Class Schedule

Learning Objectives Class Number and Date Class Topics

Week 1: Jan 9th Course Introduction

Principles of Scientific
Week 2: Jan 14th
Inquiry

Week 2: Jan 16th The Research Process

Introduction and Basic
Research Concepts
Ethical Considerations of
Week 3: Jan 21st
Research (ONLINE)

Scientific Writing, Literature

Week 3: Jan 23rd Searches, and Critical
Thinking
 Positive Shares

Share with someone:

Something positive that happened to you this
week/weekend
Something/someone you are grateful for
A good “dad joke”
Reflection on Reading

Textbook Chapter 1:
Summarize the chapter in your own
words.
What is one thing that you took
away from this chapter?
 Outline for Today

What is Research/Science Data

Knowledge Goals and Types Literacy
 What is knowledge?
How do we know what we
know? (i.e., how do we
obtain knowledge?)
 Knowledge
Google Dictionary: Facts, information, and skills acquired by a person
through experience or education; the theoretical or practical
understanding of a subject.

What knowledge is and how it is obtained can differ depending on

your worldview or paradigm (i.e., the lens you look through).
 Knowledge & Beliefs
With knowledge, we form beliefs about the world around us. Four types of
beliefs:

1. Tenacity: Knowing by force of habit.

2. Authority: Knowledge gained from others. We rely on others more if we
believe them to be credible and trustworthy.
3. Reason: The use of logic and rationale.
4. Empiricism: Knowledge based on experience - the building block of science.
5. Systematic Empiricism/Science - A systematic process for acquiring
knowledge.

What are advantages or disadvantages of each?

Types of Reasoning
Within or outside of science, we use reasoning in our everyday lives to
create hypotheses about the things around us

Deductive Inductive

From general (theory) to specific (observation) =

From specific to general = bottum-up approach
top-down approach

Leads to valid conclusions when the premise is Reliability depends on the completeness of
known to be true observations

Good for testing hypotheses or theories Good for creating hypotheses or theories

All spiders have 8 legs, tirantulas are spiders so I tend to catch colds when I’m around other
they must have 8 legs people who are sick, colds must be contagious
 Worldview/Ways of
Knowing/Paradigms
Ontology: The nature of reality -
Paradigm is there a single reality or do
multiple realities exist?

Epistomology: How we obtain

knowledge or understand this
reality.
What you believe reality is
and how you think
knowledge can be understood Methodology: The methods we use
through the research process. to obtain knowledge.
Paradigms
Paradigms
 Why Paradigms Matter

It will guide and justify how you...

Develop your research question
Choose your methodologies
Analyze your data analysis and interpret it
Share your research
It promotes transparency and trustworthiness
Helps others build upon your research

*Not necessary for the purpose of your proposal but important to know
What is Science/Research?
Simply put...the process of finding answers to questions relying on
empirical evidence (not just reason alone)
Relies on a systematic approach or process (not just done haphazardly)
Helps to separate ways of knowing and avoid misleading results (little r
versus big R)
The Scientific Method/Research Process: A body of techniques for
investigating phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and
integrating previous knowledge.
The Research Process
Identify a Research
Gap Individual
Report Step
Develop a Research 1
Question
Plan the Study &
Apply for Ethics
Collect Data

Analyze Data

Interpret Data

Share Results
Variables
Researchers aim to describe, explain, predict, and control events/things
These events/things are variables - any factor or attribute
Variables must be defined well before testing (i.e., conceptualizations)
Four Goals of Science
1. Description: Aims to understand what is occuring. In
psychology, researchers aim to describe how people (or
animals) behave, think, and/or feel in various settings.
2. Explanation: Aims to understand why things occur.
3. Prediction: Aims to understand the direction of influence
amongst variables, and the conditions for these influences to
occur or not.
4. Control: Aims to exert influence on the variables under study to
explore their relationships under specific conditions.
Descriptive
Study: Example
Explanation Studies
Aim to test a hypothesis - a tentative and testable proposition about the causes or
outcome of an event or, more generally, about how variables are related (more
than just “mere hunches”).
Causal influence - to conclude that one variable has an effect on another
As empirical evidence builds and hypotheses are tested, researchers can form a
theory - a set of formal statements that specifies how and why variables or events
are related (more broad than hypotheses)
Theories in psychology can be complex as behaviour is due to many variables
from differing domains (e.g., genetics, environment, culture, social
relationships) and studies can only isolate so many variables.
Distal vs. proximate causes
Causation
Correlation/association does not infer causation
Causation occurs when three conditions are met:
a. Covariation. As X changes or varies, Y changes or varies.
b. Temporal order. The change or variation in X occurs before the change or
variation in Y.
c. The absence of plausible alternative explanations. The presence of other
factors that might plausibly have caused a result (in this case, the change or
variation in Y) must be ruled out.
Causation: Example

