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Unit One, Lesson Two: Research Methods and Statistics in Psychology

Introduction

In this lesson, you will learn about statistics. Students are not often fascinated by this topic, but it is important in understanding how psychologists analyze and interpret the data that they collect. It is also important to have an understanding of these concepts because they will appear on the AP Exam.

Objectives

 Key Terms

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to

  • explain the differences between various research methodologies used in psychology as a social science;
  • explain these basic descriptive statistics: mean, median, mode, standard deviation, and range;
  • explain the advantages and disadvantages of each of these measures of central tendency: mean, median, mode; and
  • describe the basic techniques of descriptive statistics.
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Questions to Think About

As you move through this lesson, consider these questions:

  • Why do we use statistics in psychology?
  • What is the difference between descriptive and inferential statistics?
  • What is statistical significance?
  • How do we measure central tendency and variability?
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Reading Assignment

 Reading Assignment

The science of psychology, like other branches of science—particularly the social sciences—is rooted in research. In this lesson, you'll explore the methodologies of psychology research. You'll learn more about this topic in relation to developmental psychology where the methods of data collection and analyses must account for the changing age of their research participants.

In this Reading Assignment, you'll read the following selection from your textbook, Essentials of Psychology (unless otherwise indicated, read the entire chapter):

10th edition: "Behavioral Statistics" pages 677-688

While this activity is not scored, it's important that you complete the reading so you can complete the other activities in this lesson that are based on the reading.

To complete the Reading Assignment, I recommend you do the following.

  • Open, print, and read the Study Guide. Think about the questions posed on the Study Guide as you read.
  • Open, print, and read the Study Guide Answers to compare with your answers on the Study Guide.
  • Keep the Study Guide and Study Guide Answers in your course notebook to refer to as you work through the course.
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Calculating Statistics

The Web is a wonderful resource, but you must be cognizant of the quality of the information that you receive. Here are two Web sites that many statistics professors highly recommend for their students. Both sites have basic information similar to your textbook, as well as more detailed information, which is not necessary for this course. I hope you enjoy browsing these sites. It's helpful to have these concepts explained in multiple ways to be sure that you understand the material.

Web Sites

  • The HyperStat Web site has a nice introductory section on statistics that includes the comparison between descriptive and inferential statistics, as well as basic definitions of a population, sample, and other terms. It also has some terrific links to other statistics Web sites and recommended books on statistics. You can find the site at the following URL:
    http://davidmlane.com/hyperstat/

  • The following is an online textbook. Check out the chapter on distributions. There are many overlapping concepts with the information in your textbook. It also features a number of examples that might bring the concept to life for you.
    http://faculty.vassar.edu/lowry/VassarStats.html

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