We begin with an explanation of the nature of science as an effective method of gaining knowledge and understanding. It consists of formulating hypotheses, testing them through systematic, elucidating clear hypothetical constructs which become operationalized into precise measurement, and building theories from these findings.  In social psychology, most research is quantitative, including both non-experimental methods (surveys, case studies, systematic field observations, quasi-experiments) and experimental research.  In experiments, participants are assigned randomly to experimental conditions, independent variables are manipulated, extraneous variables controlled and dependent variables are measured. Research results can be compromised by biases, including evaluation apprehension by participants, limited external and internal validity of experimental conditions, problems of causal inferences from correlational research.  The methods of neuroscience and cross-cultural research have expanded and enriched social psychology. Ethical concerns in social psychological research include protection of participants from harm, the right to privacy, the use of deception in experiments the need for debriefing and informed consent, and the responsibility of researchers to the society in which they live.

KEYWORDS: ethics in research, experimental research, non-experimental research, operational definition, research biases, scientific method

1.         Archival research may be hindered by the fact that the data were gathered by someone else for some other purpose.

2.         Case studies provide a powerful method for assessing cause and effect.

3.         The results of field studies are usually generalizable to many other situations.

4.         The experiment is the method best suited to the inference of cause and effect.

5.         A double-blind study is one in which subjects do not know each other, nor do they know the nature of the hypothesis being studied.

6.         Internal validity refers to the extent to which an experiment produces the same findings with different subjects.

7.         If an experiment has high external validity that means that it is more likely to be generalizable to the world beyond the laboratory.

8.         In a quasi-experiment, the experimenter manipulates some, but not all, of the variables.

9.         Two types of debriefing are dehoaxing and desensitization.

10.       A strong correlation between two variables suggests that it is highly likely that one variable is the cause of the other.

MCQ's for Chapter 1