Miami Dade College Psychology Systematic vs Non-Systematic Worksheet

Chapter E (Course PowerPoint)
Chapter 7 (Salkind)
Research Ideas!
An Overview of This Chapter
1
? Now that we are a week or two into the semester, it’s time to focus
our attention on one of the most important aspects of research:
developing a good research question
There are three sections (A B and C) to discuss this chapter …
An Overview of This Chapter
2
? In this chapter we cover the following …
Section A: Chapter D (CPP)
– Part One: The Research Idea
– Part Two: Developing a Research Question
– Part Three: Surveying the Psychological Literature
An Overview of This Chapter
3
? In this chapter we cover the following …
Section B: Salkind (Chapter 7)
– Part One: So You Want To Be A Scientist
– Part Two: The Null Hypothesis
– Part Three: The Research (Alternative) Hypothesis
– Part Four: What Makes A Good Hypothesis (Redux!)
Section C: An Eye Toward The Future
Section A
Chapter D (CPP)
Part One
The Research Idea
The Research Idea
1
? Research ideas can come from many sources
A gap in the literature
Questions that arise from newspapers, magazines, and TV
Listening to a class lecture
Seeing something odd happen in your environment
? In this section, we will focus on three research idea sources …
1). Nonsystematic sources of ideas
2). Systematic sources of ideas
3). Research ideas that evolve from theories
The Research Idea
2
? 1). Nonsystematic ideas (often informal) come from sources that
present themselves to us in unpredictable manners; often there is
no rigorous attempt to locate such researchable ideas
Such ideas might come from …
– Inspiration: A blind flash of genius! This is how Newton hit
upon the idea of gravity (after an apple hit upon his head!)
– Serendipity: We might be looking at one situation but find
something unexpected!
– Everyday occurrences and observations
The Research Idea
3
? 1). Nonsystematic ideas and casual observations
As an example of “everyday occurrences and observations”,
think about …
– the Zeigarnik Effect
The Research Idea
4
? 1). Nonsystematic ideas and casual observations
Russian psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik once noticed an odd
phenomenon. While at a restaurant in a large party, her waiters
seemed to have a phenomenal memory for drink orders, but
only so long as the order was in the process of being served
– When the bill was presented, Zeigarnik asked the waiter for
a refill, but found he had “forgotten” what she was drinking
– She developed the Zeigarnik Effect hypothesis: People
remember uncompleted or interrupted tasks better than
completed ones.
The Research Idea
5
? 1). Nonsystematic ideas and casual observations
The Zeigernik Effect
– Zeigarnik theorized that an incomplete task or unfinished
business creates a “psychic tension” within us. This tension
acts as a motivator to drive us toward completing the task or
finishing the business.
– In Gestalt terms, we are motivated to seek “closure”
The Research Idea
6
? 1). Nonsystematic ideas and casual observations
As you can see, casual observations (like Zeigerniks’) may …
– develop from observations in restaurants
– develop from observations in class
– develop through reading articles / books
– develop from observations of animals or people
?Think about this last one involving observations and
animal research …
The Research Idea
7
? 1). Nonsystematic ideas and casual observations
Unexpected observations made during a project’s course can
spur research, even in animal research
– Joseph Brady and Monkey Ulcers
?Monkeys were dying in Joseph Brady’s lab. His friend,
RW Porter, asked if he could do some postmortems on
the dead monkeys to try to determine cause of death
Porter discovered monkey ulcers, & serendipitously
linked them to the stress that comes with leadership
• Subordinate monkeys did not have such ulcers!
The Research Idea
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? 1). Nonsystematic ideas and casual observations
Casual observations may ignite a research idea, leading to
more systematic theorizing
– The Zeigarnik Effect is interesting, but what if …
?It was a waitress waiting on cute/ugly guys?
?A waiter waiting on cute/ugly girls?
?Would these conditions change the memories of the
waiters or waitresses?
The Research Idea
9
? 2). Systematic ideas (formal) come from thoroughly examined,
more carefully thought-out sources
Imagine a study by Milgram that focused on social influences
– He wanted to see how others reacted when people suddenly
started looking up in Manhattan (normative social influence)
– That is, would bystanders also look up?
