User:Atcovi/Psychopathology/Chapter 2

Research in Psychopathology
Research: The planned lookout for objective claims through observations and experimentation. Inaccuracy is defeaning. For example, research supporting conversion therapy is harmful.

Robert Spitzer apologized for his flawed study/support for conversion therapy. Homosexuality was removed from DSM-II in 1973.

Nomothetic vs. Idiographic
Nomothetic: Quantitative approach (uses empirical data to generalize behavior to large populations). Though you lose some nuance variations (since you are painting an entire label). Usage of Scientific Method (deals with variables [any characteristic that can vary across time, location, and persons] and see if variables change in accordance with each other).

Idiographic: Qualitative approach (subjective; focuses on specific people). Though it is less scientific and easier to make inaccurate claims.

What do clinical researchers do?
They depend on...


 * Case studies - POSITIVES: Significant insight into a person's life and their problems, could be a bloom for new scientific ideas, support/challenge a theory's assumptions, could use some new therapeutic techniques, and we can gain better insight into some weird problems! NEGATIVES: Therapists may be motivated, evidence garned could easily be subjective (a client's self-report), and you can't really generalize special cases.
 * Correlational method - Essentially "when a does this, b also does this [+ or - trend]". Participants taken out of a target population are called a sample. This method is good cuz it is cheap, can be replicated, and be used for generalization, but the issues are that the samples can be biased and not truly explain a reason. Correlational data can be graphed and "line of best" is calculated. Correlation could be nill or strong (similar direction, dots close to line of best fit). A correlation coefficient (r) can vary from +1.00 (perfect, positive) to -1.00 (perfect, negative). Closer to 0.00, the weaker it is. <5% possibility that findings are found because of a random chance (p < .05)... this is considered to be statistically significant.
 * Experimental method - A variable (IV) is tweaked/effected by the other variable (DV). Confounds are variables that may effect the dependent variable that are NOT the IV. But we have three methods to fight against this: a control group (research participants who are not effected by the IV, rules of stat. significance are applied, may be stat. significant or clinically significant), random assignment (every participant is randomly placed either in the control or experimental group [equal chance]), and masked/blind design (participants don't know which group they are in [placebo experiments], or the researchers could do it double-masked, as in both the experimentors and participants have no idea).
 * Other studies may include longitudinal studies, single-subject experiment (case study + experimental, IV is manipulated so that's a big positive [higher internal validity]), analogue experiments (Harlow's Wire Mother) or natural experiments. An example is a matched design, where participants are placed methodically in existing groups, which are used to test confounds based on other variables (including demographics). An epidemiological study is where the incidence (number of new cases) and prevalence (total number of cases) of a disorder are present.

Both methods use many people, researchers can be formulated in applying their methods onto the subjects, studies CAN be replicated, and statistical tests can be used to analyze results.

Social media's impact
Social media gives a larger data base, but data can be assessed without the subscriber's knowledge and manipulation of data can easily take place.

Ethics

 * No physical/psychological harm for participants
 * IRB gotta aprove of it, make sure that each participant enlists voluntary, informed consent is present, and they can withdraw whenever they want.
 * IRB gives participants the benefits/drawbacks, no harm, know what's going on and the info associated with the study, and privacy is essential.
 * Are animals a worthy subject to be tortured for our livelihood?