PSYCHOLOGY

Psychology is the study of animal

mind and behavior.
 Types of variable
 There are two types of variables.
 Independent variable are those which does
not depend on any situation instead it is
known as ‘cause ‘.
 Example; someone hitting a person without
any reason is the independent variable.
 The other one is the dependent variable
which directly depends on the independent
variable and is known as the ‘effect’.
 Reacting on the slap is known as dependant
variable.
 Confounding variable…
 Confounding variables are factors other than the
independent variable that may cause a result
 It is basically reacting to the some any other issue
or situation other than reacting to the present
environment.
 Example. a person politely touches one other
person but in returns he reacts violently . This
violent reaction is not due to the touching but
because of the tension which is created at his
home , and this is the way he takes out his
aggression.
 Confounding variables can sometimes leads into
the ruining of the evaluation of the studies.
 Extraneous variable
 Extraneous variables can be natural
characteristics of the participant, such
as age or gender, or they could be
features of the environment such as
noise or lighting

 Extra variables are light ,sound and

participants , gender and age.
 They are maintained during experiment.
 Confounding variable :unmaintained
 EXPERIMENTS :
TYPES OF EXPERIMENTS.

 There are basically three different types of experiments .

 Lab experiment: experiment is conducted under a
controlled situation and set up environment .there are a
very few confounding variables.(setup is controlled
however the confounding variable is the mood of the
participant).
 Field experiment: the experiments that are conducted in
natural environment .in the everyday environment and
there are some confounding variables even more than
lab experiments.
 Natural experiments: these are based on observations ,
this is not manipulated by the researchers but based on
natural behavior . Example: autism , people after earth
quack . it can be conducted in either lab or field.
 NON- EXPERIMENTS
 There are some studies done by observations
are called non experimental.
 Naturalistic observation: It is the observation
conducted in the participants natural
environment . the observer does not indulge
in the environment instead the observer
observes the surroundings. such as shopping
malls.
 Controlled observation are those which is
manipulated by the researchers and the
participant is being observed such as
laboratory.
 STRUCTURE OBSERVATION

 It is also known as quantitative data , it clearly

defines the behavioral catogeries. Such as how
many time the teacher checks her cell phone ,or
how many time she distributes the notes.
(adequetly)
 UNSTRUCTURE OBSERVATION:
 A wide range of behaviors . (uncounted or
qualitative)
 Covert observations: the participant does not
knows that he is being observe.(CCTV cameras or
one side mirror)
 Overt observation : the person knows that he is
being observed.
 %

 Participant observation: the observer is

the member of social gatherings.
Example: he is pretending to be a class
fellow .
 Non participant: the observer does not
become a part of social gathering . for
example : admin sir observing the way
teacher is teaching.
 CASE STUDIES