?If so, does group size matter
The Research Idea
10
? 2). Systematic ideas (formal) come from thoroughly examined,
more carefully thought-out sources
Migram and “looking up”
– Milgram and colleagues had 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, or 15 people look
up in Manhattan. Then he observed how many passersby
also looked up at the top of tall skyscrapers!
When 1 confederate looked up, 10% of those passing by looked up
2 = 20%
3 = 60%
5 = 80%
10 = 82%
15 = 83%
– Size of the influencing group thus matters! 3 to 5 members
increases conformity, beyond 5 has a negligible influence
The Research Idea
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? 2). Systematic ideas (formal) come from thoroughly examined,
more carefully thought-out sources
You can also find ideas by looking at internet research studies
– If you so desired, you could find tons of internet studies on:
?Attitudes / Emotions & Attitudes About Punishment
?Social Groups and Self-Perception
?Racial Identity Development of Biracial Individuals
?Regrets Regarding Romantic Relationships
Pop Quiz – Quiz Yourself!
1
? Which of the following is derived from systematic experience?
A). A researcher notices that some children will not leave their
mother’s side while other children appear to happily wander off
to explore. The researcher thinks differences are explainable by
looking at secure attachment styles between mother and child
B). After reading an article on subliminal priming, a research
thinks she can get participants to endorse negative stereotypes
about women if participants first receive a negative subliminal
prime about women
Pop Quiz – Quiz Yourself!
2
? Which of the following is derived from systematic experience?
A). A researcher notices that some children will not leave their
mother’s side while other children appear to happily wander off
to explore. The researcher thinks differences are explainable by
looking at secure attachment styles between mother and child
B). After reading an article on subliminal priming, a research
thinks she can get participants to endorse negative stereotypes
about women if participants first receive a negative subliminal
prime about women – Remember, systematic = researched
Pause Problem #1
? Pause-Problem #1 (Systematic vs. Non-Systematic)
For this Pause-Problem, I want you to think of a study idea that
you can approach first from a non-systematic perspective and
second from a systematic perspective.
– My hint is to start with the non-systematic research first!
#1
The Research Idea
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? 3). Research ideas may also evolve from theories
This begs the questions …
– What are theories?
– How are theories developed?
– How do you go about evaluating theories?
The Research Idea
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? 3). Research ideas may also evolve from theories
Theories are formal statements about the relations among the
independent variables (IV’s) and dependent variables (DV’s) in
a given area of research
– In this class, we will deal primarily with scientific theories
?Scientific theories describe scientific relationships by
indicating how variables interact within the system to
which the theory applies
?Sometimes scientific relationships cannot be observed
directly, but merely inferred through the theory
The Research Idea
14
? 3). Research ideas may also evolve from theories
A. Scientific theories help the researcher organize and interpret
research results
– Theories can provide a framework for both organizing and
interpreting research results
– Research results can also be interpreted in light of a theory
B. Scientific theories help the researcher generate research by
providing ideas for new research or providing a framework for
asking and answering questions
Think about the following …
Let’s do a quick study!
? Students Last Name A-M, copy down the following three words:
TRIBE
LEMON
CINERAMA
? Students Last Name N-Z, copy down the following three words
WHIRL
ORANGE
CINERAMA
? For each old word, create a new word that uses ALL of the same
letters as the old word. For example, WEST can become STEW
The Correct Answers
For both groups, here are the correct answers…
Last Name A-M
Last Name N-Z
? TRIBE
? WHIRL
BITER
? LEMON
MELON
? CINERAMA
AMERICAN
Can’t be done!
? ORANGE
Can’t be done!
? CINERAMA
AMERICAN
The Research Idea
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? 3). Research ideas may evolve from theories
You should know about the theory of learned helplessness by
now, since it is pretty famous in psychology
– This theory originated in animal learning research (dogs),
but it was actually a serendipitous experimental finding
The Research Idea
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? 3). Ideas from theories – learned helplessness
Martin Seligman wanted to see if he could transfer a classically
conditioned response to an operant escape situation
– Recall the idea of classical conditioning from your intro to
psych class:
?Responses are learned by pairing neutral stimuli with a
stimuli that arouses you. Eventually, the neutral stimulus
arouses you all on its own absent the original stimuli
?In other words …
The Research Idea
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? 3). Ideas from theories – learned helplessness
Martin Seligman wanted to see if he could transfer a classically
conditioned response to an operant escape situation
– Also recall the idea of instrumental / operant conditioning
?Responses are learned to bring about positive outcomes
(rewards) or to avoid negative outcomes (punishment)
The Research Idea
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? 3). Ideas from theories – learned helplessness
Seligman predicted that a shock to a dog in compartment A
would lead it to run around and jump into compartment B.
