CHAPTER 1.2

• I/O psychology heavily relies on research to save organizations money, with monetary savings resulting from factors like increased employee satisfaction, productivity, and fewer accidents.
• Research revealed flaws in unstructured employment interviews, preventing organizations from wasting money on an ineffective method.
• Research is encountered in daily life, affecting decisions at work and home, and understanding research helps critically analyze information, preventing poor decisions based on flawed studies.
• A researcher wonders about the impact of noise on employee performance and predicts decreased performance based on the theory that distractions affect concentration.
• Before conducting a new study, it is essential to review existing literature to avoid redundancy.
• Laboratory research is conducted in a controlled environment, often at universities or organizations, allowing researchers to control variables but may lack external validity, making it challenging to generalize results to real-world settings.
• Field research is conducted outside the controlled environment, in real-world settings, offering high external validity, reflecting real-world conditions but may lack control over extraneous variables, affecting internal validity.
• Obtaining informed consent can be challenging and may influence participant behavior in field research.
• Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) ensure ethical treatment of research participants, considering factors like confidentiality.
• Experiments involve manipulating independent variables and random assignment of subjects, establishing cause-and-effect relationships but may be limited by ethical and practical considerations.
• Quasi-experiments are used when full experiments are impractical, lacking full control over variables.
• Archival research uses previously collected data or records to answer research questions, is non-intrusive and cost-effective but records may be inaccurate or incomplete.
• Surveys involve asking people for opinions on a topic.
• A large sample size is not necessary if a random sample controls extraneous variables.
• The further the coefficient is from zero, the stronger the relationship.
• Correlation Coefficient quantifies the strength and direction of a correlation.
• Many studies at universities use students due to cost and practicality.
• Statistical analysis is a crucial step after collecting data to determine if observed differences are meaningful or just due to chance.
• Issues with different survey methods include declining response rates and potential bias.
• Just because two things happen together doesn't mean one causes the other.
• A positive correlation indicates that as one variable increases, the other also increases.
• The method of recruiting subjects is crucial for representative samples.
• Voluntary participation is preferred, but researchers face challenges in obtaining high return rates.
• Some organizations require employees to participate in research studies upon hiring.
• Methods of data collection include mail, personal interviews, phone, fax, email, internet, or magazines.
• Small organizations might use all employees for representativeness, while large ones may select specific employees.
• Differences between college students and working adults may affect research outcomes.
• The size, composition, and selection method of subjects impact the study's validity.
• Factors influencing method choice include sample size, budget, time, and need for a representative sample.
• Correlation doesn't imply causation.
• Obtaining true random samples is difficult, leading to the use of convenience samples.
• Instructions to subjects should be standardized and understandable to ensure unbiased data collection.
• Archival research is cost-effective but may have drawbacks.
• Meta-Analysis provides a statistical average of research findings.
• Surveys may need only around 1,000 participants for generalizing results to the U.S. population.
• Debriefing subjects at the end of their participation is essential, providing clarity on the experiment's purpose and addressing any questions.
• Random assignment within convenience samples is essential for accurate outcomes.
• Multiple quasi-experiments build confidence.
• Debate exists on the generalizability of student samples to real-world behavior.
• Conversely, a negative correlation means as one variable increases, the other decreases.