 Case study is the investigation done in

detail of a single investigation . it is done
in detail and depth by different
techniques such as interviews.
 Although it could be a single family or a
full institution.
 SAMPLES….
 THERE ARE THREE TYPES OF SAMPLES.
 Basically the samples are those people on which the
observation or the experiments are done .
 Volunteer or self selecting sample : participants are invited
to the experiments . such as by sending e mails or notices.
The participants is provided with consent but not inform
what is a going to be happen in some cases .
 Opportunity sample : participants are chosen because they
are available at the time of experiment .the person is not
informed neither the consent is taken from him. For
example: the student is present in the classroom at the
time and the day the research was conducted.
 Random samples: all possible participants have an equal
chance of being selected . such as ballot can be done or
taking the names out of hat randomly.
 DEMAND CHARACTERSTICS:
 Cues that might indicates the aim of researchers
altering the response of participants .
 Participants acts in a way that align with the
perception of the researcher and this can be
unintentional . and this can cause due to the social
situation and desirability biases.
 INDEPENDENT MEASURE DESIGN: A separate group
of participants is used for each experimental
design . 2 groups of consist of different participants.
For example, if we are trying to discover if girls are
less aggressive than boys, then we obviously need 2
separate groups, namely boys and girls.
 Disadvantages : possible participant variable.
A participant variable
is any characteristic or
aspect of a participant's
background that could
affect study results, even
though it's not the focus
of an experiment.
Participant variables can
include sex, gender
identity, age, educational
attainment, marital
status, religious
affiliation,
 MORE MEASURES…..
 REPEATED MEASURES DESIGN:
 Same group of participant is selected in the every
level of I-V. Same group of people are selected in
every repeated conditions.
 DISADVANTAGES: there may be some effects of
demand characterstics such as fatigue , bored or
same practices but there are lower participants
behaviours.
MATCHED PAIR DESIGN :
The problems of independent and repeated measures
are overcome as the participants are arranged into
pairs with similar characterstics to the requirments
of study and one person into a different level of I-V.
DISADVANTGES: it is very difficult to catogerize the
participants according to their attitude and mood.
 SELF REPORTS
• questionaries
• Close ended question
• open ended questions
• Rating scale
• likert scale
• Structure interview
• semi structure interview
• Unstructure interview
• interview
 SELF REPORTS
 Questionaries : questions presented to a
participant in a written form through a paper pen
or in a form of e mail or other online means .
 Close ended questions : they are restricted to
some force choices . There are limited choices
which produce quantitative data and a very few
options with no opportunity to expand the
answers .
 open ended questions : participants are allowed
to give their overviews and are not restricted to
brief questions . basically it is qualitative data and
can be collected through interviews in sessions or
on telephone in the participants own words .
 TYPES OF INTERVIEWS :
 STRUCTURE INTERVIEW : questions are
fixed in a fixed order . Mostly provide
quantatative data.
 SEMI STRUCTURE INTERVIEW :
 It include fix list of open and close
structure and the interviewer can add
more questions if necessary.
 UNSTRUCTURE INTERVIEW : most
questions after the first one depends on
the respondense answer . These
questions are random and can be answer
in the own words.
 Scales
 Rating scale : you have to choose an option
between a certain range of numbers example
 1- 5 i.e 1 = horrible and 5 is fantastic
 Likert scale : the participant is given with the
range of 5 _ 7 answers with different
statements
1. Not at all
2. Did not like it
3. No opinion
4. I liked it
5. I loved it
 TYPES OF DATA
 QUANTITATIVE DATA : data that are in numbers ,
basically it is numerical data such as in the form of
MCQS or MSQS . These can advantageous as it provide
unbias data and authentic information , however it is
only specified and there is a very limited choice of
answering moreover participant cannot present his
opinion.
 QUALITATIVE DATA : data is in words and it is in
detail and in paragraphs such as essay . This has a
positive aspect such as participant can share their
opinions and feelings , can gather rare phenomena and
rare circumstances . . They are not confined questions
however can cause bias in statements and may not be
easily generilsable .
 MEASURE OF CENTRAL
TENDENCY & MEASURE OF SPREAD
 MCT:
1. Mean (average)
2. Mode (most repeated value)
3. Median (middle value)
 MOS :
 Range : the difference between the highest &
smallest value in the data set + 1

 Standard deviation : the calculation of the average

difference between each score in the data and the
mean. standard deviation consider all the possible
data in the calculation unlike range which only
considers the extremes value.
 CORRELATION
 Correlation is the relationship between two variables.
 Correlation is not a causation ,means it does not
carry cause or effect .
 A change in one variable is related to change in
another variable although these changes cannot be
assumed to be casual.
 Positive correlation : when two variables increases
or decreases at a same time but you cannot
guarantee that they are changing due to one another
.
 Negative correlation : a relationship between 2
variables in which one decreases accompanies in
another increases to another.
 HYPOTHESIS
 Hypothesis: a testable statement
 Example: “girls perform better than boys in
psychology “.
 ALTERNATE HYPOTHESIS : it is the main hypothesis
in the study which is tested by the researchers .
 Example : the hypothesis “girls perform better
than boys in psychology “.
 NULL HYPOTHESIS : if any other result occur other
than the alternate hypothesis it is said to be null
hypothesis .
 Example : there was no difference in the result of
boys and girls in the in psychology .
 .

