Chapter 11: Research Methods

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Chapter 11 Research Methods

• A History of Psychology
• (3rd Edition)
• John G. Benjafield

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Scientific Methods

• Nineteenth century
• Introspection
• Behavioural observation
• Early twentieth century
• Logical positivism
• Statistical methods
• Methods for experimental vs. non-experimental data

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Logical Positivism

• 1920s
• Vienna Circle
• Group tried to formulate general principles for
  gathering knowledge

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Rudolf Carnap

• Knowledge is embodied in language
• Science lies at the bottom of a set of
  statements referring to observations
• How to verify these statements?
• Verification principle the meaning of a
  statement is its method of verification

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Protocol Sentences

• Protocol sentences refer to publicly observable
  events
• Should be used when we do experiments
• Meaningful statements can be translated into
  protocol sentences
• Once translated, the protocol sentences are the
  meaning of the sentence (no surplus meaning)

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Dispositional Concepts

• Dispositional concepts descriptions of lawful
  relationships between IVs and DVs
• If X then Y, where X is a stimulus and Y is a
  behaviour
• Capable of being falsified

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Operationism

• Operationism viewpoint that all psychological
  concepts ultimately refer to publicly observable
  occurrences
• Attributed to Percy Bridgman
• Operational definitions specifications re how a
  concept is measured
• Assure that psychological concepts refer to
  publicly observable events

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Where did psychologists stand?

• Behaviourists, Neo-behaviourists
• Welcomed logical positivism and operationism
• Gestalt psychologists
• Damaged by the new philosophy of science
• Psychoanalysts
• Received much criticism from adherents of logical
  positivism/operationism

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Criticisms of Operationism

• Sigmund Koch (19171996)
• Overboard with operational definitions
• Operationism not a way of creating psychological
  concepts
• Operationism a way of analyzing the meaning of
  psychological concepts
• Context of discovery vs. context of justification

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Statistical Inference

• Early experiments
• Described individual cases
• Contained no rules for making generalizations
• Some did use graphs to represent their data
• Ex. Ebbinghaus, Thorndike

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R.A. Fisher (18901962)

• Random order determined by a purely chance
  procedure
• Makes it possible to determine how likely the
  participant is to make the correct choices by
  chance alone
• How much chance is acceptable?
• Fisher suggested criterion of one chance in 20 (5
  per cent)

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The Null Hypothesis

• Null hypothesis assumption in an experiment that
  any differences between experimental conditions
  are due only to chance
• Null no difference
• Never proven, only possibly disproven
• Controversial concept

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p .05

• Fisher 5 per cent level of significance was
  arbitrary
• Many psychologists adopted it as an article of
  faith
• End of 1950s
• Goal of psychological research achievement of
  statistical significance (p 0.5)
• Fisher statistical significance is no substitute
  for repeatability

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Correlational Methods

• Same underlying principles as experimental
  designs
• Typical correlational experiment
• Obtain different measures on a set of
  participants
• Ex. Francis Galton

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Charles Spearman (18631945)

• Worked with Cyril Burt
• Laid groundwork for factor analysis
• Begins with a set of correlations between a
  number of measures
• Statistical procedures for deriving a number of
  underlying factors to describe the structure of
  the set of correlation coefficients

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Two-Factor Theory of Intelligence

• Derived from Spearmans factor analysis of
  different tests of mental abilities
• Every individual measurement of every ability
  divided in two parts
• 1. General factor, g
• Represents the amount of mental energy available
  to an individual
• 2. Specific factor, s

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Cyril Burt (18831971)

• Co-founder of factor analysis with Spearman
  (controversial)
• Endorsed hypothesis that g was most important
  factor in intelligence
• But believed in a more complex theory of
  intelligence than Spearman
• Believed tests of g could be used to identify
  best kinds of education for individual children
• Conducted twin studies to demonstrate
  heritability of g

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The Burt Scandal

• Burt accused of intentional falsification of data
• Leon Kamins review of Burts work in 1972
• Suggested Burt invented his data
• British journalist, Oliver Gillie
• Unable to verify existence of Burts participants
• Leslie Hearnshaws 1979 biography of Burt
• Published invented results favourable to case
  under a pseudonym
• Published with an imaginary co-author
• Other investigators
• Charges exaggerated or not proven

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Louis Leon Thurstone (18871955)

• Developed factor-analytic techniques in the
  United States
• Wanted to uncover a set of mental abilities that
  were independent of each other
• De-emphasized the importance of g

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Primary Mental Abilities

• Verbal
• Ex. learning vocabulary
• Number
• Ex. Doing arithmetic
• Spatial
• Ex. Identifying a design
• Word fluency
• Ex. Thinking of words of a particular type
• Memory
• Ex. Remembering a series of digits
• Reasoning
• Ex. Following a rule

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Lee J. Cronbach (19162001)

• APA Presidential Address
• Reviewed the development of research methods in
  psychology
• Psychology as two distinct methodological
  approaches
• Experimental psychology
• Correlational psychology

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Quantitative vs. Qualitative Research Methods

• Quantitative research methods aggregate objects,
  events, or persons under study to make general
  statements about people as a whole
• Quantitative research methods designed to
  develop a description of the way individuals
  represent the world they live in

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Qualitative Research Methods

• Began to gain favour at end of twentieth century
• Discursive psychology studies how people
  ordinarily report, explain, and characterize
  actions and events

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Publishing Qualitative Research

• Marchel and Owens (2007)
• Considered submitting to less prominent journals
  that have previously published qualitative
  research
• Journals specializing in education, culture, or
  community work most receptive to qualitative
  research
• Considered mixing qualitative and quantitative
  methods