Day 18

Learning Targets: Students will be able to...

• Describe and analyze the elements of an experiment
• Define descriptive statistics and explain how they are used by behavioral scientists
• Compare and contrast research methods

Opener:  What are the steps in the scientific method?  What is the difference between correlations and "cause-effect" relationships?

Activity #1 - Quickly define and give a scenario that illustrates each of the terms below.  Make sure that you record your responses in your notebook. 

• Survey
• Observation
• Case Study
• Sample
• Hypothesis
• Variable
• Correlation
• Validity
• Reliability
• Bias
• Ethics

Activity #2 - Read through the following article and answer the questions below.
https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-the-hawthorne-effect-2795234

Questions following the reading.  These should also be recorded in your notebook.

1.  What were the fundamental mistakes that researchers made in this study?  How did this effect their conclusions?
2.  So what is the "Hawthorne Effect"?  Is this a legitimate concern for researchers?  Why or Why not?
3.  What would be the "right" way to conduct such a study?  Explain.

Close - Psychology Today presentation and questions