Multimedia Resources

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Chapter 1: Research, Biases in Thinking, and the Role of Theories

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The Availability Heuristic in Politics

Article Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrew-winston/fear-and-hopelessness-in_b_11134200.html

This Huffington Post article discusses how the availability heuristic can make us think that crime rates and terrorism are more common than they are and, in turn, how that can influence decisions.

What tips can we use when reading news articles or listening to people talk about fear arousing events to avoid relying on heuristics in making decisions?

Michael Shermer: Why People Believe Weird Things

Video Link: https://www.ted.com/talks/michael_shermer_on_believing_strange_things

Michael Shermer speaks at TED in 2006 on how human pattern seeking leads to cognitive biases and that these biases can lead people to see and hear things that do not exist or purchase products that do not actually do what they are supposed to.

From an evolutionary perspective, what are the benefits to seeking patterns or relying on heuristics for survival?
To what extent does a pre-existing belief influence our cognitive biases?

Theory vs. Hypothesis vs. Law … Explained

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqk3TKuGNBA

This video, part of the It’s Okay to be Smart YouTube Channel, discusses the difference between a scientific theory, hypothesis, laws, and facts.

Discuss the differences between a scientific law, hypothesis, and theory.
How do the scientific definitions of scientific theory and hypothesis differ from how people less familiar with science define these terms?

Wason Selection Task

Experiment Link: http://www.philosophyexperiments.com/wason/

It provides a description and example of the Wason selection task as well as explanations of the correct choices for disconfirming the rule.

Why do people typically choose cards that confirm the statement rather than disconfirm the statement?

Research vs. Commonsense

Article Link: https://www.ets.org/Media/Research/pdf/RD_Connections_20.pdf

This article from Educational Testing Services (ETS) discusses commonsense beliefs about the SAT and whether research supports commonsense ideas and suggestions about the SAT.

Were there any ideas and suggestions that you were surprised to see unsupported by the data?
How can research support, refute, or change some of our commonsense beliefs?

Chapter 2: Generating and Shaping Ideas: Tradition and Innovation

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Library Research in Psychology

Article Link: http://www.apa.org/education/undergrad/library-research.aspx

It provides a list of APA databases as well as descriptions of what can be found in those databases.

What databases should be used for finding surveys to use in research?
In your own library, what databases are available from APA?

The Difference between Primary and Secondary Sources

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmno-Yfetd8

Animated video describes the differences between primary and secondary sources as well as examples of each.

What is the difference between a primary and secondary source?
Which type of source is more appropriate for APA style?

Research Concerns

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42QuXLucH3Q

It provides an overview of concerns related to psychological studies that have failed to replicate in subsequent studies and the reasons why replications have failed and why there may be a higher rate of false positives in research.

What percentage of studies had a significant effect the second time it was studied?
What is a false positive? Why is it a problem for psychological research?

How to Read (and Understand) a Psychology Journal Article

Article Link: https://www.verywell.com/how-to-read-and-understand-a-psychology-journal-article-2795709

It is a detailed overview on how to read through a psychology journal article with detailed descriptions of journal sections.

What are the sections of a journal article?
Which sections are directly relevant to study that was conducted?

What to Do About Scientific Fraud in Psychology

Article Link: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/naturally-selected/201109/what-do-about-scientific-fraud-in-psychology

This article addresses high-profile research fraud cases in psychology, the results of a brief survey on the fraudulent behavior or observing fraudulent behavior, and five golden rules for conducting ethical research.

How can each rule help eliminate fraud in the sciences?
What factors do you think influence a researcher to commit fraud?

Chapter 3: Research Design Approaches and Issues: An Overview

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Correlation and Causation

Video Link: http://www.thepsychfiles.com/2009/11/episode-109-correlation-and-causation/

A humorous video explains the topics of correlation and whether correlation can be equated to causation.

What is a correlation?
What is causation? Why cannot correlation equal causation?

Research Variables

Article Link: http://www.simplypsychology.org/variables.html

It describes the distinctions between independent variables and dependent variables by using examples and visual graphs.

What is the independent and dependent variable in research?
How do the independent and dependent variables help us determine causation?

Type I vs. Type II error

Article Link: https://allpsych.com/researchmethods/errors/

Explanation of Type I and Type II errors with examples.

What is a Type I and Type II Error?
Which of these errors are more problematic for psychological research?

Hypotheses, Type I and II Errors, Effect Size, Significance and Power

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWn3Ko1WYTA

The video discusses the research and null hypotheses, Type I and Type II errors, and how effect size, power, and significance influence these errors.

What is the research hypothesis? What is the null hypothesis?
What is effect size? What is power? How do effect size and power influence Type I and II errors?

What is a Demand Characteristic?