 DIRECTIONAL / ONE TAIL : this statement

is telling you the direction of the
predicted result .
 NON – DIRECTIONAL / TWO TAIL : this
statement will not tell you the predicted
direction of the result .
 Example : there will be difference in the
result of boys and girls .
 ETHICAL ISSUES …
 VALID CONSENT : for the consent to be valid
each participant should know the true aim of
the study and the consent must be given by
each competent individual.
 For children the permission should be taken
by their parents , guardians as well the
children.
 PRESUMPTIVE CONSENT : when you cannot
take the permission from actual participant
you can obtain the consent by the similar
group of the people assuming that the actual
participant has given the consent .
More about ethical issues ……
 DECEPTION : participants should not be
deliberately misinformed , if they are deceived
it means there was no inform consent .
Participants are often deceived to avoid
demand characteristics ; if this happen they
should be debriefed ( a formal version of
providing emotional and psychological support
immediately following a traumatic event;)
 DEBRIEFED : after the study ends participants
are asked if they were deceived .they are
thanked and ask for any psychological or
physical assistance .
 -

 RIGHT TO WITHDRAW : participant should be

allow to withdraw at anytime during the study.
If any incentive or money is given to the
participant it should not be taken away either
they leave or not .
 CONFIDENTIALITY : the private information of
a participants should not be leaked such as the
name , address or any other personal
information .
 PRIVACY : If there are any questions asked by
participants in a study which invade the
emotional space of him , the participants have
the right to ignore the questions and not
answer . Observation should only be limited to
public space where the participant can be
expected to observe .
 PROTECTION FROM HARM : the
participant should never be harm
psychologically ( embarrassment or
stress ) or physically ( doing risky
behavior or receiving injections .
 ANIMAL ETHICS ….
 REPLACEMENT : researchers should consider
replacing the animal experiments with
alternatives such as videos or from previous
studies .
 SPECIES : researchers should consider to choose
the species that are least likely to pain or distress .
 NUMBER OF ANIMALS : only the minimum number
of animals should be used to produce a valid and
reliable results .
 PROCEDURE : research on animal is controlled by
a legal requirements and guidelines for research
on animals to be effective the animals experience
should be positive and normal one .
 MORE ABOUT ANIMAL ETHICS
…….
 PAIN , SUFFERING AND DISTRESS :
research causing death or suffering such
as disease , pain , injury , physiological or
psychological distress and discomfort
should be avoided .
 HOUSING : between testing or research
the animal should be given enough space
to move freely with enough food and
water .their health should be monitored
with their wellbeing both in terms of
biological and ecological meanings.
 REWARD , DEPRIVIATION AND ARRESIVE
STIMULI :
 Deprivation is the removal of the
resource that an animal requires .
Example : food and water .
 REWARD : it is the act of giving
something prefer by animal .
 Aversive stimuli :aversive stimuli is
unpleasent stimuli given to the animal
such as beating or torturing and injecting.
 VALIDITY
 INTERNAL VALIDITY : it measures what it needs to
measure . There is a clear undisturbed
 Relation between I.V and D.V .
 Confounding variable , demand
characteristics ,socially desirably results researchers
bias effect and researcher effect can cause internal
validity to be low . Basically it means the effect of
internal variable effecting the assessment.
 ECOLOGICAL VALIDITY : how true to real life the
experiment is .it refers to the effect of surrounding .
The experiments validity results are low in labs
experiment because the participant knows that he is
being observed whereas these results are natural in
field experiments .
 EXTERNAL VALIDITY …
GENERLISATION

 This basically categories into two

validities :population validity (generalisable
to biological terms not in every case,)
 :Location validity
 EXTERNAL VALIDITY : how generalisable to
location and to other people
a) Population validity : how generalisable the
sample is to other people (sex , gender,
age and race )
b) Location validity : how generalisable the
sample is to other location .
 -

 FACE VALIDITY : it measure what it is suppose to

measure . The test appears to measure the actual
target or basically the key factor of doing the
experiment. Experiment : assessing whether a
test of happiness genuinely measures levels of
happiness. .
 CONTE NT VALIDITY : does each item (quantity) is
suppose to measure what it measure .
 RELIABILITY : (standardization ) .
 To describe in one word: consistency . The
procedure of the study is consistent , the same for
every participant .
 is Replicable
 Inter observer /inter rate reliability : when the
rating of two or more observer is consistent .it is
needed for reliability.