Scientific methodology

Learning outcomes

At the end of the chapter, you are able to:

1. Understand why we rely on scientific methods rather than common
sense to explain behavior.
2. Learn the principles of the scientific method.
3. Learn the basic tools of psychological research.
4. Understand how “cause and effect” is established by experimentation.

2
Psychology
▸ is the science of behavior.
Psychological Science
▸ refers to the research about the psychological processes
underlying behavior.
Science
▸ comes from the Latin word “scientia”, which simply means
knowledge.
▸ has two meanings – content and process.
Methodology
▸ the scientific techniques used to collect and evaluate
psychological data.
3
 THE NEED FOR SCIENTIFIC METHODOLOGY
▸ To understand the behavior of the others and to guide our
own behavior.

1. Researchers investigating perception called data in formal

laboratory experiments designated to provide the most precise
info.
2. Psychologist interested in understanding altitudes and social
behaviors gather data under controlled laboratory conditions;
at other times, they conduct surveys in the community or
observe and record people’s behavior in natural settings.
3. Clinical psychology may collect data by administrating psych
test or by observing personality functioning during sessions
with patients.
4
5
 COMMONSENSE PSYCHOLOGY
▸ The kind of everyday, nonscientific data gathering that
shapes our expectation and beliefs and directs our
behavior toward others.
▸ You need to have an understanding of the characteristics
and limitations of commonsense psychology.
▸ As commonsense psychologists, our ability to gather data
in a systematic and impartial way is constrained by 2 very
important factors:
○ The sources of psychological information
○ Inferential strategies
6
7
 Nonscientific sources of data:

 Friends
 Relatives
 People in authority
 People we admire
 Reports from the media
 Books we have read

8
 CONFiRMATION BIAS

▸ Is a type of cognitive bias that involves favoring

information that confirms your previously existing
beliefs or biases.
Examples:
1. believing the full moon brings out psychotic
behavior
2. others assimilate some myths, superstitions and
pop psychology explanation for behavior.

9
 Nonscientific inference

1. Traits serve as predictors of behavior.

○ All commonsense psychologists are trait theorists – at
least when it comes to explaining the behavior of others
2. Nonverbal behavior

10
 OVERCONFIDENCE BIAS

▸ Is a false and misleading assessment of our skills,

intellect, or talent.
▸ The more data we have available ( accurate or not ),
the more confidence we have in our judgments about
behavior.
▸ If we want to be able to rely on our conclusions and
use them as general principles to predict behavior, we
need to proceed more systematically and objectively –
in other words, scientifically.
11
 Scientific methods

▸ The steps scientists take to gather

and verify information, answer
questions, explain relationships and
communicate this information to
others.

12
The characteristics of
modern science

13
 The characteristics of modern science /
importance of the scientific method
• The Scientific Mentality
Based on the important assumption: Behavior must follow a natural
order, therefore, it can be predicted.
• Gathering Empirical Data
data are observable/experienced
empirical data can be verified/ disproved through investigation
• Seeking General Principles
Our observations would be limited use without general principles to
structure them. When these principles have the generality to apply to
all situations, they are called laws.

14
 The characteristics of modern science /
importance of the scientific method
• Good Thinking
o Central feature of the scientific method
o Aspects of good thinking:
 Being open to new ideas when they contradict our prior beliefs or
attitudes.
 Follows the rules of logic
 Uses the principle of parsimony/ Occam’s razor.
• Self-correction
o Modern scientist accept the uncertainty of their own conclusions
• Publicizing results
o Scientist meet frequently through professional and special interest
group and attend professional conferences to exchange information
about their current work.
15
The characteristics of modern science /
importance of the scientific method

• Replication
o Another important part of the scientific approach
o Replication of research findings by others can be
important; we have a great deal more confidence
that we have explained something if the
predicted effects are repeated by other
researchers.

