CHAPTER 1b
NOTES
Chapter 1b exercises - Research methods. NOTE: Make sure that you reword this information in YOUR words. If you just copy word for word from the book or links, the assignment will not count. In addition, if you can't find the material on the web site, try using your book.
EXERCISE 1 - What do they mean by operationalization?
When psychologists do research, they base their hypotheses on various theories.
However, in order to test their hypothesis, they need to define their
variables. An operational definition describes the exact methods or procedures
that will be used to measure or control a variable. Sounds easy? Not really.
This is where a lot of controversy can arise. One person can have one definition
while another may use a different method altogether. For example, let's say we
are psychologists interested in studying if watching violent television can
cause violent behavior in children. How would you define violence? Is one
action more violent than another? NOTE: Most people would say that all of these
are acts of aggression. However, if you were doing a study on how violent
television could affect a child's behavior, which of the following would be in
YOUR definition of violence that could cause a child to act violently? The
questions listed below are just a guideline. What would YOU define as a violent
act?
1. Person doing the violent action - Bad Guy against Good Guy, another Bad Guy,
innocent bystander? Good Guy against the same? Man hitting another man, woman,
child, animal? Woman against same? Child against same? Does age of child make a
difference?
2. Type of violence - shooting, stabbing, punching, slapping, throwing
something, etc. Is physical, sexual, verbal, and emotional violence all the same?
3. What action you see - actually see the action, action is suggested, but not
seen, blood is shown
4. Result of action - death, suggested death, broken bones, bruising, etc.
5. Family violence - A man hits his wife, woman hits her husband, siblings
fighting
6. Type of show - Drama, comedy, cartoons, talk shows, sports
EXERCISE 2 - Naturalistic Observation/Case Study.
Assume the identity of Sherlock Holmes. The basic premise is that Holmes has
carefully examined a student's personal environment (home, car, work, etc.) and
is attempting to find and meet the student based on clues from his
investigation. You are to write a short paper that is a letter that Holmes
would write to his partner Dr. Watson describing his pursuit in detail,
including the reason for it, and the specific elements from the environment
that justifies his lead. In other words, you are to write what you observed in
this case, picking out what is important, in such a way that someone could
identify a person using these clues. This person could be you or someone that
you know. Describe this person in as much detail as possible. This is like a
case study.
OR
Go to the mall and watch people for about 1 hour and record the various
behaviors that you see in detail. What are the most common behaviors? This is
like a naturalistic observation study.
EXERCISE 3 - What is a
correlation?
This web activity calculates correlations. Just follow the instructions.
Examples 1, 3, and 4 will give you positive correlations. Example 2 should show
a 0 correlation.
1. What is a positive and negative correlation? The examples above are positive
correlations. What would be an example of a negative correlation?
2. What were the numbers that you got?
3. Using your book and notes, what is the difference between correlation and
experimentation?
EXERCISE 4 - Research.
This APS site
contains a large number of experiments that you can participate in (some sites
might not work - if not, find another). Find two studies that you would
like to participate in. To demonstrate that you have done the experiments, print
out the final THANK YOU or RESULTS page AND describe what the experiment was
about. Not having a printer when you do this is NOT an accepted response if you
don’t have a thank you or result page. PLEASE make sure that you take
this seriously and read all of the instructions. This is someone's work that
you are participating in.