Foundation of psychology
Chapter 11
The contribution of quantitative and qualitative research methods
Quantitative research methods: research methods based on quantifiable data; are associated with the natural-science approach based on the hypothetico-deductive method.
Assumptions underlying quantitative research methods
There is an outside reality that can be discovered
Quantitative psychologists start from the assumption that phenomena in the world have an existence outside people’s minds.
They defend the idea that humans can discover reality by using the scientific method.
They are well aware of the fact that science is not a linear accumulation of facts but proceeds through trial and error. But are convinced that in the long term the scientific method based on the hypothetico-deductive model leads to an understanding of reality → scientific knowledge is cumulative
The main aim of scientific research is to find universal causal relationships
Researchers are primarily interested in discovering relationships between causes and effects.
How general are principles? And how do humans function?
Ideally they hope the mechanisms they discover will apply to all humans.
Trying to avoid confounds and sources of noise
Users of quantitative research methods are extremely vigilant about the possible intrusion of undesired factors into their designs.
They try to maximally control the circumstances under which they run their studies
They also try to eliminate the impact of random variables called noise.
Suspicion about the researcher’s input
A source of confounding and noise that is of particular interest to quantitative psychology researchers is the researcher him- or herself.
To protect themselves against biases and noise, quantitative researchers make use of standardised measurements and instruments.
Progress through falsification
Researchers constantly try to prove each other wrong.
Research methods are divided into three broad orientations
Descriptive research
Observation of numerical data
Detailed observation is the start of scientific research.
Typical for quantitative research is that the data are gathered in a numerical form, either by collecting measurements or by counting frequencies of occurrence.
Before researchers collect data, they have a good idea of how they will analyse them; what types of measurements they will obtain and what types of statistics they can apply to summarise and evaluate the data.
Large samples and a few data points per participant
The vast majority of descriptive quantitative studies involve the collection of a limited amount of data from a reasonably large group of participants.
Two main reasons to include large groups
Descriptive research usually is only the first step of a quantitative research programme, because researchers want to know what caused the data they observe.
To discover cause-effect relations, a fist move is to find out which events (variables) are related.
Relational research
Correlations
The way to find out whether two variables are related according to quantitative psychologists is to collect measures of both variables and to correlate them.
These correlations also provide information about how strong the correlation is.
People do not seem to be good at detecting which variables are correlated.
Problems involved in the intuitive detection of correlations by humans
Factor analysis
Statistical correlations make it possible to investigate the pattern of correlations between any number of variables.
Factor analysis: a statistical technique calculating how many factors are needed to account for the correlations between the variables measured and how these variables relate to the factors.
Experimental research
Correlations do not allow researchers to be sure about causes
Relational research does not allow to be certain about the origin of the correlation.
Experiments to determine cause-effect relations
To be able to draw firm conclusions about cause and effect, quantitative psychologists will set up an experiment in which they manipulate the suspected cause and see whether this has an effect on the phenomenon they are examining.
Controlling for confounding variables
Only the suspected causes are manipulated and the resulting changes in the phenomenon registered.
Everything else must be held constant.
Confounding variable: variable that was not taken into account in the study and that may be the origin of the effect observed.
To address the confounds, experimental psychologists introduce an increasing number of controls.
Or they run several experiments on the same topic and look for converging evidence across studies.
Experiments are not always possible
Not all issues in psychology can be addressed experimentally.
This may be one of the reasons why progress in psychology is harder to achieve than in other sciences.
Strengths of quantitative research methods
The application of powerful statistical analysis enables researches to detect nearly every pattern of association in large datasets.
The application of falsification tests prevents wrong ideas and weak theories from thriving for too long.
Limits of quantitative methods
No interest in the person behind the participant
The research is designed in such a way that each participant returns one or a few numbers, which can be used in statistical analysis.
Participants are confronted with researchers who shun close interactions during the data gathering because they fear such interactions might invalidate the study.
The lack of interest in the person behind the participant is of particular concern when the research concerns real-life situations.
In these situations psychologists can learn a lot by listening to the experiences and opinions of the people involved.
Research is too much driven by what can be measured numerically and tested experimentally
Quantitative psychologists have a bias to limit their research to topics that can easily by measured.
Quantitative imperative: a bias only to find measurable topics interesting because quantitative research methods require numerical data.
Much research has been geared towards questions that can be addressed empirically.