Article Link: https://www.verywell.com/what-is-a-demand-characteristic-2795098

The article discusses the concept of demand characteristics and how they can influence the results of psychological experiments.

What are demand characteristics?
What are the effects of demand characteristics on experiments?

Chapter 4: Ethics and the Institutional Review Board (IRB) Process

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IRBs and Psychological Science: Ensuring a Collaborative Relationship

Article Link: http://www.apa.org/research/responsible/irbs-psych-science.aspx

The article discusses the relationship between IRBs and psychological research and gives a detailed explanation of their role in the research process and how to make sure that there is timely and effective communication between IRBs and researchers.

What is the role of IRBs in psychological research?
How should a researcher work with the IRB to ensure timely and effective research designs?

The Milgram Experiment

Article and Video Link: http://www.simplypsychology.org/milgram.html

The article includes a discussion of the Milgram Obedience study and provides a video of a participant in the study. It discusses the rationale and procedures in the study.

What was the purpose of Milgram’s obedience study?
What ethical concerns plague the Milgram study?

Informed Consent Guidelines

Article Link: http://research-compliance.umich.edu/informed-consent-guidelines

The article provides a set of guidelines of creating informed consent forms for research studies.

What is the purpose of the informed consent document?
What are the key elements required in an informed consent?

General Guidelines for IRB Proposals

Article Link: http://www.colgate.edu/academics/departments-and-programs/psychology/institutional-review-board/general-guidelines

Colgate University provides a set of guidelines as well as examples of IRB applications for research.

What is the purpose of the IRB application?
What are the key parts of an IRB application?

Incentives in Research

Article Link: http://www.irb.pitt.edu/content/incentives-participation-research-studies

The University of Pittsburgh’s IRB website provides information and guidelines on the incentives and payments to participants of research at the university or through referrals.

What are the types of incentives that are offered to participants of research?
What are some ethical concerns that can arise with incentives being offered to participants?

Chapter 5: Measures and Survey Research Tools

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Finding Tests in PsycTESTS via EBSCOhost

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Z3pnJ4I0SU

The video describes how to use PsychTESTS for finding measures and surveys for psychological research.

What is the PsychTESTS database?
What are the advantages of using a test that has already been developed compared to creating your own?

Reliability and Validity

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yr817Iy5pfo

The video discusses the concepts of reliability and validity as well as examples of the types of reliability and validity that a researcher can measure.

What are reliability and validity? Describe two types of each that can be tested.
Can a test be reliable but not valid? Can a test be valid but not reliable?

What is Cronbach’s Alpha?

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCztXEfNJLM

Video explains the definition and history of Cronbach’s alpha for measuring reliability.

What is Cronbach’s alpha and how is it a measure of reliability?
What is the range of values for Cronbach’s alpha? What does a higher value mean for consistency?

Types of Validity

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUVYc9tApZU

Video explains validity and the types of validity used to assess the accuracy of a measurement.

What is validity? Describe two types of validity used to assess the accuracy of a measurement.
Give an example of a test and how you would measure criterion-related validity.

Social Desirability Bias

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tRviMGU5AA

Video explains the definition of social desirability and examples of social desirable responses to scales.

What is the definition of social desirability? How can social desirability affect the results of a study?
What steps can a researcher take to reduce the potential for socially desirable responses?

Chapter 6: Correlational and Qualitative Research

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Mediation, Moderation, and Third Variable

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHWuu-7Mrc0

The video looks at concepts of mediation, moderation, and the third variable problem in correlational and experimental research. It provides examples to illustrate the concepts.

What is mediation? How is mediation related to the third variable problem?
What is moderation? How is moderation related to the third variable problem?

Quasi-experimental Design

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vm-7k6unuLo

Video explains the definition of quasi-experimental designs and examples of when these types of designs are used.

What is a quasi-experimental design? How is it different than an experimental design?
Give examples of research situations in which you would use a quasi-experimental design.

Quantitative vs. Qualitative

Article Link: http://www.simplypsychology.org/qualitative-quantitative.html

Article discusses the differences between qualitative and quantitative research and examples of each.

What is quantitative research? What is qualitative research?
In what situations would qualitative research be a more appropriate strategy than quantitative research?

Introduction to Qualitative Methods in Psychology

Article Link: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/7765/17abbc77a36e5a9245c567b927da8dcb0ea3.pdf

Article is an in-depth discussion of qualitative research and the types of methods used in qualitative research.

What is qualitative research? How is it different than quantitative research?
What are some common techniques used in qualitative research?

Content Analysis

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhVU7GYp7LM

Video discusses content analysis and the types of techniques used in content analysis.

What is content analysis? What techniques are used in content analysis?
How does content analysis bridge qualitative and quantitative research?

