Conducting research

Conducting research

Chapter 9: Conducting Research

1. Selecting Research Participants
A. Participants must be selected somehow. The focus of your study may be children, college students, schizophrenics, rats, pigeons, primates, or even cockroaches, or flatworms
B. Use non-probability haphazard or convenience sampling methods to support the view what we can generalize findings to other populations and situations; Determine your sample size.
a. Increasing sample size increases the likelihood that your results will be statistically significant because larger samples provide more accurate estimates of population values.
      2. Manipulating the Independent Variable
A. To manipulating a variable you have to construct an operational definition of a variable; One must turn a conceptual variable into a set of operations to include specific instructions, events, and stimuli to be presented to the research participants
3. Setting the Stage
A. Independent variable and dependent variables must be introduced within the context of the total experimental setting termed setting the stage
B. In setting the stage one must do two things:
a. Provide participants with informed consent information needed for your study
b. Explain to participants why the experiment is being conducted
C. You rarely want to tell participants what is going on because responses may be biased and conform to the hypothesis given by the experimenter; this process makes deception of participant useful.
D. Experimenter must seem plausible to the participants in which there are no clear cut rules for setting the stage depending on the variable, cost, and ethics of the
procedures being considered



4.   Types of Manipulation
A. Straightforward Manipulations- Researchers are usually able to manipulate a variable with relative simplicity by presenting written verbal or visual material to the participants; these manipulate variables with instructions and stimulus presentations. Stimuli may be presented...