The aspects of mental life that cannot be captured by numbers and that cannot be manipulated in an experiment have been considered of secondary importance
The falsification test lends itself better to destroying ideas than to finding practical solutions to specific problems
The falsification test is primarily geared toward erasing wrong theories rather than generating new ones.
Interim summary
The essence of quantitative research
Qualitative research methods: research methods based on understanding phenomena in their historical and socio-cultural context; are associated with the hermeneutic approach based on understanding the meaning of a situation
Assumptions underlying qualitative research methods
In psychology there is little or no evidence for a reality outside people’s minds
Most qualitative psychologists are not convinced that in psychology there is an objective reality, which can be discovered with the scientific approach.
For them the only reality that matters is the reality as perceived and constructed by people.
There are differences in the degree that the various methods question the existence/importance of an objective reality.
It is more important to understand people’s views rather than their responses to aspects of the environment.
Attempts to control the situation make the setting artificial and impoverished
Quantitative researchers are misguided in their attempts to try to measure ‘reality’ in unbiased ways.
The attempts turn the environment into an artificial setting that robs the participants of their usual ways of interacting and coping with meaningful situations.
The investigator should become an active participant and listen to what the participant has to say.
He should be guided by a constructive desire to understand the meaning of what is going on.
Qualitative researchers acknowledge that the approach they promote entails the danger of the conclusions being influenced by the researcher but argue that:
Immersion and understanding
The point of departure of qualitative psychology is the immersion of the researcher in the situation that is being studied, so that the meaning of the situation can be understood.
The researcher approaches the situation open-mindedly and sees what comes out.
Ideographic vs. nomothetic
Ideographic approach: the conclusions of a study stay limited to the phenomenon under study
Nomothetic approach: a study is run in search of universal principles that exceed the confines of the study.
Induction rather than deduction
Psychologists should pay more attention to inductive reasoning.
Bracketing: requirement in qualitative research to look at a phenomenon with an open mind and to free oneself from preconceptions.
Qualitative research is evidence-based
In qualitative research, too, a study depends on collecting and analysing empirical findings.
In addition, these data must be gathered and made available in such a way that the conclusions can be verified by others.
The main difference in data with quantitative research is that the findings typically are not coded in a numerical formed.
They comprise an organised set of verbal statements that in the researcher’s eyes summarises the examined situation.
Data collection and analysis
Qualitative research stress the importance of ‘rich information’.
Information that in the participant’s eyes adequately describes the situation.
The participants determine what will be found
Data collection
Semi-structured interview: interview in which each interviewee gets a small set of core questions, but for the rest of the time is encouraged to speak freely; achieved by making use of open-ended, non-directive questions.
Focus groups: technique in which a group of participants freely discuss a limited set of questions.
Transcription
The raw materials of semi-structured interviews usually consists of auditory or visual recordings.
These have to be transcribed in written form, so that they can easily be referred to.
The transcription also contains non-verbal signals.
After the transcription, the written records are numbered.
Data analysis
In a qualitative analysis the investigator rewrites the raw materials as a flow chart of core ideas, based on multiple close readings and guided by the questions emphasised by the different approaches.
The analysis requires an adequate classification of the various statements into a number of (recurring) themes and clear ideas of how the components are interconnected.
The researcher tries to encompass the data as comprehensively as possible.
Grounded theory
Grounded theory: qualitative research method that tries to understand what is going on in a particular situation and which, on the basis of a qualitative analysis and induction, tries to come to a theoretical insight grounded in the data
In a grounded theory analysis, the investigator rewrites the raw material on the basis of questions such as ‘What is going on here?’.
On the basis of these questions, the participants’ answers are recorded into a sequence of themes, which are then grouped into higher-order categories.
This makes it possible for a theory to emerge from the data through inductive reasoning.
Phenomenological analysis
Unease with grounded theory
Limitations of grounded theory
Inspiration form Husserl
Hermeneutically inspired psychologists stressed that the primary aim of qualitative research was to examine what reality looked like for the participants, leaving open the question whether in psychology there is something of an objective, person-independent reality.
Edmund Husserl (1859-1938)
Phenomenology.
Stressed that psychology should be a reflective study of consciousness as experienced from the first-person point of view.
It is better for psychology to return to the experience itself.
The human experience was not in the first place a matter of lawful responses to events in the environment, but a system of interrelated meanings, which Husserl called a Gestalt or Lebenswelt.
Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA): qualitative research method in psychology that tries to understand how a phenomenon is experienced by the people involved.
