...G541: Psychological Investigations The aim of this booklet is to provide you with practical activities to enhance your understanding of psychological investigations. Once completed it will provide a valuable revision tool…so take care of it!! The information covered in this booklet will also be of valuable when it comes to evaluating and understanding the methods used in the core studies. Research Methods and Techniques used in Psychological Investigations ------------------------------------------------- Methods and Techniques ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- Experimental Methods: ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- The term experimental method refers to the method used to carry out the experiment. There are three main types of experiment – lab, field and natural/quasi. Research Method | Definition: | Advantage(s) | Disadvantage(s) | Laboratory experiment | A test under controlledconditions that is madeto demonstrate a knowntruth, examine the validityof a hypothesis, or determine the efficiency of something previously untried. | The research can better establish causality through reducing the number of confounds via a controlled environment like a lab setting. | The results may be artificial and not apply to the real world, there may be researcher bias or a social desirability affects, and the results may only apply to...
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...Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Sapp, Marty. Test Anxiety : applied research, assessment, and treatment interventions / Marty Sapp. —2nd ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and indexes. 1. Test anxiety—Research—Statistical methods. 2. Social sciences—Statistical methods. I. Title. LB3060.6.S27 1999 371.26'01'9—dc21 99—22530 CIP ISBN 0-7618-1386-1 (cloth: alk. ppr.) fc/ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48—1984 To my students Preface to First Edition Preface to Second Edition This text is divided into three parts. Part I deals with applied research design and statistical methodology frequently occurring in test anxiety literature. Part II focuses on theories and methods of assessing test anxiety using standardized instruments. Part III extensively describes and provides treatment scripts for test anxiety. In addition to advanced undergraduate and graduate students in the social sciences, this text is designed to attract two audiences—the quantitatively oriented professors teaching...
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...Getting Started: The Anatomy and Physiology of Clinical Research Stephen B. Hulley, Thomas B. Newman, and Steven R. Cummings This chapter introduces clinical research from two viewpoints, setting up themes that run together through the book. One theme is the anatomy of research-what it's made of. This includes the tangible elements of the study plan: the research question, design, subjects, measurements, sample size calculation, and so forth. An investigator's goal is to create these elements in a form that will make the project fast, inexpensive, and easy. The other theme is the physiology of research-how it works. Studies are useful to the extent that they yield valid inferences, first about what happened in the study sample and then about generalizing these events to people outside. the study. The goal is to minimize the errors, random and systematic, that threaten conclusions based on these inferences. Separating these two themes is artificial in the same way that the anatomy of the human body does not make much sense without some understanding of its physiology. But the separation has the same advantage: It clarifies our thinking about a complex topic. . THE ANATOMY OF RESEARCH: WHAT IT'S MADE OF The structure of a research project is set out in its protocol, the written plan of the study. Protocols are well kn~wn as devices for seeking grant funds, but they also have a vital scientific function: helping the investigator to organize her research in a logical, focused...
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...BUSI 600 Liberty University September 20, 2013 Discussion Board Forum 5 This paper will attempt to answer varies questions from chapters nine and ten. The questions asked and answered pertain to ethical problems, experiments and their designs. After reading this paper you should know that there are some ethical issues when it comes to experimental research. You should also understand and become aware of the steps you should take to accomplish a well-planned experiment (Cooper & Schindler, 2011, p.206). There is information about the types of experimental designs and how they are different. Also discussed are the three communication approaches. Question 9.4 What ethical problems do you see in conducting experiments with human subjects? The question of “what ethical problems do you see in conducting experiments with human subjects?” is truly a multi-layered opinionated question that forces a person to ask “what would be the most responsible way society could condone such acts and what could be the worst case scenario?” The first step in analyzing this question is to define ethics. Ethics is defined as “norms or standards of behavior that guide moral choices about our behavior and our relationships with others” (Cooper & Schindler, 2011, p. 32). The key issues of ethics in experimentation relate to benefits, deception, informed consent, debriefing participants, and the right to privacy (Cooper & Schindler, 2011). It is important that the researcher “discuss the study’s...
