Choose one topic from the Study Guide for Test One, Topics for Essay Questions, and write a one or two paragraph answer.
List and describe the four alternative ways of knowing.
List and describe the four characteristics of scientists (from lecture)
List and describe Newton’s Four Rules of Reasoning, pp. 8-9 in textbook.
List and discuss the Four general methods of science (From Lecture)
Discuss differences between observational studies and experimental studies in terms of cause and effect
Design an experiment to test hypothesis
Create these four types of studies as examples and identify their defining characteristics (naturalistic observation, correlation, quasi-experiment, or true experiment).
What is Science?
Chapter One
What is Science?
Direct Experience
Doubt and Skepticism
Facts and Relationships
Tests Validity of Ideas
Self-Correcting
What is Science?
Four Alternative Ways of Knowing
Tenacity: Because that’s how it’s always been.
Authority: Because “they” said so.
Reason: Seems reasonable to me.
Common Sense: In my experience….
What is Science?
A fifth way of Knowing is Science!
Whitehead (1925) defined science as using:
Unbiased observation via sight, sound, touch
Reason and logic to compare experiences
What is Science?
What is Not Science?
…is PseudoScience!
Bill Nye the Science Guy explains (cult classic)
http
://
www.dailymotion.com/video/x3jaudr
What is Science?
Galen (130 AD)
Prominent Greek physician, surgeon and philosopher in the Roman empire.
Most accomplished of all medical researchers of his time
First to perform experiments to find true causes
What is Science?
Sir Francis Bacon (1597)
“Men have sought to make a world from their own conception and to draw from their own minds all the material which they employed, but if, instead of doing so, they had consulted experience and observation, they would have the facts and not opinions to reason about, and might have ultimately arrived at the knowledge of the laws which govern the material world.”
What is Science?
Isaac Newton (1680)
Minimize the explanation
Law of parsimony – the simplest explanation is the best
Same effect produced by same cause
If true in one case at one time, likely true for other similar cases at other times
Current ideas are true until proven false
Always look fabulous
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What is Science?
Semmelweis
“Saviour of the Mothers”
In the early 1800’s, surgeons did not scrub up before surgery or even wash their hands between patients, causing infections to be transferred from one patient to another.
Demonstrated in the 1840’s that hand-washing could drastically reduce the number of women dying after childbirth
Experimentation to discover true cause.
What is Science?
Auguste Comte (1853)
“The law is this: that each of our leading conceptions, -each branch of our knowledge, -passes successively through three different theoretical conditions: the Theological, or fictitious; the Metaphysical, or abstract; and the Scientific, or positive.”
Theological Stage – explanation by personified deities
Fetishism – primitive people worshiped inanimate objects like trees, stones, a piece of wood, volcanic eruptions, etc.
Polytheism – The explanation of things through the use of many Gods.
Monotheism – means believing in one God or God in one
Metaphysical or Abstract Stage – refers to explanation by impersonal abstract concepts
Positive Stage – refers to scientific explanation based on observation, experiment, and comparison.
What is Science?
Science Requires Three Things:
Empiricism
a theory which states that knowledge comes only or primarily from sensory experience
Knowledge is based on experience and direct observation
Positivism
a theory which states that knowledge comes only or primarily from sensory experience.
What is Science?
Materialism
The philosophy of materialism holds that the only thing that exists is matter; that all things are composed of material and all phenomena (including consciousness) are the result of material interactions. In other words, matter is the only substance.
Description
A goal of science in which behaviors are systematically and accurately described.
Explanation
A goal of science in which a researcher achieves awareness of why behaviors occur as they do.
Prediction
A goal of science in which a researcher can specify in advance those situations in which a particular behavior will occur.
Control
A goal of science in which a researcher can manipulate variables to produce specific behaviors.
Goals of Science
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Events are lawful. There is a basic pattern to the occurrence of events.
All events are explainable (i.e., have a cause).
Determinism is the belief that for every event there are preceding causes or events.
If this is true, then given the appropriate resources scientists can uncover the answers to all questions concerning the cause of behavior.
Assumptions of the Scientific Method
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Scientists are open-minded.
Scientists are skeptical.
Scientists are critical.
Scientists are intolerant of error
Scientists demand thorough documentation
Scientists insist on replicability
Characteristics of Scientists
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Chapter 2
Methods of Science
Methods of Science
Observational Methods
Naturalistic Observation
Correlation
Quasi-Experiment
Experimental Method
True Experiment
Quantitative vs. Qualitative
Methods of Science
Naturalistic Observation
Observation of behavior in a more or less natural setting, without any attempt to intervene.
The situation is not manipulated or controlled by the investigator.
The situation has not been initiated or created by the investigator.
