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Research Methods Chapter 2

Terms in this set (27)

What are the three sources of evidence for people's beliefs?
Experience, Intuition and Authority
What are the pitfalls of relying on experience rather than research?
- We do not take a comparison group into account.
- Research asks the question "Compared to what?"
- Confounds
What is a Comparison Group?
A group that enables us to compare what would happen both with and without the thing we are interested in.
What is the main example used to demonstrate why comparison groups are so important in research?
Dr. Benjamin Rush draining blood from people's wrists or ankles as "bleeding" as a cure for illness.
What are Confounds?
Alternative explanations for an outcome.
When do confounds occur?
Occurs when you think one thing caused an outcome but in fact other things changed too, so you are confused about what the cause really was.
What are the pitfalls of relying on intuition rather than research?
- Biases of intuition.
- Cognitive biases
- Motivational biases
- The Availability Heuristic
- Present/present Bias
- Bias Blind Spot
What is the Availability Heuristic?
States that things that can pop up easily in our mind tend to guide our thinking. We decide that the answer that comes to mind easily must be the correct one.
What is the Present/present Bias?
The tendency to rely only on evidence that is present, instances in which both a treatment and a desired outcome are present, and ignore evidence that is absent, instances in which a treatment is absent or the desired outcome is absent, when evaluating the support for a conclusion.
What is "cherry-picking" and when do we tend to use it?
Used with motivational biases. When we look at evidence, we may only seek out the information we like, "cherry-picking" information, seeking and accepting only the evidence that supports what we already think and what we want to think.
What is Confirmatory Hypothesis Testing?
When we are asking biased questions we enable ourselves to think what we want by asking questions that are likely to give the desired or expected answers. Questions that lead us to a particular, expected answer.
What is the Bias Blind Spot?
The belief that we are unlikely to fall prey to cognitive biases. Most of us think we are less biased than others. The Bias Blind Spot leads us to conclude that "I'm the objective one here" and "you are the biased one." This bias makes us trust our faulty reasoning all the more.
What are the four types of Scientific Sources to consult for research?
- Empirical Journal Articles
- Review Journal Articles
- Chapters in Edited Books
- Full Length Books
Where are you most likely to find scientific journals?
College or University libraries
Empirical Journal Articles
Report, for the first time, the results of an empirical research study. They contain details about the study's method, the statistical tests used, and the numerical results of the study. Must be peer reviewed.
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