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...RESEARCH DESIGN A. Definition Research design refers to the complete sequence of steps to be undertaken to ensure that the appropriate data will be obtained in a way which permits an objective analysis leading to valid inferences with respect to the stated problem. It is a step in problem solving consisting of a detailed plan to be followed in obtaining the needed data. It specifies what organisms, chemicals, glasswares, and equipment will be used in the study. B. Significance 1. It serves as a guide for direction during the actual experimentation. 2. It allows a gain of maximum information relevant to the problem at minimum cost. 3. It makes the statistical test of significance valid because it takes into consideration all the assumptions that went into deriving the various statistics. C. General Features The design of an experiment depends on the type of research undertaken and the nature of the conditions under which study is done. The design of an experiment is dictated by the question it is to answer. There is no common blueprint that will serve as a guide in writing a research design. Each problem requires its own unique design. A research design contains the following sections: I. Introduction A. Background of the Study B. Statement of the Problem C. Significance of the Study D. Scope and Limitation of the Study II. Review of Related Literature III. Methodology IV. Time Table V. Proposed Budget ...
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...Question 6. Many drug safety research studies are sponsored by pharmaceutical companies that would financially benefit if the results of the study are favorable. Is this an example of a potential confounding factor? A confounding factor is an important difference between the two groups you are comparing, other then the one you’re primarily interested in. With regards to this question, there would most likely be two groups involved in the experimental study: the control group and the treatment group. The control group would receive a placebo while the treatment group was administered the drug. Because the sponsoring pharmaceutical most likely has a personal interest in the success of the drug, and hence a desirable effect from the treatment group. The confounding factor may be how and who the participants were chosen for the study. People who may be interested in being a part of the study may have a pre-existing condition that the drug will help. In other words, a drug company is not going to have a clot-relieving drug tested on people with no pre-existing clot issue as the drug would not be isolating the issue it is intended to mediate. Yes, the relationship of the sponsor (pharmaceutical company) to the study is a confounding factor and inherently causes bias and inaccuracies within the study. 13. Below are some data from 2005 for on-the-job deaths in dangerous jobs. Which job seems the most dangerous? Which seems the least dangerous? Explain. Fishers and fishing workers...
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...Single Quantitative Study (e.g., Randomized Controlled Trial, Nonrandomized Controlled Trial, Case-Control Study, Cohort Study) Template | Citation (APA) | (Uchiyama, Kurosawa, & Inaba, 2006) | Title | MMR Vaccine & Regression in Autism Spectrum Disorders: Negative Results Presented from Japan | Database Source (& ID number) | PubMed (PMID: 16865547) | Type of Evidence | Non-experimental cohort study/casual comparative research | Hierarchical Evidence Rating Level | Level 4 | Your Summary of the Study/Publication (use paraphrasing, not quotes) | What was the stated research question/objective of the study? | To evaluate the correlation between the MMR Vaccine and Autism Spectrum Disorders | What research methodology was used (e.g., RCT, Case-Control, Cohort)? | Cohort StudyCasual Comparative Research | Describe the sample (including size)? | 904 patients with Autism Spectrum Disorders | How was the sample selected (e.g., randomization, inclusion/exclusion criteria)? | Inclusion Criteria: Young children born between 1976-1999 from the Yokohama Psycho-Developmental Clinic (YPDC) Regression reported from questionnaireExclusion Criteria: Young children who received the MMR Vaccine in foreign countries, reports denying regression in questionnaire, and subjects parents who provided no response or information on the questionnaire regarding regression. | What methods were used for data analysis? | The study analyzed data from clients of the Yokohama...