How does IPA work?
IPA resembles very much the analysis of grounded theory.
The main difference is that IPA is centred on how participants make sense of their personal and social world.
It attempts to explore the personal experience and is concerned with the participant’s personal account, not with an understanding of the phenomenon itself.
IPA acknowledges the input form the researcher, who tries to make sense of the participants trying to make sense of their world.
The researcher’s involvement does not mean that the researcher is allowed to introduce obvious biases. Investigators are advised to bracked as much as possible and to approach the new situation open-mindedly.
IPA accepts that some form of meta-interpretation on the part of the researcher is possible.
Key elements of IPA:
Discourse analysis
The linguistic turn in the philosophy of science and in critical psychology
Discourse analysis: qualitative research method that aims to discover how social relations between people are determined by the language they use.
Language is the only topic worth investigating because it makes the world in which humans live.
The linguistic turn in postmodernist writings influenced the development of qualitative research in three ways:
How are relations between people determined by the language they use, and how do people try to achieve goals by means of their language?
All variants of discourse analysis try to determine how participants use discursive resources and what effects it has.
Strengths of qualitative research
Limits of qualitative research
Interim summary
The essence of qualitative research
The two types of research are incompatible
Incompatibility of the underlying paradigms
Psychologists who stress the incompatibility of the quantitative and qualitative methods emphasise the different world views underlying them.
Quantitative psychology’s arguments against the need for qualitative psychology
Qualitative psychology’s arguments against the need for quantitative psychology
Trying to reconcile quantitative and qualitative research methods are attempts to regain lost ground
Psychologists who consider qualitative and quantitative research to be incompatible often mistrust efforts to unite them, because they see these efforts as disguised attempts to regain lost ground.
Two types of research complement each other
The other view is that qualitative and quantitative research methods can be used in tandem depending on the question one wants to answer.
Quantitative research is more than a positivist search for physical laws
Scientists nowadays make a distinction between
Qualitative research is more than a chat with participants
Qualitative research must include
Interim summary
How do quantitative and qualitative research methods relate to each other?
Interim summary
Is philosophy of science useful for psychology?
The wider picture, where did it all start? - summary of chapter 1 of Historical and conceptual issues in psychology, by Brysbaert, M and Rastle, K (second edition)
Foundation of Psychology
Chapter 1
The wider picture, where did it all start?
Introduction
This book describes the growth of psychology as an independent branch of learning and tries to comprehend the essence of the discipline.
The introduction of written records represents one of the most important moments in the development of science.
The preliterate culture
Preliterate civilisation: civilisation before writing was invented.
Though these civilisations have not left us with written testimonies, it is possible to discern several important features of them by studying existing cultures that do not use writing.
This research revealed three important characteristics of knowledge in these kinds of cultures:
The first writing systems
Written language appeard separately in at least four cultures:
These four written languages were preceded by protowriting, the use of symbols to represent entities without linguistic information lining to them.
Characteristics of writing systems
From an early stage, writing systems were a combination of pictograms and phonograms.
Pictogram: an information-conveying sign that consists of a picture resembling the person, animal or object it represents.
Phonogram: a sign that represents a sound or a syllable of spoken language.
Phonograms were gradually replaced by simpler signs symbolizing meaningful sounds in language, (phonemes or syllables).
The use of phonograms to represent phonemes led to the alphabetic writing systems.
Logograph: a sign representing a spoken word, which no longer has a physical resemblance to the word’s meaning.
Written documents form an external
.....read more The scientific revolution of the seventeenth century and its aftermath - summary of chapter 2 of Historical and conceptual issues in psychology, by Brysbaert, M and Rastle, K (second edition)Foundation of Psychology
Chapter 2
The scientific revolution of the seventeenth century and its aftermath
Introduction
The word psychology did not appear in literature before 1500.
Scientific revolution: name given to a series of discoveries in the seventeenth century, involving Galilei, Descartes and Newton, that enhanced the status of science in society.
The geocentric model of the universe in the sixteenth century
The earth as the centre of the universe
The model that of the universe used in the sixteenth century was the model described by Aristotle who built on others) and elaborated by Ptolemy.
Aristotle’s universe was a limited universe with the Earth in the middle
Geocentric model: model of the universe in which the Earth is at the centre; was dominant until the seventeenth century.
The addition of epicycles
A key problem within the Aristotelian universe was the movements of some of the wandering stars.
