Pearson BTEC National Applied Psychology Book 1

A1 Purpose and value of research in applied psychology. ● Definitions, to include a disciplined exercise to address questions, the process of inductive and deductive reasoning to solve problems, collection and analysis of primary data to describe, explain, generalise and predict a phenomenon. ● Scientific process, to include objective, empirical evidence, based on data rather than theory alone, controlled variables, replicable, cause and e ect, testing theories. Specification content Given what you have read so far, try to explain why Cara (who wrote this spread) passionately believes that science is very very important. An issue to consider Learning aim A1: Principles of research Introducing research and the scientific process In plain sight You can watch the video illustrated here: tinyurl. com/8fuake8 The instructions are: ‘ Count how many times the players wearing white pass the basketball ’ . At the end of the short film people are asked, ‘ How many passes did you count? ’ And then asked, ‘ But did you see the gorilla?! ’ In one study by Daniel Simons and Chris Chabris (1999) almost half the participants (44%) failed to see the gorilla! Can you believe that? The people were staring straight at the gorilla but they actually didn ’ t see it. Without this evidence you probably wouldn ’ t believe it is true. To be honest, we suspect that some of you don ’ t believe it now – try it out on a few people. Or try a di erent one made by Simons and Chabris: tinyurl.com/pej6jcl Psychological research Research and gorillas The simple answer to ‘what is research?’ is that it means nding out more about the world around you. For example, if you wanted to try a new restaurant, you might research the reviews people have given. Or if you were planning a holiday you might research what offers are available. In science (and psychology is a science) we aim to be systematic and objective when conducting research to nd things out. Take the gorilla example on the le . If we want to nd out how people behave when an unexpected object walks past, we can’t just ask, ‘Do you think you would see the gorilla?’. For a start, people o en simply don’t know how they would behave. They also wouldn’t be very objective – they don’t want to look stupid and therefore would say, ‘Of course I’d see it’. For this reason, over many many years, people have worked out objective methods they can use to identify what is ‘true’. Let’s be serious Psychologists are interested in how our minds work and why we do things – but their ultimate goal is to improve people’s lives through a better understanding of human thought and behaviour. This is applied psychology – applying research to real-life situations. An interesting application of the gorilla research Could the ‘gorilla’ phenomenon be observed elsewhere? Tra on Drew and colleagues (2013) wondered if the same issue happened when radiologists were trying to detect lung tumours and had to peer at a scan (a picture made using X-rays). When they were looking at a scan of a lung did they really see everything that was there? To test this the researchers put together scans taken of peoples’ lungs – some had tumours and a few had a gorilla superimposed on the scan (about 4 cm in size). They showed these scans to expert radiologists and found that 83% of radiologists failed to spot the gorilla. That is a serious failure rate. Drew et al . concluded that perhaps radiologists needed to refocus their attention so that they are searching for the unexpected rather than just looking for expected items. This could also be applied to police searching photographs for suspected terrorists. What is ‘science’? Psychology is o en de ned as the ‘ science of behaviour and experience’. Science aims to produce explanations so that we can predict and control our world – so we can build bridges that don’t collapse or develop safe and effective vaccines to get rid of dangerous diseases. The use of a scienti c approach in psychology is important because people might claim, for example, that a certain drug cures depression. People quite rightly demand evidence to support such claims before they use a new drug for depression. Empirical evidence The term ‘science’ refers to knowledge based on empirical evidence. This means knowledge gained through direct experience. People can make claims about the bene ts of a treatment but the only way we know such claims to be true is through empirical evidence. It is not enough to just ask a few people what they think. • This empirical evidence is called primary data because it is collected directly by a researcher. • It aims to be objective evidence rather than personal opinion. This objectivity means that if someone else collected the information it should be the same. • One way to check this is through replication – if the observations are true then you would expect to get the same ndings if you repeat the observations. The scienti c process The human mind does not naturally think in an objective way. We are all biased in the way we think about the world. If we want to discover ‘truths’ we need a process to follow to ensure that what we are ‘seeing’ is free from bias. Scientists aim to record objective information. They then seek to provide an explanation (theory) and then to test their theory by conducting research. You will be learning about this process through the rest of this unit. Inductive and deductive Scientists may develop a theory (or general law) based on their observations (called inductive ) or they may start with a theory and develop expectations from that ( deductive ) . Specification terms Deductive reasoning Using a general principle to produce particular examples, e.g. developing a theory rst and then generating a prediction from this. Empirical The view that knowledge can only come through direct observation or experiment rather than by reasoned argument or beliefs. Inductive reasoning Using particular examples to generate a theory. Objective Free from bias, unin uenced by personal expectations, emotions or personal opinions. Primary data Information collected by a researcher speci cally for the purpose of the current study (as opposed to secondary data which is data collected by someone else, such as government statistics, and used in a new research study). Replication Repeating an observation or study to con rm the original nding. Research To investigate something systematically with the aim of demonstrating facts and producing theories. A disciplined exercise to address questions. Scienti c process A systematic approach to gaining and verifying knowledge. The picture on the le is the burger advertised by a well-known fast-food outlet. But is that what you actually get? In order to be certain of facts we need objective, physical evidence – called empirical evidence . Here is the empirical evidence – the actual burger. Science uses empirical methods to separate unfounded beliefs from real truths. [Thanks to Professor Sergio della Sala for this example of empiricism.] Assessment practice At the end of learning aim A you must write: A report discussing the importance of research in informing and improving practice and provision, detailing the way in which research is organised and giving an evaluation of different research methods and their usefulness in answering speci c questions. This report must be related to a scenario or context, such as the one below: When paramedics take patients to a hospital’s accident and emergency department, they hand them over to medical staff. At the same time the paramedic also gives the medic relevant information about the patient (vital signs, details of any drugs given, other procedures in the ambulance or at the scene, the patient’s response, etc.). The paramedic relies on their memory – they only have one opportunity to provide accurate and complete information. The consequences of getting it wrong are potentially very severe. Professor Tim Hodgetts devised a 4-step system called MIST to improve the accuracy of handover information. The paramedic gives details of: Mechanism of injury (how it happened), Injuries (what they are), Signs (e.g. monitoring of pulse), Treatments (e.g. drugs given). Imagine you have to conduct a piece of scienti c research to test the effectiveness of MIST. A1.1 Learning aim A1 – Task 1 The rst part of your report for learning aim A will be concerned with a brief introduction to the importance of research and science, topics covered on this spread. This activity will help you practise the skills required to write the report in response to your scenario/context. 1. Write a paragraph explaining what empirical evidence you would need to decide whether MIST works. (A.P ) Include the following in your explanation: what empirical evidence is, the scienti c process and why it is valuable, primary data, objective evidence and replication. Make sure you refer to the bene ts to paramedics doing handovers. 2. Assess the value of carrying out research in psychology in this scienti c way. (A.M1) 3. Evaluate the empirical evidence you explained in your answer to question 1. [HINT: What are the strengths and weaknesses?] (A.D ) You can see the assessment criteria and explanation of command terms on pages 100 and 117. Where is the evidence? Simons, D. J., & Chabris, C. F. (1999). Gorillas in our midst: Sustained inattentional blindness for dynamic events. Perception , 28 , 1059-1074. 82 83 Unit 2: Conducting psychological research