Methods of Science
Advantages of naturalistic observation
1. Allows observation of behavior exactly as it occurs in the real world.
Said to retain an element of ecological validity.
The situation being studied exists in the natural ecology of the species.
2. Helps to establish the external validity of the research findings.
If you see the behavior occurring in real life, it’s easier to say that the results from your study extend to the general population.
Easier to say that the things that you learn from your sampling of behavior describe the way things work for people outside of your sample.
3. Ethical considerations may prevent the manipulation of a certain variable, but it may be possible to observe this condition when it naturally occurs.
Ex. Reactions to traumatic stress. Psychologists who study reactions to school shootings. You obviously can’t cause these events to occur, but you can observe the results from events when they do occur.
Methods of Science
Correlation
Observe two characteristics about each person
Put one observation on the X-axis
Put second observation on the Y-axis
HARD ROCK MUSIC CREATES KILLER MICE!
David Merrell (1997), high school science fair project
What is the influence of hard-rock music on maze learning in mice?
Hard rock music will impair the ability of mice to navigate a maze.
Method
Allowed mice to navigate a maze for 10 minutes
David started playing music 10 hours a day to two randomly assigned groups:
Control group listened to no music
Group 1 listened to classical music
Group 2 listened to hard rock music
Mice were put through the maze three times a week for three weeks.
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HARD ROCK MUSIC CREATES KILLER MICE!
Results
Control group cut 5 minutes off of their time
Group 1 cut 8.5 minutes off their time
Group 2 took 20 minutes longer to navigate the maze
“I had to cut my project short because all the hard-rock mice killed each other … None of the classical mice did that at all.”
Methods of Science
Experiment
Two or More Groups
Participants are RANDOMLY assigned to the groups
Each Group treated differently
Experimenter directly manipulates treatments
Behavior before, during, and/or after treatment is recorded
Independent Variable (IV): Difference in way groups are treated
Dependent Variable (DV): Measured Behavior of all Subjects
Methods of Science
Quasi-Experiment
Defining characteristic is that participants are NOT randomly assigned to groups.
Comparing one 3rd grade class that started a new way of teaching math with another third grade class that didn’t.
Within-subjects studies
A researcher might measure depression for all participants before starting an exercise program and then measure depression for the same people after the exercise program.
Subjects may be from Naturally Occurring Groups
Gender
A researcher cannot randomly assign you to be male or female for their study.
Methods of Science
Quantitative versus Qualitative
Quantitative = measured behavior in numbers with attempt to find consistent cause-effect processes
Qualitative = descriptive statements regarding subjective feelings, attitudes, beliefs
Methods of Science
Thomas Kuhn (1970)
Science does not progress by building incrementally on past discoveries
Science progresses in revolutions which punctuate the times of slow progression with sudden insight and paradigm shifts
Developing the Hypothesis
Developing the Hypothesis
First you need an Idea
Develop a hypothesis
Educated guess
Statement that describes the relationship between two or more variables.
Identify relevant variables
Variable: any measurable condition, event, characteristic or behavior that is controlled in a study.
Operationally define the relevant variables
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I was just reading online information about Beethoven one day and ran across this bit of information. One source of ideas is your everyday life. Some people keep a small notebook and pencil with them and write down their ideas during the course of a normal day.
Developing the Hypothesis
Sources of Ideas
Everyday life
Television news stories
Psychology textbooks
Research journals from library
Professors
Developing the Hypothesis
Inductive and Deductive Reasoning
Inductive = observe, generalize, theorize
Deductive = theory, predict, observe
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You can get an idea for research from your observations in your life and from these make some generalizations and thus a theory or hypothesis – Induction. You can also start with a Theory and from that consider various predictions the theory makes, and now do a test of those predictions (observations and measurements) – Deduction. For example you may notice that your male friends drive faster and like to run over trash in the road. You make the generalization that men are more aggressive drivers than women. Now you set up your theory, Men are more aggressive than Women. This leads you to hypothesis that men will steer a car to purposefully hit a cup placed in the middle of the road (on the double yellow lines) whereas women will steer avoid a cup placed directly in their path.
Developing the Hypothesis
A simple scheme showing hypothesis testing in everyday life.
Testable Hypotheses Make Testable Predictions.
Developing the Hypothesis
Making it Testable
Hypothesis: Human memory is accurate.
Not a Testable Hypothesis
Hypothesis: Recall for personal events is highly accurate.
Not a Testable Hypothesis
Hypothesis: A person will recall more items from a personal experience than they will from a verbal description of the experience.
Testable Hypothesis!
Developing the Hypothesis
Hypothesis: A person will recall more items from a personal experience than they will from a verbal description of the experience.
Prediction: A group that undergoes a personal experience will recall more items on average than a group that is read a description of the experience.
Developing the Hypothesis
Operational Definitions are the plans of how to measure or manipulate the variables.
