Research Strategies: How Psychologists Ask and Answer Questions

RESEARCH STRATEGIES: HOW PSYCHOLOGISTS ASK AND ANSWER QUESTIONS

Identify two pitfalls in thinking that make intuition and common sense untrustworthy.

Discuss the attitudes that characterize scientific inquiry, and explain the nature of critical thinking.

Explain the importance of theories, hypotheses, operational definitions, and replication of research in psychology.

Discuss the descriptive research strategies.

Discuss the limitations and possible pitfalls of descriptive research.

Describe the types of correlation, and discuss why correlation enables prediction by not explanation.

Explain the nature and significance of illusory correlations.

Describe the nature and advantages of experimentation.

Discuss the importance of random assignment and control techniques in research. Explain at least one advantage of the experiment as a research stragegy.

Discuss questions regarding the artificiality of experimentation and whether psychological principles are culture or gender-free.

Explain why psychologists study animals and discuss the ethics of experimentation.

Describe how psychologists’ values influence their work and discuss whether psychology is potentially dangerous.

Describe the goals of the ethical guidelines for psychological research.

Provide a brief definition of the following KEY TERMS:

Hindsight bias

Critical thinking

Theory

Hypothesis

Operational definition

Replication

Case study

Survey

Population

Random sample

Naturalistic observation

Correlation coefficient Illusory correlation

Experiment

Placebo

Double-blind procedure

Placebo effect

Experimental condition

Control condition

Random assignment

Independent variable

Dependent variable

Culture