To explain strange movements, Ptolemy used the notion of ‘epicycles’.
Epicycles: small cycles made by the wandering stars in addition to their main orbit around the earth.
Copernicus’s alternative heliocentric model
The sun at the centre of the universe
Aristotle’s model was not the only one that had been proposed in ancient cultures.
Heliocentric model: model of the universe in which the sun is at the centre.
Copernicus saw the heliocentric model as a valid alternative for the geocentric model.
Why Copernicus waited to publish his model
Only shortly before his death, Copernicus was persuaded to get his book printed.
Possible reasons
Galilei uses a telescope
Because of the many problems with Copernicus’s model, it failed to have much impact.
Galilei’s observations
Galilei built a telescope and found out that:
Eighteenth- and nineteenth- century precursors to a scientific psychology - summary of chapter 3 of Historical and conceptual issues in psychology, by Brysbaert, M and Rastle, K (second edition)Foundation of Psychology
Chapter 3
Eighteenth- and nineteenth- century precursors to a scientific psychology
A characteristic of current Western society is that people derive their self-image and self-esteem from their own qualities and accomplishments rather than from the position of their family in society.
Individualisation: trend in a society towards looser social relations and a greater focus by individuals on themselves than on the groups they belong to.
Historians believe that this process of individualisation started sometime around the end of the Middle Ages and is still growing.
Following factors are contributions:
Interim summary
Since the end of the middle ages there has been increasing individualisation in society. Factors hypothesised to play a role include:
Descartes was the first Western philosopher after the Ancient Greeks to value new and independent thinking.
Epistemology: branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of knowledge.
Empiricism instead of rationalism
The traditional rationalist view
The traditional view of understanding in philosophy was based on
.....read more Establishing psychology as an independent academic discipline - summary of chapter 4 of Historical and conceptual issues in psychology, by Brysbaert, M and Rastle, K (second edition)Foundation of psychology
Chapter 4
Establishing psychology as an independent academic discipline
By 1850 there was a thriving literature of psychological subjects in Germany.
The universities reform in Germany
Universities in the German states for a long time were dominated by the humanities and religion.
This was a feature proponents of the Enlightenment fought against.
The Enlightenment ideas mainly came from a group of academics who had been expelled from the University of Leipzig, because of their critical attitude and modern ways of thinking.
A reform took place after the defeat of the Holy Roman Empire in 1805-1806.
The defeat by the French particularly upset the Prussians, who decided it was high time to modernise their country.
The school system was reorganised and a new university model was installed.
The emphasis on scientific research and the freedom given to the professors made the German universities dynamic and open to new areas for scientific investigation.
Wundt and the first laboratory of experimental psychology
Wundt’s career
After this Phd in medicine, he obtained an assistantship with Hermann von Helmholtz where Wundt began to identify himself as a scientific psychologist.
In 1862 he gave his first course in ‘Psychology as a natural science’ and in 1874 he published a book on physiological psychology.
In the book, psychology was defined as the study of the way in which persons look upon themselves, on the basis of internal physiological changes that inform them about the phenomena perceived by the external senses.
Wundt called his psychology physiological because:
In 1875 Wundt was appointed Professor in Leubzig were
.....read more Strengthening the scientific standing of psychology - summary of chapter 5 of Historical and conceptual issues in psychology, by Brysbaert, M and Rastle, K (second edition)Foundations of psychology
Chapter 5
Strengthening the scientific standing of psychology
The USA began to rule psychology in the twentieth century.
The expansion of psychology around the start of the twentieth century
As well as laboratories, in 1892 the American Psychological Association (APA) was founded, giving psychology researchers a forum to meet and discuss their findings.
Two journals were established that would dominate the field and that still exists today.
The first American psychology: functionalism
As psychology in the USA expanded, it got moulded by the expectations and preoccupations of American society.
There was a mistrust of intellectualism, knowledge for the sake of knowledge.
America was a nation of common-sense businessmen, not interested in abstract science, but in practical accomplishments that at the same time made money, revealed God’s glory, and advanced the American dream.
If psychology were to prosper, it had to subscribe to American values, which it readily did.
Part of the attraction to the functionalist approach to the Americans was that Wundt’s experimental research programme ran into problems in 1880s.
Psychology and its position within universities
Most psychology laboratories were set up within philosophical and theological institutes.
Staff members were not always happy with this.
On other occasions experimental psychologists were told not to stay too far from good old psychology as developed in philosophical writings.