How do you define hunger?
How do you define aggression?
How do you define pain?
How do you define memory?
Hypothetical constructs
Ideas or concepts that are useful for understanding behavior, thought and attitude but that are complex and not directly measurable
intelligence, satiation, attraction, status, motivation, learning, memory
Operational definitions
A precise description of how the variables in a study will be manipulated and measured.
Developing the Hypothesis
Hypothesis: A person will recall more items from a personal experience than they will from a verbal description of the experience.
Operationally Define: Independent and Dependent Variables.
In our example, the independent variable is the experience (personal vs. verbal).
The dependent variable is memory.
How do we define these?
Developing the Hypothesis
Hypothesis: A person will recall more items from a personal experience than they will from a verbal description of the experience.
Operational Definition of IV:
Personal Experience will be a student entering class fighting with her boyfriend (loud angry accusations).
Verbal Description will be a student standing in front of the class reading an essay about an argument with her boyfriend.
Developing the Hypothesis
Hypothesis: A person will recall more items from a personal experience than they will from a verbal description of the experience.
Operational Definition of DV (memory):
Number of questions about the fight answered correctly.
Developing the Hypothesis
Construct Validity
How well do the operational definitions actually define what we are trying to measure?
Yawning is a sign of being tired, but it also seems to be a sign that someone is anxious or nervous about something.
Are yawns a valid operational definition of anxiety?
To validate, when I worked at Zoo Atlanta we included yawns on our behavior chart. We found that in primates there were more yawns in the 30 minutes before food was to arrive than at other times of the day. They are anxious before feeding.
Humans also tend to yawn more before important meetings or speaking in public.
Developing the Hypothesis
Final Thought:
Hypotheses must be stated in way that can be tested and shown to be true AND false.
At least you must be able to generate predictions about the outcome that says if X happens, then the hypothesis is true, if Y happens, then the hypothesis is false.
Conducting Ethical Research
Conducting Ethical Research
You will learn
Ethical Considerations in Psychological Research
Rights as a Researcher and as a Subject
Four Ethical Issues
History of Ethical Principles
Ethical Guidelines of the APA
Institutional Review Boards
Special Issues in Deception Research
Animals as Subjects
Poor Ethics in Research
For every rule in the list of standards and guidelines for ethical behavior, there is a person or persons who violated that rule at one time in history.
Tuskegee Syphilis Study
The longest non-therapeutic experiment conducted on human subjects in medical history.
Initiated in 1932 by the US Public Health Service.
The purpose of the study was to determine the natural course of untreated latent syphilis.
Poor Ethics in Research
Tuskegee Syphilis Study
Researchers recruited 400 African American men in Tuskegee, AL, who had syphilis.
They were matched against 200 uninfected men who served as the control group.
The subjects were recruited with misleading promises of special “free treatment” for their disease.
No one explained to them the course of the disease or that there were antibiotics available to treat them.
Painful non-therapeutic procedures such as spinal taps were done on them without anesthesia.
Poor Ethics in Research
Tuskegee Syphilis Study
They were denied antibiotic therapy even when it became clear in the 1940’s that penicillin was a safe and effective treatment for the disease.
Many papers were published over the course of 40 years.
The experiment was not halted until 1972.
At the end of this time, 74 of the 400 men were still alive.
It is estimated that more than 100 had died from the effects of advanced syphilis.
Very little new knowledge was learned from these studies.
Poor Ethics in Research
Tuskegee Syphilis Study
The researchers in this study took advantage of socio-economically deprived participants who perceived the researchers as authority figures and trusted them to provide them with the best care.
This study forced the nation to rethink and redefine practices involving human experimentation.
In the 1970’s, a National Human Investigation Board was established and legislation was passed requiring the establishment of institutional review boards at all research institutions.
A law suit was filed on behalf of the survivors, each of whom received $40,000 in compensation.
The study laid the foundations for a distrust of public health officials by African Americans that still exists in many communities today. For example, there is some evidence that African Americans did not seek treatment for AIDS in the early 1980’s because of their distrust of health care providers.
Conducting Ethical Research
All researchers need to ask one question before starting research.
Does the benefit from the research outweigh the cost which in this case was the risk of withholding treatment from the control group?
Follow the golden rule – “Do unto others as you would have done unto you”.
There is a version of this in almost every religion.
Based on Value of Life
The Researcher’s
The Subject’s
Conducting Ethical Research
Rights of Researchers
Pursue Knowledge
Rights of Subjects
Be safe from harm
Have privacy (Confidentiality)
Know their rights
Conducting Ethical Research
Four Ethical Issues
Consent
Harm
Privacy
Deception
Conducting Ethical Research
Informed consent includes:
Capacity
Ability to understand and authority to make decisions
Children, the cognitively challenged, prisoners, people with Alzheimer’s disease are all considered part of a vulnerable population and special care must take place.
