CLINICAL PERSPECTIVES ON

ANXIETY, MOOD AND STRESS

GENS 0005
LECTURE TOPIC ONE (B): WHAT IS
SCIENCE?

DR. JOSHUA M. BRODERICK

What is the process of science? What is the scientific method?

Theory (research questions)

Hypothesis/collecting data (experiments)
Analysing the data (checking results)
Interpreting the results
Updating the theory
Testing new ideas

What are the main types of experiments (procedures)?

True experiment
Correlational study
Quasi-experimental study
Case study

it is highly controlled experiment

What is a true experiment? pure
experiment. any things is not true experiment is more open
to more bias and error.

These are conducted to test the theory and more

specifically the hypotheses which are based on the theory
and previous results.
Experiments require variables
Independent Variable: A variable that the
experimenter manipulates to examine its impact on
the measured variable (i.e. the dependent variable)
/ve ri ble/

allow to change and vary and often times they manipulate intentionally by the experiment => what impact on dependent variable

Dependent Variable: The measured outcome of a

study, or the response of the subjects in the study.

independent: what u manipulating: on/off

dependent: how much water comes out

What is a true experiment?

Theory: Watching television causes you to become alcoholic

Hypothesis: Watching 4 hours of TV per day will make you drink
more alcoholic drinks than if you watch no TV
This is a hypothesis because:
It is a prediction in a specific direction (wrong = drinking
alcohol is related to TVwatching)
It is measurable (we can measure the amount of television
watched and the amount of alcohol drunk)
It is replicable (another person can conduct the exact same
experiment somewhere else)
It is falsifiable (we can find evidence within the context of this
experiment that contradicts our theory)

good about

c th sai lch, c th lm gi mo (ti liu)

causes

What is a true experiment?

Theory: Watching television causes you to become

alcoholic
Hypothesis: Watching 4 hours of TV per day will make you
drink more alcoholic drinks than if you watch no TV
Independent Variable: Amount of TV watched
Condition One: 4 hours TV per day in a week
Condition Two: No TV in week
Dependent Variable: Amount of alcohol consumed before
and after experiment manipulation
Measured: Number of standard drinks per day

Note: these variables must be operationalised!

What does it mean to operationalise a variable?

How would you measure the below concepts?

Height
Love
Depression

Sadness
Green

Ham sandwich

Anxiety

What does it mean to operationalise a variable?

operationalise a variable refer to how u will define and measure a specific variable as it is used in your
study

Note: Some things are easier to defineothers are more difficult because
they are abstract concepts (not concrete)

Height
Love
Depression

Sadness
Green

Ham sandwich

Anxiety

What does it mean to operationalise a variable?

Lets operationalise these concrete terms:

Height = the number of centimeters from the top to bottom of an object

Ham sandwich = two slices of bread with some ham in the middle
(perhaps some butter and mustard too!)

Green = Those wavelengths of light ranging between 520570

nanometres

What does it mean to operationalise a variable?

The purpose of these definitions is to allow us to measure a certain concept.
That is what it means to operationalise something to derive a system
whereby objective tangible measurement is possible.
Let us think again about how we might operationalise the abstract concepts
mentioned before that is, how would you design a system to measure the
concepts in an objective and tangible manner?
While you are doing this, think about whether or not you believe it would be
possible to design a 100% objective and accurate operationalisation for these
concepts?

How would you measure each of these abstract concepts?

Love

Sadness
Anxiety

Depression

What does it mean to operationalise a variable?

Love

Frequency and duration of

physical intimacy over a
period of one year

Number of hugs between two

people over a period of one
year
Increase in blood levels of
Oxytocin over a period of one
year

Amount of love a person

reports feeling for another on
a scale from 1-5

What does it mean to operationalise a variable?

Love

Frequency and duration of

physical intimacy over a
period of one year

Number of hugs between two

people over a period of one
year
Increase in blood levels of
Oxytocin over a period of one
year

Amount of love a person

reports feeling for another on
a scale from 1-5

The number and variety of ways to operationalise

(measure) love is infinite.
This is because the concept is abstract. It only exists
insomuch as we have labeled it.
This does not mean we should not try to define it,
measure it, study it but it does mean there will be
disagreement over what we accept as a good
operationalisation of it and the definition may change
over time

Love
Sternberger
Triangular Love Scale
(cited from Sternberger,
1997)
Please make a rating of the extent to which you
agree with the following statements:

Not at all

Somewhat

Moderately

Quite

Extremely

Love has been operationalised as

comprising three separate abstract
concepts (Intimacy, Passion and
Commitment).
Each of these is measured by a score
on the questionnaire.
The higher the score on the
questionnaire the more love an
individual is theorised to possess.
Here we can see that operationalisation
can be driven largely by theory this
theory suggests that love is
multifaceted

What is a true experiment?

Independent Variable: Amount of TV watched

Condition One: 4 hours TV per day in a week
Condition Two: No TV in week
This is a control variable. A control variable allows us
to infer causation to a greater extent. We can infer
the impact of watching TV because, all things being
equal, we know what the impact of not watching TV
is (we can compare)

What is a true experiment?

14

Number of drinks per week

12

10

0
No TV group

TV group

What is a correlational study?

A correlational study is one where researchers try to show the relationship

(or correlation) between two variables

Only have dependent variables

Only observing not manipulating anything

What is a correlational study?

Positive correlation
As one event tends to increase, the second event tends to increase
Positive associations may be stronger or weaker

What is a correlational study?

Negative correlation
As one event tends to increase, the second event tends to
decrease
Negative associations may be stronger or weaker

Strong - correlation

What is a correlational study?

Perfect positive correlation
Means that an increase in one event is always matched by an equal
increase in a second event
Almost never observed in research settings

Perfect correlation

Zero correlation
There is no relationship between the occurrence of one event and
the occurrence of a second event
Often observed in research e.g., hypotheses not supported

Zero correlation