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...Symptom Trends in the Last Year of Life from 1998 to 2010 A Cohort Study The article, Symptom Trends in the Last Year of Life From 1998 to 2010 is about a twelve year study about pain management and end of life care. This was an observational study to analyze and describe trends in pain severity and symptoms occurring in the last year of life. The study consisted of 7204 participants over the age of 51 all of whom died during the study. Data collection was done by an interview process. These interviews were conducted with family members of the deceased within two years of the participants’ death. Survey questions were asked about pain levels, depression, confusion and quality of end of life care. Data has shown that pain severity has increased by 11.9% during the twelve years study. The biggest increase was in cancer patients that reported the highest pain levels. My take on this article comes in two forms. On one hand, it calls for drastic improvements in end of life care and pain management. On the other it used very subjective forms of data collection using the family members, making it hard to for me to take all the numbers and charts provided in the study as absolute. All in all this article brings to light the need to improve end of life care for the patient and family member. Work Cited Singer, Adam E., Daniella Meeker, Joan M. Teno, Joanne Lynn, June R. Lunney, and Karl A. Lorenz. "Symptom Trends in the Last Year of Life From 1998 to 2010." Annals of Internal...
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...sign that a review is systematic will be the presence of a methods section. Meta-analysis is the statistical process of combining the results from several studies that is often part of a systematic review. What is a Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT)? An RCT is a type of interventional or experimental study design. Participants (individuals or groups) are randomly allocated to receive either the new intervention being tested or a control treatment (usually the standard treatment or a placebo). Each arm of the study is then followed up and the amount or severity of the disease measured in the intervention group and compared with the control group. RCTs are by definition prospective. What is a Qualitative study? A qualitative study examines the experiences and beliefs of people from their own perspective. It can take many forms including in-depth interviews and focus-groups with analysis attempting to identify underlying themes. Verbatim quotes of participants can be used to illustrate these themes. What is a Cohort study? A cohort study, also known as a follow-up or longitudinal study, is another observational study design. In this study a population who do not have the health outcome or disease of interest are first divided into those who are exposed to a risk factor and those who are not. Alternatively exposed and unexposed...
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...PAL 1 Regression * looking more in correlation * scores in how they vary on a large scale and relate with each other. * correlation and regression are non-experimental correlation * scoring high on one thing is more likely going to score on a higher thing * not manipulated * assume that e.g height and weight are correlated. * the taller you are the bigger you are * height increases weight . but cant be 100% sure * correlation has no internal validity no way on knowing your IV is causing your variable ANOVA * looks more into groups Experiment * manipulate the IV within the groups * opportunity to randomly assign to groups * it is manipulated therefore we can say that height increases weight because we change that in the first group quasi experiment * naturally assigned to groups e.g your a female and a male internal validity * isolating the IV and DV * how sure are you that IV has caused changes in your DV * causation and whats causing it to happen * e.g maybe more than one variable, and don't know if IV is causing that change * does your manipulation cause a difference in the score and how certain are you that it causes a difference in the score confounding variable * uncertain that its caused a difference * variable that interferes with the link * varies across the levels of the IV = varies systematically across the IV e.g height and age. so when...
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...Step 1: Determine if the research was a sample survey, a randomized experiment an observational study, a combination, or based on anecdotes. It was an observational study, although the author mentions that they randomly picked study subjects, they still manipulated the distance in which they were doing their study on. It qualifies as an observational study because it was a case-control study in which people with the ownership of weapons were closely observed and a proxy for their victim was interviewed. Step 2: Consider the Seven Critical Components in Chapter 2 (pp. 18-19) to familiarize yourself with the details of the research. As in Case Study 6.5 based on the original report, the seven questions can all be answered. The research was supported by a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The source information was from the Departments of Internal Medicine (A.L.K., J.G.B., B.B.H.), Preventive Medicine (A.L.K.), Biostatistics and Epidemiology (A.L.K., G.S.), and Pathology (J.T.F), University of Tennessee, Memphis; the Departments of Pediatrics (F.P.R.), Epidemiology (F.P.R.), and Pathology (D.T.R), University of Washington, Seattle; Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center, Seattle (F.P.R., J.P.); and the Departments of Biology (N.B.R., A.B.L.) and Epidemiology and Biostatistics (N.B.R.) and the Center for Adolescent Health (N.B.R.), Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland. The participants were proxies for their victims as well as control...
