Research methods in PsychologyAlthough you might not think about it immediately, how you conduct psychological research is at least as important (in fact more important) than subject of the research you conduct. Here is a quick introduction to some of the key ideas in psychological research. Show
Confounding Variables - variables that do actually have an effect on the DV. A confounding variable could be an extraneous variable that has not been controlled. If the IV is the only thing that is changed then it must be responsible for any change in the DV. (N.B. - if we fail to identify & control for an extraneous variable, and we only notice afterwards that it has affected our results, then it
becomes known as a confounding variable. Populations and samplingOnce we have our aim and hypothesis, we have to decide who we want to do our research on. Research will often only be relevant to certain groups of people (all females, or all teenagers, or people suffering from depression etc). We call the group of people we want to apply our research to the target population.
Sampling methods and their evaluations...
Types of experiment in Psychology
Think like a Psychologist - evaluating types of experiment
Want another example of a place where you can save yourself work by just understanding that the strengths and weaknesses of different ideas will be related...? Look at the evaluations of the experimental designs section below, or of the sampling methods above! The same patterns occur... Experimental designsAs well as the type of experiment that you conduct, there are a number of ways that experiments can be designed. What we mean by this is the way that the experiment puts people into groups. The three main examples of this are below:
Non-experimental methodsExperiments are not the only way that psychologists can investigate behaviour. There are many other non-experimental methods which are widely used in the subject, such as correlation studies, content analyses, observational studies, case studies, questionnaires and interviews. Bandura et al (1961), Piliavin et al (1969) and Rosenhan (1973) are all good examples of observational studies from the CIE course.
Applying your understanding to a real study - The Marshmallow Test
Want more practice...? Firefly is your placeLog into the JIS Firefly page and find the 'Research methods' section in the 'Psychology' pages ('Humanities' section) for lots more resources and practice opportunities. What is a research method that tests hypothesis and allows researchers to make conclusions about causality?The experimental method involves manipulating one variable to determine if this causes changes in another variable. This method relies on controlled research methods and random assignment of study subjects to test a hypothesis.
What research method allows researchers to determine causality?Both correlational and experimental research allow researchers to determine causality.
What feature of a hypothesis means that it can be evaluated using known scientific methods?The correct answer is (E) testable. A hypothesis is an educated guess that may explain an observation or answer a question. Hypotheses must be testable so that an experiment can be performed to determine whether they are false or correct.
What is the process of having other experts examine research prior to its publication?Peer Review is defined as “a process of subjecting an author's scholarly work, research or ideas to the scrutiny of others who are experts in the same field” (1).
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