August 29: Research Methods

In-Class Activities:

1) Neuron Note. You read responses from last class' questions and you asked new questions in regards to the reading.

2) We reviewed the approaches posters from Monday and made sure everyone understood each perspective of psychology. You got to fight over who can take home the poster. :)

3) We got into our groups from the naturalistic observation. You brainstormed different human behaviors that make us curious. This is what research psychologists do -- spending their days ask questions, using the scientific method to find answers to those questions, refining their questions, and doing more studies. You made a list of interesting behaviors you observed and developed hypotheses based on those interesting behaviors. Then, you tried to operationally define your hypotheses from your observation and determine a plan for trying to do more research on your prediction. We shared our hypothesis with each other.

4) We took notes over Description Research methods of surveys, naturalistic observation, interviews, case studies and all of pros and cons for using them. Then we took notes over Correlational Research or Non-Experimental Research and how it is used to find associations between variables. We discussed when and why it is used. And we took notes over Experimentation and analyzed the five basic parts of an experiment: Hypothesis, Independent Variable, Dependent Variable, Experimental Group, and Control Group. You heard about Theresa Amabile's experiment examining creativity and competitive rewards. We dissected her experiment into the five basic elements. We also discussed operational definitions, confounding variables, random assignment, lab vs. field experiments, and replication.

5) I collected all of the naturalistic work.

Assignments:

1) Read Chapter 1 pp. 41-47 or just finish it!

2) Psych Sim on Descriptive Statistics and Correlation. Use the textbook's website and complete the two simulations. Then practice what you learned with this handout.