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Ellen F. Rosen |
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Chicago State University |
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Fall, 2002 |
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Birnbaum, M. H. (2001). Introduction to Behavioral Research on
the Internet. Upper Saddle River,
New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. |
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This course will be from a psychologist’s
perspective because that is what I am. |
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Psychology has 7 key themes |
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Psychology is theoretically diverse. (from
observations theories are constructed to link the observations
together....these theories are
then tested empirically) |
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Psychology is empirical (based on systematic
observation) |
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Psychology evolves in a sociohistorical context
(current social trends and beliefs impact on theorizing and ideas in
psychology...likewise
psychology has an impact on society (e.g., testing, vocabulary
and ideas such as neurosis, impact of environment on behavior, etc) |
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Behavior is determined by multiple causes |
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Behavior is shaped by our cultural heritage
(culture consists of shared customs, beliefs, values, norms, institutions,
and other products of a community that are transmitted socially across
generations) |
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Heredity and environment jointly influence
behavior |
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Our experience of the world is highly subjective (see for example the Grand Illusions
Website or the Escher Gallery) |
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Research, no matter what the method, is done to
answer a question (or hypothesis) |
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To do good behavioral research, then, all of
these 7 basic themes of psychology must be taken into account in order to
clearly answer the question. |
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To this end many research methodologies have
been developed. |
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Science is a way of knowing, a way of separating
the useful from the not useful; it is a mode of inquiry not a method of
application; it is a way of thinking, a process |
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The application of science is another human
endeavor...technology |
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science is a method whereby diverse beliefs can
be compared so that usefulness can be determined |
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science in and of itself, cannot communicate
information...that is a value-added process which scientists engage in
because they believe that only knowledge communicated is useful |
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judgement is a human activity in which knowledge
about a situation is used to make a decision; an interpretation is made of
the evidence |
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science and imagination work together:
imagination generates theories and hypotheses and scientific thinking puts
them to the test of evidence |
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According to Halpern (1989), there are three
hallmarks of critical thinking: |
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it has a purpose; |
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it is based upon reasoning; |
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it evaluates all sides of the question in a
constructive manner. |
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Grasha (1995) Practical Applications of
Psychology (Harper Collins) suggests the following steps in critical
thinking about behavior: |
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be sure that the terms and concepts are being
used correctly |
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figure out the underlying assumptions and
challenge them |
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form a hypothesis, a question, an "educated
guess" to direct your search for more information |
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scrutinize the validity of data or evidence used
to support the explanation |
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Evaluate whether the explanation fits the
underlying evidence |
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Populations are different and therefore samples
may be different |
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Minimal space needs |
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Data coding is automatic |
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No lab assistants necessary |
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Experimenter bias effects do not exist |
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Not possible to run all types of studies |
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Cannot be sure conditions are controlled |
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Participants are truly volunteers; if become
bored they drop out |
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Problem of multiple sampling of same person |
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Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) is the
language of the web page |
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The web browser changes these commands into the
page that is viewed |
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HTML can be written directly by using a simple
editor like NotePad or UltraEdit or any of a dozen others. |
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HTML can be written indirectly by using a word
processing program like Microsoft Word or by using a specialized web page
generating software such as Microsoft FrontPage. |
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Some creation programs allow you to view the
HTML source code |
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Pictures and inserts into the HTML file are
saved as separate files with their location indicated in the source code |
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Once the web page is finished it is uploaded
onto a public space on a web server |
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Use an FTP program (File Transfer Protocol) |
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Examples are FTP Explorer, WSFTP etc. |
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To upload, need permission from web server
administrator |
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Notes