A
B
But this did not happen if the
dogs were first prevented
from jumping, but later given
the opportunity to jump!
The Research Idea
19
? In Seligman’s words, the dogs would often
“lay down and quietly whined. After one minute of this we turned
the shock off; the dog had failed to cross the barrier and had not
escaped from the shock. On the next trial, the dog did it again; at
first, it struggled a bit, and then, after a few seconds, it seemed to
give up and to accept the shock passively. On the succeeding
trials, the dog failed to escape”
Seligman, 1975
The Research Idea
20
? 3). Ideas from theories – learned helplessness
Seligman coined the term “learned helplessness”, or an
unwillingness to avoid trauma after experiencing repeated
failures to control unavoidable negative events
– This led to the development of a theory of psychological
depression based on the idea that people may experience
depression if they repeatedly experienced unavoidable and
uncontrollable aversive events
The Research Idea
21
? 3). Ideas from theories – So what now?
Remember that a theory …
– A. summarizes and organizes knowledge
– B. introduces possible explanations
– C. provides a basis for making judgments
The Research Idea
22
? 3). Ideas from theories – So what now?
Seligman accumulated more information about his dogs, finetuning the theory of learned helplessness
– He found that when animals (dogs or humans!) acquire info
about the relationship between a response (trying to avoid a
shock) and the actual outcome (getting shocked) and find
that the outcome and response are independent, then they
may feel that there is no way to avoid the trauma regardless
of their response. In the end, they don’t even try
The Research Idea
23
? 3). Ideas from theories – So what now?
Seligman accumulated more information about his dogs, finetuning the theory of learned helplessness
– The nice thing about using theories as an idea source is that
they provide a framework you can use to make more direct,
specific predictions in research.
?That is, theories guide hypotheses …
The Research Idea
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? 3). Ideas from theories – So what now?
Hypotheses attempt to organize data and relationships among
specific variables within a portion of large, more comprehensive
theories
– That is, hypotheses are tentative statements (that still need
empirical testing) about the relationships between variables
– Unlike theories, hypotheses are narrow and focused, often
using “If A, Then B” oriented statements. However, they
often logically follow from a theory. For example, …
The Research Idea
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? 3). Ideas from theories – So what now?
The theory of learned helplessness notes that …
– People become depressed when they come to believe that
they are helpless to control reinforcements in their lives
A learned helplessness hypothesis is much more specific …
– When you give someone anagram puzzles that they cannot
solve (because they are unsolvable!), the participant will not
even try to solve a puzzle that looks similarly impossible but
is actually solvable
?Think about our “rearranging letters” puzzle!
The Research Idea
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? 3). Ideas from theories – Here’s another example …
Terror Management Theory:
– Theorizes that people are scared when aware of their own
death, so they embrace things that make them feel safe and
secure (e.g. things that support their “cultural worldview”)
A Terror Management Hypothesis:
– When thinking about death (compared to a neutral thought),
participants who hold positive beliefs about America will
support those beliefs to an even great extent. They will also
vilify and hate those who don’t support America
Pop Quiz – Quiz Yourself!
3
? Which of the following best represents a hypothesis involving
emotion?
A). A person can experience physiological arousal first, and
then interpret those feelings as arousal
B). A person can experience arousal and interpret those
feelings as arousal at the same time
C). An event causes arousal first, and then the person has to
label this arousal
D). Exposing people to torture videos (compared to videos
about nature) will increase their feelings of arousal (as
measured by heart rates and breathing rates)
Pop Quiz – Quiz Yourself!
4
? Which of the following best represents a hypothesis involving
emotion? The first three are actual emotion theories!
A). A person experiences physiological arousal first, and then
interpret those feelings as arousal (Schachter-Singer Theory)
B). A person can experience arousal and interpret those
feelings as arousal at the same time (Cannon-Bard Theory)
C). An event causes arousal first, and then the person has to
label this arousal (James Lange Theory)
D). Exposing people to torture videos (compared to videos
about nature) will increase their feelings of arousal (as
measured by heart rates and breathing rates) – Very specific!
