Week 2 — Readings & Resources · Research Methods & Ethics

Course: Introduction to Psychology (PSYC 1) · Silver Oak University (fictional sample) · Prof. Bennett
Objective covered: Objective 2 — Evaluate psychological research methods and ethics, distinguishing correlation from causation and identifying sources of bias.

How to use this page

Everything here is a link to an external resource — open it in your browser, the same way you'd open a YouTube link. Nothing needs to be downloaded.

This week's load is deliberately light: 4 short readings + 1 video, grouped by the ideas from the lecture, plus one optional full-chapter reference. Read or watch one item per group and you're ready for the quiz; do all of them and you'll be very comfortable. Total time is roughly 45–55 minutes if you do everything, far less if you pick one per group.

Reading order that matches the lecture: ① the research designs → ② correlation vs. causation → ③ samples & bias → ④ research ethics & the IRB.

A habit to start now: before you trust any "studies show…" claim — in these readings or anywhere — ask the three questions from class: What design was it? What can it honestly conclude? If it's correlational, what's a possible third variable?

① The Three Research Designs

Maps to Lecture Segment 3. Psychology has three families of study — descriptive (describe), correlational (find a link), and experimental (test a cause) — and the design sets the ceiling on what you can claim.

Reading — "Research Methods in Psychology" (Simply Psychology)
🔗 https://www.simplypsychology.org/research-methods.html
Why it's assigned: a clean, plain-language tour of the major methods — experiments, surveys, case studies, naturalistic observation — and what each is good (and bad) at. Exactly the Segment 3 overview.
⏱ ~9 min

Video — "Psychological Research: Crash Course Psychology #2"
🔗 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFV71QPvX2I
Why it earns the click: a lively 10-minute run through case studies, naturalistic observation, surveys, and experiments — plus how bias sneaks in and how good design fights it. It opens on the same intuition/hindsight trap we used to launch the week. Covers Segments 2–4 in one go.
⏱ ~10 min

Reading — "Experimental Method in Psychology" (Simply Psychology)
🔗 https://www.simplypsychology.org/experimental-method.html
Why it's assigned: zooms in on the experiment — independent vs. dependent variables, control of extraneous/confounding variables, and the random allocation of participants — the design that earns the word "cause." Pairs with Segments 3 and 5.
⏱ ~8 min

② Correlation vs. Causation

Maps to Lecture Segment 4. The line to carry out of this week: a correlation is a clue, not a verdict — because of the third-variable problem and the directionality problem.

Reading — "Correlation in Psychology" (Simply Psychology)
🔗 https://www.simplypsychology.org/correlation.html
Why it's assigned: explains the correlation coefficient (−1 to +1, sign = direction, size = strength), positive vs. negative, and walks the third-variable problem with real examples — including the classic ice-cream-sales-and-crime case. This is the conceptual heart of the week.
⏱ ~9 min

③ Samples & Bias

Maps to Lecture Segment 5. Remember the hook: sampling is about who's studied (generalizing); assignment is about who's treated (causation). This reading is the sampling half.

Reading — "Sampling Methods in Research" (Simply Psychology)
🔗 https://www.simplypsychology.org/sampling.html
Why it's assigned: defines population vs. sample, shows why a representative sample matters for generalizability, and names how sampling bias creeps in (e.g., convenience samples of whoever's handy). The perfect companion to the "two randoms" segment.
⏱ ~8 min

④ Research Ethics & the IRB

Maps to Lecture Segment 6. The floor every psychology study has to clear before it ever runs.

Reading — "Ethical Considerations in Psychology Research" (Simply Psychology)
🔗 https://www.simplypsychology.org/ethics.html
Why it's assigned: lays out the core protections — informed consent, the right to withdraw, protection from harm, when deception is allowed, the required debriefing, confidentiality, and the role of the ethics committee / IRB. Everything in Segment 6, in order.
⏱ ~10 min

Optional one-stop reference (free online text)

If you'd like one optional reference to skim all term, OpenStax Psychology 2e keeps its full text free to read online. Chapter 2 ("Psychological Research") covers everything in this week — why research matters, the approaches to research, reading findings, and ethics.
🔗 https://openstax.org/books/psychology-2e/pages/2-introduction
Why it's here: a reputable, currently-available reference you can return to in later weeks — entirely optional this week.

Pick-one quick path (≈19 min total)

In a hurry? Do exactly these two and you'll be ready for the quiz:
1. Watch Crash Course Psychology #2 — Psychological Research (groups ①–②).
2. Read Correlation in Psychology (group ②), and skim the Ethics reading's first sections — informed consent, deception, and debriefing (group ④).

Heads-up (links rot): these point to outside sites that occasionally move or rename pages. If a link ever fails, tell Prof. Bennett and use the OpenStax reference above in the meantime.