and
        animals) rather than the physical world.

   How is psychology different from the physical
    sciences?
       Human (and animal) behavior is typically much more variable
        than most physical systems.
         • Statistical control
         • Methodological control
       Often the thing of interest requires indirect measurement (and
        thus underlying assumptions)



Psychology as a science
              Description of behavior
Simplest
                  Describe events, what changes what might affect change,
                   what might be related to what, etc.
              Prediction of behavior
                  Given X what will likely happen
              Control of behavior
                  For the purpose of interventions (e.g., how do we prevent
                   violence in schools)
              Causes of behavior
                  Sometimes predictions aren’t enough, want to know how the
                   X and the outcome are related
Complex




                  Develop specific theories
              Explanation of behavior
                  A complete theory of the how’s and why’s



           5 Goals of psychology
Theory:
      An interrelated set of concepts that is used to
       explain a body of data and to make predictions
       about the results of future experiments

Hypothesis:
      Are specific predictions that are derived from
       theories (more specific than the theories)




Theories & Hypotheses
    Developing your research ideas
    Reviewing the literature
    Moving from ideas to hypotheses
          Chapter 2




Next time