Part Two
Developing A Research Question
Developing a Research Question
1
? In this section, we will try to understand the (deceptively) easy way
to ask research questions. We will cover …
1). Research topics vs. research questions
2). Finding the right research question
3). Asking the right research question
Developing a Research Question
2
? 1). Research topics versus empirical research questions
I want to emphasize the difference between a research topic
and a research question
– A research topic is a general phenomenon of interest, such
as false confessions, learning disabilities, memory, etc.
?Research topics can come from personal experience, an
investigator’s theory, or ideas brought up through other’s
research ideas. But it is a topic, and thus very general
– An empirical research question, on the other hand, specifies
what we want to study more specifically, suggesting the key
concepts we need to know (it is, in essence, a hypothesis)
Developing a Research Question
3
? 1). Research topics versus empirical research questions
I want to emphasize the difference between a research topic
and a research question
– In this class, I gave you a topic and a research question for
your study, but pay close attention to how to develop such
questions on your own!
– So let’s try to figure out what a research question entails
Developing a Research Question
4
? 2). Finding the right research question
A research question is an easy concept to understand in that it
is simply a statement about expected outcomes (though that
term “question” is a bit of a misnomer, as a research question
does NOT end in a question mark)
But at the same time, it is very hard, since creating the right
question and forming that question into a researchable focus
requires time and experience
– A research question requires clarity, which relies on having
background knowledge about the topic you want to study
Developing a Research Question
5
? 2). Finding the right research question
Research questions often come from an area interesting to the
researcher.
– For example, my own research interest is in the field of legal
psychology. I may want to know “Whether juror verdicts are
more influenced by pro-prosecution pretrial publicity or prodefense pretrial publicity” (that is, is there any evidence
jurors hear about before the trial that may influence them)
– This research interest, unfortunately, does not quite get us
to a research question
– Let’s look at a more specific pretrial-publicity hypothesis:
Developing a Research Question
6
? 2). Finding the right research question
A more specific pretrial-publicity hypothesis:
– “Jurors who are exposed to pretrial publicity that favors the
prosecution will be more likely to convict the defendant than
jurors who are exposed to pretrial publicity that favors the
defendant.”
?Here, jury verdicts are the outcome I am interested in, or
the dependent variable (the DV)
?Pro-prosecution vs. pro-defense pretrial publicity is the
manipulated variable, the independent variable (the IV)
Developing a Research Question
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? 2). Finding the right research question
A more specific pretrial-publicity hypothesis:
– Break this down in terms of an “If A, Then B” format
?“IF jurors are exposed to pro-prosecution pretrial publicity,
THEN they will favor of the prosecution”
?“IF jurors are exposed to pro-defense pretrial publicity,
THEN they will favor of the defense”
– Now, put it together: “IF jurors are exposed to pro-prosecution
pretrial publicity, THEN they will favor of the prosecution more
than IF they are exposed to pro-defense pretrial publicity”
Developing a Research Question
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? 3). Asking the right research question
There are several components to asking the right research
question. Before we discuss them, think about the question
below, and try to figure out if it is a good or bad question
– “If jurors hear Inadmissible Evidence (I-E) that is relevant to
the defendant’s guilt, they will find the defendant more guilty
when the inadmissible evidence is obtained in violation of
the defendant’s civil rights OR ruled admissible than if it is
based on a poor audio-quality wiretap.”
– I will refer to this as the “I-E Hypothesis” in future slides
Developing a Research Question
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? 3). Asking the right research question – Elements to consider …
A. Is the research question clearly stated?
B. Is the research question researchable and testable?
C. Are concepts in the question operationally defined?
D. Does the question note the unit of analysis?
E. Does it specify the expected relationship?
F. Does it focus on outcomes (the DV)?
G. Does it involve contrasts that are made specific?
H. Does it specify conditions regarding the relationship?
I. Does it stem from an idea or theory?
Developing a Research Question
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? 3). Asking the right research question
A. Is the research question clearly stated?
– Bad: “I wonder how inadmissible evidence influences jurors”
– Better: “Does the type of inadmissible evidence (bad quality
vs. obtained by violating civil rights) influence juror verdicts”
?Of course, you have to define
what you mean by “influence”
– Recall the I-E hypothesis: It is
stated much more clearly than
both of the hypotheses above
Developing a Research Question
11
? 3). Asking the right research question
B. A good research question is researchable and testable
– That is, it must be an answerable question
?“Is the death penalty fair?” is a bad question
It is not answerable
?“Why do death penalty proponents think the death
penalty is fair?” is much better,
because it can lead to testable
studies. But there is still room for
improvement, right!