Variable X: Physical Variable Y: Mental

Activity Health

1. What is our research question?

2. What is our hypothesis?
3. Can we conclude causation?
Causation: Example

Variable X: Physical Variable Y: Mental

Activity Health

1. What is our research question?

*Take-away: Think very critically
2. What is our hypothesis?
about causation
3. Can we conclude causation?
Prediction
One of the strongest means for researchers to determine relationships/explanations
Done through refined designs, methodologies, or analyses
Even with prediction, it is hard to definitively prove hypotheses without rigorous
testing and re-testing. Rather we say tentatively strengthens our hypothesis.

Variable X: Physical
Activity

Variable Y: Mental
Variable A: Healthy Health
Eating

Variable B: Social
Support
Control
The strongest means for researchers to determine relationships/explanations
Having influence over research settings and procedures and over the application
of scientific knowledge (i.e., intervention)
Extends prediction by further refined designs, methodologies, or analyses

Variable X: Physical
Activity

Variable Y: Mental
Variable A: Healthy Health
Eating

Variable B: Social
Support
Basic vs. Applied Research
Basic/Theoretical
Advance fundamental knowledge or theory
Source of new ideas or breakthroughs
Often has limited practical application
Consumer = scientific community

Applied
Bridges fundamental research and the real-world
Addresses specific concerns
Very practical
Consumer = practitioners, community, government

*Either can be done using quantitative/qualitaitve/mixed method approaches

Categories of Research

Quantitative Qualitaitve Mixed Methods

Categories of Research

Quantititve Qualitaitve Mixed Method

Depends on research Depends on research

Paradigm Post-positivism
question question

Data Numerical Opinions, beliefs, perceptions Both

Deductive or
Deductive or Inductive or
Reasoning Deductive Inductive or
Abductive
Abductive

Goal Generalizability In-Depth Exploration Either

Quantitative,
Qualitaitve,
or Mixed
Methods?
Quantitative,
Qualitaitve,
or Mixed
Methods?
Quantitative,
Qualitaitve,
or Mixed
Methods?
Quantitative,
Qualitaitve,
or Mixed
Methods?
Research and Time
Cross-Sectional
Data collected at one point in time
Cannot develop causation as well as longitudinal
Longitudinal
Data collected across time (some time lag)
Can be different people at different time points (e.g., time series) or same
poeple at different time points (e.g., cohort, panel)
 Scientific/Data
Literacy
Scientific literacy is the ability to understand, experiment, and
interpret scientific facts and their meaning. It involves critical
to complex problem-solving. Courses such as this will
enhance your ability to analyze and synthesize scientific
information about the natural and physical world, understand
the limitations and strengths of existing theories, ask strategic
questions, and assess empirical evidence.
12 min
 Summary Reflection
Questions
1. What separates science from other ways of knowing?
2. What are the main goals of research?
3. What are the steps of the scientific method/research process?
4. Describe the three main categories of research?
5. What are the main differences between basic and applied research?
6. Describe the different time approaches to research?
7. What is data literacy and why is it important?
 Individual Report Step 1
Due January 21st worth 5%: (A) First you will formulate a research
question and related hypothesis; (B) Next, you will define the population
that your proposal will focus on and provide context/rationale using
appropriate scientific references. This step will be maximum one-page
double-spaced.

1. Identify an area of interest to you (e.g., sport psychology, exercise

psychology, neuropsychology, motor learning)
2. Try to identify gaps in the research
a. Tip 1: Look at the conclusion sections in recent research articles)
b. Tip 2: You can get stuck down a rabbit hole doing literature
searches, try to identify a few and then stop
Questions?