Trying to win over the public
Phrenology
Phrenology: view that mental functions are localised in the brain and that the capacity of a function corresponds to the
.....read more The input from brain research - summary of chapter 6 of Historical and conceptual issues in psychology, by Brysbaert, M and Rastle, K (second edition)Foundations of psychology
Chapter 6
The input from brain research
Beliefs of the ancient Egyptians
The Edwin Smith papyrus
In 1862 an American collector, Edwin Smith, bought a papyrus scroll in the Egyptian city of Luxor.
In the text, written around 1700 BCE, but probably a copy of an older papyrus from 3000 BCE, a series of 48 cases were described dealing with the consequences of head and neck injuries.
Each case included a title, details of the examination, a diagnosis and an indication of the treatment.
The diagnosis consisted of one of three conclusions
The Edwin Smith papyrus: papyrus from Ancient Egypt that contains short descriptions of the symptoms and treatment of different forms of brain injury; named after the person who bought the papyrus in Egypt and had it analysed.
They illustrate how physicians treating wounded soldiers quite early became convinced of the importance of the head (brain) in controlling behaviour.
Beliefs in the wider society
The existence of the Edwin Smith papyrus did not imply that the knowledge contained in it was widespread.
In Ancient Egypt most scholars were convinced that the heart was the seat of the soul.
The roles of the heart and brain in Ancient Greece
The discussion over whether the soul was in the heart or in the brain continued in Ancient Greece.
Plato
Plato and Hippocrates placed the soul in the brain.
Plat also saw a function for the heart.
According to Plato, the soul was divided into three parts
Aristotle
Aristotle was convinced that the heart was the seat of the soul.
The function of the brain was to counterbalance the heat of the heart.
The heart and the brain formed
The mind-brain problem, free will and consciousness - summary of chapter 7 of Historical and conceptual issues in psychology, by Brysbaert, M and Rastle, K (second edition)Foundations of psychology
Chapter 7
The mind-brain problem, free will and consciousness
Throughout history, humans have been impressed by their ability to reflect about themselves and the world around them.
Self: the feeling of being an individual with private experiences, feelings and beliefs, who interacts in a coherent and purposeful way with the environment.
Mind-brain problem: issue of how the mind is related to the brain.
Three main views
Mind: aggregate of faculties humans (and animals) have to perceive, feel, think, remember and want.
Dualism: view of the mind-body relation according to which the mind is immaterial and completely independent of the body; central within religions and also in Descartes’ philosophy.
Dualism in religion and traditional philosophy
Religion
Dualism is central to religions.
They are grounded in the belief that people possess a divine soul created by God, which temporarily lives in the body, and which leaves the corpse upon its death.
The soul is what gives people their purpose and values in life.
It usually aims for the good, but can be tempted and seduced by evil forces.
This gave rise to the demonologist view of psychopathology.
Demonologists view: the conviction that mental disorders are due to possession by bad spirits.
Plato and Descartes
Dualism was central in the philosophies of Plato and Descartes.
Cartesian dualism: theories in which the mind is seen as radically different from the body and as independent of the biological processes in the
.....read more How did psychology affect everyday life? - summary of chapter 8 of Historical and conceptual issues in psychology, by Brysbaert, M and Rastle, K (second edition)Foundation of psychology
Chapter 8
How did psychology affect everyday life?
Introduction
Over the course of the twentieth century, the discipline of psychology grew from a marginal academic field to a discipline that has done more than any other to transform the routines and experiences of everyday life.
Applied psychology: the application of psychological knowledge and research methods to solve practical problems.
Evolutions before World War II
Mental health problems must be treated by partitioners with a medical degree
Psychologists were not allowed to provide unsupervised therapies in official settings and their private practices were not covered by health insurance.
The first clinical psychology centres
Treatment centres run by psychologists started in the USA and were university-related.
Lightner Witmer
Opened the faculty that was the first psychology health centre in 1896.
Aimed at helping behavioural and learning problems in school children.
The founding of clinical psychology centres was impeded by the lack of support from academic psychologists.
In the meantime mental health problems and psychoanalysis became popular courses in psychology.
Clinical psychology: branch of psychology applying psychological knowledge to the assessment and treatment of mental disorders.
The first clinical psychology centre in the UK was set up in 1920 in a private house in London.
The impact of World War II
An urgent need for psychological advice and treatment
Shell-shock: anxiety response of battlefield that prevents soldiers from functioning properly; was one of the first topics addressed by applied psychology.