Developing a Research Question
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? 3). Asking the right research question
C. Good research questions point to important concepts that
can be clearly defined (or operationally defined)
– Let’s say you think jurors with low self-esteem will cave into
the majority opinion easier than jurors with high self-esteem
?Now, define self-esteem! Hard, right!
?Concepts must be measurable, or you
must define them so other researchers
know what you are talking about
?Even the I-E hypothesis needs to
define “bad audio quality”
Developing a Research Question
13
? 3). Asking the right research question
D. Good research questions will define the units of analysis (or
cases) to which it applies
– Can be based on individuals (jurors) or groups (a whole jury)
– Three things are useful when determining units of analysis:
?What kind of case: Mothers, defendants, judges, juries?
?Where are the cases: Kendall, Miami, Florida, Southern
District, the entire USA?
?When are these cases: Now, the future, the past?
– The I-E hypothesis could be more specific here as well
Developing a Research Question
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? 3). Asking the right research question
E. Good research questions specify expected relationships
– Often an expected relationship focuses on how one thing
influences another
?Example: How an officer handles a domestic violence
call may impact whether the offender does it again
Arresting an abuser may lead
to fewer future incidents than
giving him a simple warning
Arrests decrease future behavior
(see the relationship!)
Developing a Research Question
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? 3). Asking the right research question
F. Good research question focuses on outcomes (DV’s) or, at
minimum, indicates the outcome of interest
– Bad: “What influence does poor self-concept have?”
?“Have” on what? This is a bad question because there is
no limit to the range of potential outcomes, and thus no
end to the research. After all, it could lead to depression
or helping behavior!
Developing a Research Question
16
? 3). Asking the right research question
G. Good research questions involve explicit contrasts
– They might contrast female jurors versus male jurors; proprosecution jurors versus pro-defense; eyewitnesses with
good views versus those with bad views; etc.
– Our I-E Hypothesis does a good job of this
?Those given admissible evidence or evidence ruled
inadmissible due to civil right
violations will convict more than
those given inadmissible evidence
that is poor in audio quality.
Developing a Research Question
17
? 3). Asking the right research question
H. Research questions should specify the conditions under
which the relationships are expected to emerge
– For example, arresting spousal abusers will only decrease
future acts of violence if the abuser is rich, lives in a family
based neighborhood, and is taken into custody in view of
friends or neighbors
+
=
Developing a Research Question
18
? 3). Asking the right research question
I. Finally, good research questions are often those that stem
from some idea or theory you have about important things
– May come from you or others.
– A great way to start is by looking at the work of others
Developing a Research Question
19
? 3). Asking the right research question – To sum up
Good research questions are clearly stated, researchable
questions involving important concepts that are related to a
theory
Good research questions apply a case or unit of analysis,
involves comparison and contrasts, focuses on outcomes, and
may also specify independent variables and conditions that
govern expected relationships between concepts
The I-E hypothesis comes close, but it needs clarification in
some areas. For now, let’s look at some bad questions
Developing a Research Question
20
? 3). Asking the right research question – Why is this question poor?
“Eyewitnesses at crime scenes”
– Poor because: this is a topic, not a research question
“I think jurors are basically honest decision-makers”
– Poor because: this isn’t a question, merely an opinion
“How do ghosts eat?”
– Poor because: it isn’t researchable, it is ambiguous
“What is the impact of city size?”
– Poor because: asks only about an IV and doesn’t limit DVs
Developing a Research Question
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? 3). Asking the right research question – Why is this question poor?
“Do eyewitnesses incorporate new info into their memories”
– Poor because: it’s a good question, but has been answered
already – expand on it more
“Why do people commit crimes?”
– Poor because: It’s too broad to be answered in a lifetime –
focus more
“How can psychologists influence the jury system”
– Poor because: It’s also too broad, though it might lead to
researchable questions if it can be narrowed down
Developing a Research Question
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? 3)

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