Chapter 7: Experimental Approaches: Between Subjects Designs

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Between Subjects Design

Article Link: https://explorable.com/between-subjects-design

Articles discuss the between subjects designs as well as its advantages and disadvantages.

What is a between-subjects design? How can you tell if a study is a between subjects design?
What is one disadvantage of the between subjects design? How can a research address this disadvantage?

Between and Within Subject Designs

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-25eGNNCLg

Video discusses the difference between a between and within subjects designs.

What is the difference between the between and within subjects designs?
What are the advantages of using a within subjects design? What are the disadvantages?

Matched Group Design

Article Link: https://explorable.com/matched-subjects-design

Article discusses what a matched group design is as well as how these research studies are conducted. It includes disadvantages and advantages of the design.

How does a matched group design differ from a typical experimental design?
What are situations in which a matched group design is better than a traditional experimental design?

Multiple Dependent Variables

Article Link: http://open.lib.umn.edu/psychologyresearchmethods/chapter/8-1-multiple-dependent-variables/

Article is an open source chapter on the use of multiple dependent variables in research.

In what situations would a researcher measure multiple dependent variables?
What is a manipulation check? Why do researchers use manipulation checks?

Factor Analysis

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5lBFpWV_Fc

Video discusses factor analytic methods including confirmatory factor analysis and examples of these types of factor analyses.

What is a confirmatory factor analysis?
Why is factor analysis used in research studies? Creating measurements?

Chapter 8: Within, Mixed, Pre–Post Experimental, and Specialized Correlational Designs

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Within Subjects Design

Article Link: https://explorable.com/within-subject-design

Article discusses the definition and use of within-subjects designs as well as advantages and disadvantages of the designs.

What are the advantages of the within-subjects design?
What are the disadvantages of the within-subjects design? How do researchers address these disadvantages?

Counterbalance Measure Design

Article Link: https://explorable.com/counterbalanced-measures-design

Article discusses the use of counterbalancing in within subjects designs including different ways of counterbalancing conditions.

What is counterbalancing? What is the difference between complete and incomplete counterbalancing?
Why do researchers use counterbalancing in research?

What is a Longitudinal Study?

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcVfNW6UcWs

Video discusses the definition and examples of longitudinal studies.

What is a longitudinal study? What areas of psychology use longitudinal studies?
What are some disadvantages of longitudinal studies?

What is a Cross-sectional Study?

Article Link: https://www.verywell.com/what-is-a-cross-sectional-study-2794978

The article discusses what cross-sectional studies are and key characteristics of these studies.

What is a cross-sectional study? How is it different than a longitudinal study?
What research situations may require a cross-sectional study?

Advantages and Disadvantages of Cohort Studies

Article Link: http://sphweb.bumc.bu.edu/otlt/MPH-Modules/EP/EP713_CohortStudies/EP713_CohortStudies5.html

Article discusses cohort studies and their advantages and disadvantages. It uses the study of the effects of Agent Orange to illustrate the design.

What is a cohort study? How is it different than other types of longitudinal or cross-sectional designs?
Why did the Air Force use a cohort design to assess the impact of Agent Orange?

Chapter 9: Recruiting Participants

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Who Participates in Research

Article Link:http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2013/05/weird_psychology_social_science_researchers_rely_too_much_on_western_college.html

The article discusses whether college students, who disproportionately make up most research study volunteers, are representative of the population and whether the social sciences rely on them too much.

Why are college students more likely to participate in research than other people?
Recruiting college students at your campus is an example of which type of sampling technique?

Snowball Sampling

Article Link: https://explorable.com/snowball-sampling

The article discusses snowball sampling and techniques used in snowball sampling.

What is a snowball sample? Why do researchers use a snowball sample?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of snowball sampling?

Sampling Methods

Article Link: http://www.simplypsychology.org/sampling.html

The article discusses different types of sampling methods.

What is random sampling? Is it possible to do random sampling?
Give an example of each type of sampling method.

Ethical and Practical Considerations of Paying Research Participants

Article Link:https://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/resources/assets/docs/ethical_and_practical_considerations_of_paying_research_participants_508.pdf

PowerPoint slides provide examples of research studies that pay participants and how monetary incentives affect response rates and willingness to participate. It discusses ethical considerations of paying participants.

Why do researchers pay participants money to participate in research? Contrast this with college students?
What are some ethical concerns with paying participants? Can these concerns affect the results of the study?

Under the Hood of Mechanical TURK

Article Link: http://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/under-the-hood-of-mechanical-turk#.WKvF2_krLIU

Article discusses the launch and use of Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk) to recruit participants for research studies.

What are the advantages of using MTurk compared to traditional participant recruitment?
What are some concerns that researchers should have when using online surveys and MTurk?