The finding of shell-shock in World War I gave rise tow two developments
When the USA decided to join World War II they also decided to properly staff the military psychiatric service.
A crash course in the treatment of mental disorders was offered to all medical officers, and clinical psychologists were taken on broad, both for testing and treatment.
The beginning of client-centred therapy
The rising demand for psychological help provided a rich environment for new developments in therapy.
Psychoanalysis required a long series of treatment sessions and was not
What is science? - summary of chapter 9 of Historical and conceptual issues in psychology, by Brysbaert, M and Rastle, K (second edition)Foundation of psychology
Chapter 9
What is science?
Science’s claim of superiority was based on four principles
Thoughts before the scientific revolution
Plato, Aristotle and the sceptics
Plato
A strong rationalist view of knowledge acquisition.
Human perception was fallible and the observable world was only a shadow of the Real world.
The human soul had innate knowledge of the universe, which could be harnessed
Aristotle
More scope for observation and made a distinction between deductive reasoning and inductive reasoning.
True, theoretical knowledge started from axioms, form which new knowledge was deduced via so-called demonstrations.
Perception was the source of information but not knowledge itself.
Correspondence theory of truth: a statement is true when it corresponds with reality. Assumes that there is a physical reality which has priority and which the human mind tries to understand it. First formulated by Aristotle.
Pyrrho of Ellis
Scepticism: philosophical view that does not deny the existence of a physical reality, but denies that humans can have reliable knowledge of it; first formulated by Pyrrho of Ellis.
Humans must suspend judgment on all matters of reality.
Augustine
Augustine (354-430CE)
True knowledge was knowledge based on God’s revelations.
This view became dominant until well into the seventeenth century.
Interaction between theory and experiment: the scientific revolution
Galilei’s thought experiments
Galilei is usually credited as the person who convinced the world of the importance of observation and experimentation for the acquisition of knowledge.
But Galilei might in reality be a transition figure steeped in the Aristotelian tradition.
Is psychology a science? - summary of chapter 10 of Historical and conceptual issues in psychology, by Brysbaert, M and Rastle, K (second edition)Foundation of psychology
Chapter 10
Is psychology a science?
The foundation of psychology as an academic discipline was legitimised on two pillars
Psychology has a long, respectful past and uses the scientific method
Steven Ward
Makes the case that a new branch of knowledge can establish itself and survive only if it succeeds in convincing the ruling powers of the need for such knowledge as well as reassuring them that it is no threat to their prosperity.
The founders of psychology promoted it as a new academic discipline by stressing two messages
Consequences for the psychology curriculum
Because psychology was promoted on the basis of its long past and its sound method, both ‘history of psychology’ and ‘research methods’ were major components of the curriculum.
These books on history were self-legitimisation as much as essential stepping stones for a good psychology education.
Science is defined by its method rather than by its subject matter
Every topic studied within the scientific method is a science
To be accepted as a science, psychologists had to make the case that what differentiated sciences from non-sciences was the way in which problems were investigated, and not the type of problems addressed.
Although few people spontaneously associated the study of mental life with scientific research, the first academic psychologists maintained that there was nothing inherent in the subject matter that prevented it from being studied using the scientific method.
Methodolatry
Because of its emphasis on method in the definition of science, academic psychology invested heavily in developing appropriate research designs and analysis techniques.
It has been argued that psychology throughout its existence has overplayed the role of research methods at the expense of theory building.
Methodolarty or methodologism: tendency to see methodological rigour as the only requirement for scientific research, at the expense of theory formation.
The shadow of positivism
One reason why psychologists tended to stress valid testing rather than theory formation was that they tried too hard to be good scientists.
The contribution of quantitative and qualitative research methods - summary of chapter 11 of Historical and conceptual issues in psychology, by Brysbaert, M and Rastle, K (second edition)Foundation of psychology
Chapter 11
The contribution of quantitative and qualitative research methods
Quantitative research methods: research methods based on quantifiable data; are associated with the natural-science approach based on the hypothetico-deductive method.
Assumptions underlying quantitative research methods
There is an outside reality that can be discovered
Quantitative psychologists start from the assumption that phenomena in the world have an existence outside people’s minds.
They defend the idea that humans can discover reality by using the scientific method.
