RESEARCHON A

EVOLUTIONARY PERSPECTIVE

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Essence of science

• A way of thinkingIdentifying questions, refining them and then proceed to

answer themInterplay between inductive and deductive thinking

• Research can be conducted at many different constraint levels

New directions in research

•Research is constantly evolvingScience is an interconnected discipline

Evolution of Research Questions

•Answering one question raises other questions•Cleverly addressing practical problems•Using advanced technology

New Statistical Methods

• New statistical procedures provide tools to study phenomena not previously open to study

• Many new statistical procedures are only possible because of high-speed computers

• Vast array of new statistical procedures affecting psychological research

Analysis of Variance

•The vast majority of the research designs covered in this text were developed to take advantage of ANOVA techniques•Used for group comparisons•Very flexible tool•The most widely used statistical procedure

•A statistical way to combine several studies on a single topic•Involves

Computing an effect size for each studyComputing a weighted effects size for the series of studies

•An accepted way of integrating multiple studies on a topic

Multidimensional Scaling

•A procedure to reduce a large number of measures into a much smaller number of dimensions•Once thought to be the means of quickly understanding psychological phenomena, but it has not proved to be that powerful

Path Analysis

• A regression-based technique for testing whether correlational data are consistent with a specified causal model

• One of many Latent Variable models

Neuro-imaging

• Procedures such as CAT scans, MRIs, and PET scans all use sophisticated mathematics to produce the three-dimensional images of the body

• The mathematics is similar to multidimensional scaling procedures

• Procedures so clever that it won the Nobel Prize for the developers

Multidisciplinary Research

• All scientific disciplines are artificial boundaries• Increasingly, interdisciplinary teams of scientists are

attacking critical questions that cross current scientific disciplines

Impact of Computers

• Computer capabilities are exploding• Many research areas would be impossible without

the aid of computers• Computers are a tool; science still relies on its logic

to answer research questions

Connectionist Models

• Also called Parallel Distributed Processing (PDP) models

• Tremendous area of research now• Computer modeling may reshape how we theorize

about complex natural phenomena

Summary

• Science is a constantly developing enterprise• As science develops, new questions are raised and

sometimes new techniques must be developed• Many factors affect the development of scientific research,

but no factor is more important than the cleverness of scientists