16
 objectives of
psychological science

17
4 major objectives of psychological science

▸ Description
○ Initial step toward understanding any phenomenon.
○ Systematic and unbiased account of the observed
characteristics of behaviors.
○ Research designs
■ Case studies
● Used to make inferences about the origins of
psychological disorders, developmental processes, and
the influence of life events.
■ Field studies
● Are observational studies of groups of people (or
animals) in real-life settings.

18
4 major objectives of psychological science
▸ Prediction
○ Capacity for knowing in advance when certain behavior
would be expected to occur – to be able to predict them
ahead of time.
○ Research designs:
■ Correlational
● Researchers look for a statistical relationship
between two different events, behaviors, or
experiences.
■ Quasi-experimental designs
● Researchers look for systematic differences
among groups of people and use the results to
make predictions.
19
4 major objectives of psychological science

• Control
o Refers to the application of what has been learned
about behavior.
o Research designs:
 Applied research
 Designed to solve real-world problems (like helping
patients to deal with grief)
 Basic research
 Designed to test theories or to explain psychological
phenomena in humans and animals.

20
4 major objectives of psychological science

• Explanation
o When we have explained a behavior, we also
understand what causes it to occur.
o Research design
 Experimental research design
 We use this design to explain a behavior. We
systematically manipulate aspects of the setting with
the intention producing the specific behavior. At the
same time, we control for other factors that might
also influence this behavior during the experiment.

21
 Tools of
Psychological Science

22
 The scientific method:
tools of psychological science

• Observation
- is the systematic noting and recording of events.
- only events that are observable can be studied
scientifically.
• Measurement
- is quantifying an event or behavior accordingly to generally
accepted rules. We try to measure in standardized units so
that our measurements will be meaningful. We keep our
measurements consistent.

23
 The scientific method:
tools of psychological science

• Experimentation

- is a process undertaken to test a hypothesis that particular

behavioral events will occur reliably in certain, specifiable
situation.

- to conduct an experiment, the hypothesis must be testable;

procedures must be available to test it, and must be ethical
to do so.

24
Scientific explanation in psychological science

• Identify Antecedent Conditions

- Antecedent conditions, or antecedents, are the
circumstances that come before the event or behavior that
we want to explain.

• Comparing Treatment Conditions

- the psychology experiment, we create specific sets of
antecedent conditions that we call treatments.
- we compare different treatment conditions so that we can
test our explanations of behaviors systematically and
scientifically.

25
Scientific explanation in psychological science
• The Psychology Experiment

- is a controlled procedures in which at least two

different treatment conditions are applied to research
participants, or subjects.

-The subjects behavior are then measured and

compared so that we can test a hypothesis about the
effects of those treatments on behavior.
- between subjects design
- within subject design
26
Scientific explanation in psychological science

• Establishing cause and effect

-The greatest value of the psychology experiment

is that, within the experiment, we can infer a cause-
and-effect relationship between the antecedent
conditions and the subjects behaviors.

27
 From Pseudoscience
to Psychological Science

28
 From Pseudoscience to Psychological Science

▸ Psychological science was born in 1879, when Wilhelm

Wundt opened the first psychology laboratory in Germany.
▸ Wundt applied the tools of the scientific method to the
study of human sensory phenomena.
▸ At the time, several pseudoscientific therapies ( phrenology,
physiognomy, spiritualism, and mesmerism ) were very
popular with the public – in the same way that people find “
pop psychology ” compelling today ( even though there is
no scientific evidence that these pseudo psychologies work.

29
 THE ORGANIZATION OF THE TEXT

4 Major Parts in Writing a Research Report:

1. Introduction – overall orientation to the field of research
methods.
2. Method – includes all the basic procedures used in
conducting simple experiments, selecting subjects, and
collecting data in a scientific way.
3. Results – reviews the common statistical procedures used
to analyze data.
4. Discussion – looks at the major issues involved in drawing
conclusions from data and communicating the findings.

30
 “
Thanks for listening!

Prepared by: Ms. Mariz V. Dizon, RPm

31