They are well aware of the fact that science is not a linear accumulation of facts but proceeds through trial and error. But are convinced that in the long term the scientific method based on the hypothetico-deductive model leads to an understanding of reality → scientific knowledge is cumulative
The main aim of scientific research is to find universal causal relationships
Researchers are primarily interested in discovering relationships between causes and effects.
How general are principles? And how do humans function?
Ideally they hope the mechanisms they discover will apply to all humans.
Trying to avoid confounds and sources of noise
Users of quantitative research methods are extremely vigilant about the possible intrusion of undesired factors into their designs.
They try to maximally control the circumstances under which they run their studies
They also try to eliminate the impact of random variables called noise.
Suspicion about the researcher’s input
A source of confounding and noise that is of particular interest to quantitative psychology researchers is the researcher him- or herself.
To protect themselves against biases and noise, quantitative researchers make use of standardised measurements and instruments.
Progress through falsification
Researchers constantly try to prove each other wrong.
Research methods are divided into three broad orientations
Descriptive research
Observation of numerical data
Detailed observation is the start of scientific research.
Typical for quantitative research is that the data are gathered in a numerical form, either by collecting measurements or by counting frequencies of occurrence.
Before researchers collect data, they have a good idea of how they will analyse them; what types of measurements they will obtain and what types of statistics they can apply to summarise and evaluate the data.
Large samples and a few data points per participant
The vast majority of descriptive quantitative studies involve the collection of a limited amount of data from a reasonably large group of participants.
Two main reasons to include
Psychology and society - summary of chapter 13 of Historical and conceptual issues in psychology, by Brysbaert, M and Rastle, K (second edition)Foundation of psychology
Chapter 13
Psychology and society
Science overtakes religion in Western society
Initial strong links between psychological thinking and religion
Psychology as a separate branch of knowledge grew out of the rising role of scientific thinking in Western society.
Education for a long time was controlled by the churches, which did not look favourably upon those who tried to examine the soul.
Many early psychologists had strong connections with religion.
Alliance formation with the expanding sciences
Rapidly, the experimental psychologists distanced themselves from religion, because it jeopardies their scientific credentials.
They sought to align themselves with the rapidly growing natural sciences, by denouncing weaker fields that might contaminate them, such as religion, philosophy, and sociology.
Psychologists replace pastors
Fewer people felt comfortable discussing their mental health problems with religious authorities.
Whereas for a long time churches were the first port to call for mental health problems, growing secularisation increased the need for non-religious counselling.
At the same time, a growing number of clergy started to study psychology to improve the help they were able to provide.
Changes in society impinge on psychological practice
Impact on psychological research
The massive changes in the organisation of Western society in the nineteenth and twentieth century generated ideas and research opportunities for psychologists.
Six historical developments that affected psychological research
Societal influences were not limited to the science-oriented track of psychology, but also shaped thought in the hermeneutic part.
Impact on clinical practice
Changes in society influenced clinical practice.
Mental disorders show cultural variation.
This is not only true between cultures, but also across time within a culture.
Each culture has a symptom pool, a collective memory of how to behave when ill.
At each time period patients with psychological problems gravitate towards the symptoms that at the time are thought to be legitimate indications of disease, as no patients wants to select illegitimate symptoms.
Society as a metaphor provider
Metaphors: in science, stands for an analogy from another area that helps to map a new, complex problem by making reference to a better
.....read more Historical Psychology
This is my personal collection of content about the history of psychology
All the interim summaries of the first half of Historical and conceptual issues in psychology, by Brysbaert, M and Rastle, K (second edition)The invention of writing
The discovery of numbers
The Fertile Crescent
Civilisations in the Fertile crescent:
The Greeks
Developments from the Roman Empire to the end of the Middle Ages
Ancient Romans:
Byzantine empire
Arab empire:
Western Roman empire:
All the interim summaries of the second half of Historical and conceptual issues in psychology, by Brysbaert, M and Rastle, K (second edition)Introduction
Mind-brain problem: issue of how the mind is related to the brain.
Three main views
Dualism
Materialism
Functionalism
Foundations of psychology In this magazine, you can find the summaries you need to finish the course foundations of psychology in the second year of the study psychology at the uva.
JoHo can really use your help! Check out the various student jobs here that match your studies, improve your competencies, strengthen your CV and contribute to a more tolerant world
JoHo kan jouw hulp goed gebruiken! Check hier de diverse studentenbanen die aansluiten bij je studie, je competenties verbeteren, je cv versterken en een bijdrage leveren aan een tolerantere wereld
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