What is research in

health psychology about?

Health psychology is a scientific discipline and
an empirical science.
Hypothesis generation- gut feeling intuition
Testing a theory- organized set of principles
used to explain observed phenomena.
Operational definition-
Data collection
Data analysis
Developing or revising a theory
Observational or natural methods
Pevalence
Incidence
Participant observation /naturalistic
Archival research
Case report case study
Corelated factors not causal factors
 Survey methods
Large amounts of data can be collected at the same
time
Inexpensive
No observer bias
Lading questions .
Response options
Inaccurate reporting
Cant determine causality
 Experimental method
Independent variable and dependent variable
Random assignment
Artificial setting
Experimental /psychological realism
Ethical considerations
Natural experiments
Quasi experiments Ex post facto studies
retrospective study Prospective studies
Longitudinal studies
Cross sectional studies
 Clinical Methods
Used by researchers examining the effect of drugs or
therapy .
Blind and double blind studies
Patient selection
Comorbidity/concomitant treatment
Patient cooperation
How Can We Evaluate Research
Studies
Internal validity - placebo ,blind,double blind,
experimenter expectancy effects
External validity -use representative sample,
covience sample, make the participation in
the study as convienient as possible, conduct
the study in different population or locations,
studies must have higher mundane realism
Ethics in Research
Institutional review
Informed consent
Confidentiality
Deception
Debriefing
Issues with experimentation with animals
Unanswerd questions……..