Week 1 - methods

Question 1

Hindsight bias

Answer 1

People’s tendency to be overconfident about whether they could have predicted an outcome

Question 2

what do we test

Answer 2

In social psychology, we collect data to systematically test intuitions, possible causes and explanations of thought and behaviour.

Question 3

Social psychology is not a science

Answer 3

Science is defined by the METHOD

Question 4

Scientific method

Answer 4

1) Form a theory:
Propositions that describe or explain the problem or phenomenon
2) Form a hypothesis:
Prediction about what will happen under particular circumstances
3) Test the hypothesis
4) Accept or Reject the hypothesis

Question 5

Correlation designs

Answer 5

• Examines the relationship between 2 or more variables

- All variables are measured as they naturally occur in the real world

Question 6

Correlations Do Not Imply Causation!

Answer 6

A correlation is a necessary but insufficient condition for establishing causality

Question 7

Correlations Do Not Imply Causation because?

Answer 7

• Reverse causation
• Third variable
• Self-selection (people in the sample might already exhibit the desired specific traits that affect the result)

Question 8

Value of Correlational Designs

Answer 8

• Suggests possible causal relationships that exist in the world
• It is the best alternative when an experimental study is difficult or unethical to conduct
• Longitudinal studies that measure changes in responses (e.g., behaviour, thoughts, emotions) over time can rule out reverse causation

Question 9

Experimental designs

Answer 9

Requires an independent and dependent variable

Question 10

Independent variable

Answer 10

Proposed causal variable

(1) Manipulated by the researcher to create conditions
(2) Participants are randomly assigned to different conditions

Question 11

Dependent variable

Answer 11

Outcome variable that is measured AFTER the IV

Question 12

Manipulation of independent variable

Answer 12

• Experimental vs. Control condition
• Control condition: A condition comparable to the experimental condition in every way except in one key characteristic that is expected to result in differences in the dependent variable
• Rules out reverse causality

Question 13

Random assignment of participants to conditions

Answer 13

• Participants are put into different conditions based on chance, which ensures equal likelihood of being placed into any of the conditions.
• Remove the effect of individual differences (age, gender, mood, personality) between participants that are not of interest
• Rules out third variables

Question 14

Quasi-Experiments

Answer 14

• Quasi-experiments are similar to experiments, except that you rely on existing group memberships, and there is no random assignment
• Because random assignment is not used, third variables/confounds cannot be ruled out in quasi-experiments

Question 15

When can you make a causal claim?

Answer 15

Conducted a study that uses an experimental design, which includes:
Manipulation of independent variables & Random assignment

Question 16

Problem with all designs?

Answer 16

Self-selection

Question 17

Random sampling

Answer 17

• Random sampling (selection): Every person in your population of interest has an equal chance of being selected for the study
• Ensures generalizability of your findings to the broader population you are interested in

Question 18

How Do We Measure Variables in Social Psychology?

Answer 18

Operationalization: Defining latent psychological constructs in terms of concrete and observable units
- Not all operationalizations are exact representations of psychological constructs…they are, at best, close approximations.

Question 19

What are concrete and observable units?

Answer 19

Biology, feelings, thoughts, behaviors

Question 20

Goal in social psychological research

Answer 20

Test the same hypothesis using multiple methods and multiple operationalizations, and try to achieve convergence.

Question 21

How do we tell if our measure is a good one?

Answer 21

Validity & Reliability

Question 22

Validity

Answer 22

The extent to which we are indeed measuring what we claim to be measuring

Question 23

Types of Validities

Answer 23

Measurement validity
Internal validity
External validity

Question 24

Measurement validity

Answer 24

Does the measure (operationalization) correlate with the outcome it is supposed to predict?
- Do I.Q. tests correlate with school grades and job performance?

Question 25

Internal validity

Answer 25

• The extent to which we can be confident that the proposed causal variable (IV) indeed caused the outcome variable (DV), and nothing else
• The more we can rule out alternative explanations, the higher the internal validity of our study

Question 26

External validity

Answer 26

The extent to which an experimental setup closely resembles real-life situations so that results can be generalized to such situations
- Generalizability

Question 27

The Internal & External Validity Trade-off

Answer 27

The more closely a situation resembles real-life (external validity), the more difficult it becomes to control all of the variables (internal validity)

High external & Low internal -> Field experiments
Low external & High internal -> Lab experiments

Question 28

Reliability

Answer 28

The degree to which a measure provides a consistent assessment of the variable

• The more reliable, the closer the points should cluster together.
• The more valid, the closer the points should hit the bulls eye.

Question 29

What is research for?

Answer 29

1) Basic science: Research concerned with trying to understand some phenomenon in its own right, and build theories about the nature of the phenomenon
2) Applied science: Research concerned with solving important real-world problems

Question 30

Correlational design summary

Answer 30

Examines the relationship between 2 or more variables without assigning participants to different situations or conditions.

All variables are measured as they naturally occur in the real world.

Cannot make any inferences about causes of behaviour.

Question 31

Experimental design summary

Answer 31

Examines the relationship between 2 or more variables by randomly assigning participants to different situations or conditions.

Independent variable(s) are manipulated by creating the specific situations (conditions) to be tested.

Allows for causal inferences about how different situations (or conditions) influence behaviour.