OMT II: Research Methods and Techniques
Hoorcolleges – notities
1
, Inhoudstafel
HOC 1: Introduction to scientific reasoning
A. Psychology is a way of thinking
a. Procuding vs. consuming research
i. Examples:
1. Facilitated communication treatment (= tool for people with autism)
2. Scared-straight approach
3. Mindfulness and academic performance
b. How scientists work
i. Empiricism
ii. Scientists test theories (empirical cycle)
1. Scientists form a community – Merton
g Universalism
g Communality
g Disinterestedness
g Organized skepticism
iii. Fundamental vs. applied research
1. Fundamental research
2. Translational research
3. Applied research
iv. Continuously evolving
v. Publishing
vi. Communication
B. Sources of information
a. Research vs. experience
i. Experience has no comparison group
ii. Experience is confounded
b. Research vs. intuition
i. Biases: a good story, availability heuristic, present/present bias, confirmation bias,
confirmatory hypothesis testing and bias blind spot
c. Information that you get from authority figures
d. Overview sources of information
e. Scientific sources
i. Pyramid of scientific evidence
4
,HOC 2: Foundations of research
A. Three claims, four validities
a. Variables
i. Types of variables
1. Conceptual vs. operational variables
2. Independent vs. dependent variables
3. Measured vs. manipulated variables
ii. Way of describing a variable
1. Examples: constructs and operational variables
2. Examples: measured and manipulated variables
iii. Exercise
b. Three claims
i. Frequency claims
ii. Association claims
iii. Causal claims
c. The four big validities
i. The four types of validity and frequency claims
ii. The four types of validity and association claims
iii. The four types of validity and causal claims
1. Conditions for causality: (1) covariance, (2) temporal precedence, (3) no
alternative explanations
2. Example
3. Spurious associations
B. Ethical guidelines for psychology research
a. Historical examples
i. Tuskegee syphilis study
ii. Milgram’s obedience experiment
iii. Invasion of personal space (urinal study)
b. Rules and norms about ethics
i. The Belmont report
1. Respect for persons
2. Beneficence
3. Justice
ii. APA-guidelines
1. Institutional review boards
2. Informed consent
3. Deception
g 2 types: deception trough omnission (= not disclosing all information)
and deception trough commission (= lying)
g Why is deception used? To avoid reactivity in participants
g Negative effects? Negative emotions in ppn, damaged trust
4. Debriefing
5. Research fraud
5
, g Types of research fraud: plagiarism, fabrication and falsification
g Examples: Yoshitika Fuji en Diederik Stapel
g Prevalence: study Fanelli
g Questionable Research Practices (QRP’s): not reporting all variables,
HARKing, falsely claiming variables had no effect, …
g Reasons and solutions
iii. Open science
1. Several practices: pre-registration, reproducibility, replicability and open
access publications
iv. Animal research
1. The three R’s: replacement, reduction and refinement
HOC 3: Survey research
A. Identifying good measurement
a. Different ways to measure a variable
i. Psychological measures
ii. Self-reports
iii. Observation
b. Operationalizing
i. Pivot & Diener (1993): Multiple-item scale to measure satisfaction with life
ii. Cantrill (1965): Ladder of life measure of happiness
c. Construct validity and reliability
i. Reliability
1. Test-retest reliability
2. Internal consistency reliability
3. Interrater reliability
ii. Construct validity
1. The subjective approach
g Face-validity
g Content validity
2. Using data
g Convergent validity
g Discriminant validity
g Criterion (predictive) validity
iii. Evaluating reliability and construct validity in articles
B. Surveys and observation
a. Surveys
i. Experience sampling survey
1. Signal-contingent sampling
2. Event-contingent sampling
ii. Single vs. multi-item measurs
6
Hoorcolleges – notities
1
, Inhoudstafel
HOC 1: Introduction to scientific reasoning
A. Psychology is a way of thinking
a. Procuding vs. consuming research
i. Examples:
1. Facilitated communication treatment (= tool for people with autism)
2. Scared-straight approach
3. Mindfulness and academic performance
b. How scientists work
i. Empiricism
ii. Scientists test theories (empirical cycle)
1. Scientists form a community – Merton
g Universalism
g Communality
g Disinterestedness
g Organized skepticism
iii. Fundamental vs. applied research
1. Fundamental research
2. Translational research
3. Applied research
iv. Continuously evolving
v. Publishing
vi. Communication
B. Sources of information
a. Research vs. experience
i. Experience has no comparison group
ii. Experience is confounded
b. Research vs. intuition
i. Biases: a good story, availability heuristic, present/present bias, confirmation bias,
confirmatory hypothesis testing and bias blind spot
c. Information that you get from authority figures
d. Overview sources of information
e. Scientific sources
i. Pyramid of scientific evidence
4
,HOC 2: Foundations of research
A. Three claims, four validities
a. Variables
i. Types of variables
1. Conceptual vs. operational variables
2. Independent vs. dependent variables
3. Measured vs. manipulated variables
ii. Way of describing a variable
1. Examples: constructs and operational variables
2. Examples: measured and manipulated variables
iii. Exercise
b. Three claims
i. Frequency claims
ii. Association claims
iii. Causal claims
c. The four big validities
i. The four types of validity and frequency claims
ii. The four types of validity and association claims
iii. The four types of validity and causal claims
1. Conditions for causality: (1) covariance, (2) temporal precedence, (3) no
alternative explanations
2. Example
3. Spurious associations
B. Ethical guidelines for psychology research
a. Historical examples
i. Tuskegee syphilis study
ii. Milgram’s obedience experiment
iii. Invasion of personal space (urinal study)
b. Rules and norms about ethics
i. The Belmont report
1. Respect for persons
2. Beneficence
3. Justice
ii. APA-guidelines
1. Institutional review boards
2. Informed consent
3. Deception
g 2 types: deception trough omnission (= not disclosing all information)
and deception trough commission (= lying)
g Why is deception used? To avoid reactivity in participants
g Negative effects? Negative emotions in ppn, damaged trust
4. Debriefing
5. Research fraud
5
, g Types of research fraud: plagiarism, fabrication and falsification
g Examples: Yoshitika Fuji en Diederik Stapel
g Prevalence: study Fanelli
g Questionable Research Practices (QRP’s): not reporting all variables,
HARKing, falsely claiming variables had no effect, …
g Reasons and solutions
iii. Open science
1. Several practices: pre-registration, reproducibility, replicability and open
access publications
iv. Animal research
1. The three R’s: replacement, reduction and refinement
HOC 3: Survey research
A. Identifying good measurement
a. Different ways to measure a variable
i. Psychological measures
ii. Self-reports
iii. Observation
b. Operationalizing
i. Pivot & Diener (1993): Multiple-item scale to measure satisfaction with life
ii. Cantrill (1965): Ladder of life measure of happiness
c. Construct validity and reliability
i. Reliability
1. Test-retest reliability
2. Internal consistency reliability
3. Interrater reliability
ii. Construct validity
1. The subjective approach
g Face-validity
g Content validity
2. Using data
g Convergent validity
g Discriminant validity
g Criterion (predictive) validity
iii. Evaluating reliability and construct validity in articles
B. Surveys and observation
a. Surveys
i. Experience sampling survey
1. Signal-contingent sampling
2. Event-contingent sampling
ii. Single vs. multi-item measurs
6