Information
A clear description of the purpose of the study and the role of the subjects
Voluntary
Participants must be able to participate of own free will and can withdraw at any time
Conducting Ethical Research
Harm
Physical and Psychological
To Subjects
To Unwilling Bystanders?
Conducting Ethical Research
Privacy
Physical and Psychological
Can not publicize private thoughts/feelings without consent
Cannot videotape or record audio without consent
Confidentiality – the researcher won’t share details about the participant with others
Anonymity – the identification of the participant is removed from records.
Conducting Ethical Research
Deception
Two Views
Unethical and never do it
Needed and can be done ethically
There are many studies in the field of social psychology that couldn’t be done without some level of deception.
For example, in our example comparing memory for personal experience with memory for other experiences, the researchers set up a fight between a girlfriend and boyfriend. Participants were not told that it was a “fake” fight. They believed it to be real. That was deception.
Conducting Ethical Research
History of Ethical Principles
1938, APA Established Ethics Committee
1948, Nuremburg Code
1951, APA Code of Ethics
1964, Declaration of Helsinki (medical)
1979, The Belmont Report
Respect
Beneficence – do no harm
Justice
2002, APA update of Code of Ethics
Conducting Ethical Research
Ethical Guidelines of the APA
Institutional Approval (IRB)
Informed Consent
Inducements
Deception
Debriefing
Human Care and Use of Animals
Reporting Results
Plagiarism
Credit
Sharing Data
Conducting Ethical Research
Institutional Review Board (IRB)
Researcher Submits Proposal
Committee of Citizens Review Proposal
Assesses Degree of Risk of Harm to Subjects
Is Degree of Risk Worth the Potential Knowledge?
Ensures all Researchers and Assistants have undergone ethical training
The MTSU Consent Form
Conducting Ethical Research
Special Issues in Deception Research
Subjects not informed of True Purpose
Outright Lying to Subjects
Blind and Double-Blind
Obedience-to-Authority
Milgram studies (https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOYLCy5PVgM )
http://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=16QMQXIjYVU
Debriefing – telling participants what happened after the fact
Situational Ethics
Withholding Treatment
Placebo – giving someone a sugar pill rather than the real pill for depression
Conducting Ethical Research
Placebos are deception but are very important in pharmaceutical studies.
The human mind can play tricks.
Just taking a pill of any kind will at first change behavior.
The top line shows that a sugar pill was having the same effect as an anti-psychotic drug for 4 full days.
But after 4 days it no longer had an effect.
Science of behavior does not exclude animals.
What species are studied?
90% are mice, rats, and birds.
5% are monkeys and other primates.
Advantages of using animals.
They are inexpensive (if rats and pigeons, not primates).
They can be tested in experiments impossible to conduct with humans.
They have short life span so are good for long-term studies.
They can be selectively bred.
Ethics: Non-human subjects
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Ethics: Non-human subjects
Animals as Subjects
Five Reasons to Conduct Animal Research
Comparative Psychology
Easier and Cheaper than Humans
Unethical to “do it” to Humans
To Know more about animals to improve their lives
Define Intelligence
Justification of the research
The purpose of the research should be of sufficient potential significance.
The species chosen should be suited to answer the question posed.
Alternatives should be investigated thoroughly.
No research should be conducted without Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) approval. This is just like the IRB for humans.
Research and animal welfare should be monitored throughout the course of study.
Ethics: Non-human subjects
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85% of animal rights activists say they would eliminate all research using animals.
“Thanks to animal research, they’ll be able to protest 20.8 years longer.”
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Animal use for research:
Only 8% of all psychological research is conducted with animals.
Total number of animals used in research: 17 million
80% – 90% were rats and mice
Of all the animals used in the U.S. for human purposes, only 0.3% are used in teaching and research.
Animals in other situations:
96.5% are used for food. Let’s eat them but not learn from them.
Pet care
~22 million cats and dogs are taken in by animal shelters; 12 million destroyed rather than being used to gain knowledge
9 million wild rats are poisoned each year (but put them in a research lab and now they have rights).
Animal Use in Perspective
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“Using psychology and education to enrich the world through respect for human and nonhuman animals”
Since 1981, Psychologists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has worked with social scientists, mental health providers and other animal protection organizations to reduce the suffering and exploitation of both human and nonhuman animals.
http://www.psyeta.org
http://www.psyeta.org/studentrights.html
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Conducting Ethical Research
Conclusion
Ethical Considerations in Psychological Research
Rights as a Researcher and as a Subject
Four Ethical Issues
History of Ethical Principles
Ethical Guidelines of the APA
Institutional Review Boards
Special Issues in Deception Research
Animals as Subjects