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...Michael Ayala 5/12/12 Psych 1 Assessment 1 Essay In the the first example, the researcher used the experimental design in his study to examine how poeple respond to pictures of faces with different racial features. The experimental design is when the experimenter isolates and controls all the variables excpet one, he makes sure that variable is the only one causing the desired effect. The The independent variable, which is the variable that the researcher is manipulating, is computer program that he created that will randomly generate the faces as each subject comes in. In this study the researcher used random assignment as the the subject would come in the the room. Random assignment is went the experimental and control groups a non-systematic and randomized way. The way he did this is by not telling his research nor the subjects knew which order they were going in. The team of researchers that found that the more time students spend interacting with technology, the less empathy they show towards other by doing a correlation study. Since many students already use technology a lot this was would be easier to use. The students increased use of their devices is one variable and their lower empathy towards other is the second one making a negative correlation. A negative correlation is a correlation indicating that the variables simultaneous in opposite directions. The second researcher...
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...Chapter 11 Experiments and Test Markets Multiple Choice Questions 1. Which term below refers to a study involving the manipulation of one or more variables to determine the effect on another variable? A) ex post facto B) experiment C) monitoring study D) communication study E) descriptive study Answer: B Level: easy 2. Which variable in an experiment is manipulated by the researcher? A) dependent variable B) extraneous variable C) moderating variable D) independent variable E) mediating variable Answer: D Level: moderate 3. Which variable in an experiment is the variable expected to be affected by the manipulation? A) dependent variable B) extraneous variable C) moderating variable D) independent variable E) mediating variable Answer: A Level: easy 4. All of the following are terms used to refer to an independent variable except _____. A) predictor B) explanatory C) criterion D) all of the above refer to an independent variable E) none of the above refer to an independent variable Answer: C Level: easy Use the following to answer questions 5-9: In the study of bystanders and thieves presented in the text, participants are invited to a store where they see someone steal the purse of another customer. The accosted shopper and the thief are really acting their parts to set the stage for the experiment. Participants view the robbery alone or with another participant. The study sought to determine...
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...the analysis of the data using statistical treatment. Research Design The researchers used the true experimental design. It further used Solomon’s Four Group design which involves two experimental groups and two controlled groups. One experimental group and one control group are administered the pretest and the other groups are not, thereby allowing the effects of the pretest measure and intervention to be segregated. In this study there were two groups who were studied: a group who studies alone and a group who studies with a group, this design is a combination of pretest and post test controlled group design, and the post test only controlled group design, in addition to the basic pretest/treat/posttest design three additional test, one without treatment, one without pretest, and one without both pretest and treatment were considered. For a reliable result several sets of four tests were applied and the means used. The various combinations of tested and untested groups with treatment and controlled groups allow the researchers to ensure that confounding variables and extraneous factors have not influenced the results. | |Pre-test |Treatment |Post test | |Experimental with pre-test |O1 |X |O2 | |Controlled with pretest |O1 | |O2 | |Experimental without pretest | |X |O2 ...
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...Generally, researchers carry out the experiments in order to accept or reject certain hypothesis. Experiments are conducted to establish tht effect of one or more in dependent variables in a response, which is dependent variable. These independent variables are often called treatments or factors. Examples are different fertilizers, different makes of machines and different advertisement channels. The values of a response are supposed to reflect the effect of different treatments. If an experiment is to be carried out on a particular project, the objective of the experiment must be clearly stated, unless the objective of tge experiments must be clearly stated, unless the objective of the project is carefully identified, the most appropriate design may not be adopted. The main aim of this project is to use the collected data to investigate the effect of different levels of nitrogen fertilizers on the fertilizers on the yield of maize and sugar beet separately using analysis of variance (ANOVA) method at the institute of agricultural research Akure It should be noted that the data used here is secondary data. Fertilization has to do with the aim of bringing about an increase in crop yield and consequently increase in farmers’ product and income. That is to increase the yield of maize and sugar beet and make useful observation on the effectiveness of different level of nitrogen fertilizers on varieties of sugar beet and maize. This project identifies the levels of nitrogen fertilizers...
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