Chapter 6 Flashcards
why do clinical psychologists conduct research?
- enhances the understanding of the etiology, progression and prevalence of mental health disorders
- to evaluate the effectiveness of therapeutic interventions
- to evaluate the reliability and validity of psychological tests
- to scrutinize challenges in classification systems
- investigate topics like therapist burnout, ethical dilemmas, and supervision practices
- to research on educational methodologies
often utilized to compare new treatments against established ones or placebos
randomized controlled trials (RCTs)
used by therapists to improve interventions
empirical evidence
determine whether an intervention produces the expected result under ideal circumstances
efficacy trials
measure the degree of beneficial effect under “real world” clinical settings
effectiveness trials
focuses on establishing cause and effect
internal validity
extent to which the study results can be generalized
external validity
widely-researched self-report measure that assesses the severity of depressive symptoms
beck depression inventory (BDI)
involves manipulating an independent variable to observe its effect on a dependent variable, establishing cause-and-effect relationships
experimental method
employed when random assignment is not feasible
quasi-experiments
different groups receive different interventions
between-group design
same group experiences multiple conditions
within-group design
simulate real-life situations under controlled conditions
analogue designs
examine relationships between variables without inferring causation
correlational method
in-depth analysis of individual cases provide detailed insights
case studies
statistical technique combines results from multiple studies to identify overall trends
meta-analysis
assessing different individuals at one point in time
cross-sectional design
following the same individuals over an extended period
longitudinal design
ethical issues in clinical psychology research
- informed consent
- confidentiality
- avoiding harm
- risk vs benefit analysis
- institutional review boards
- deception
minimizing any potential physical or psychological distress
avoiding harm
research must minimize harm and maximize potential benefits
risk vs benefit analysis
ensure research meets ethical standards before approval
institutional review boards (IRBs)
must be justified if used and participants must be debriefed afterwards
deception
