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. Which research method is useful in determining cause and effect?The only method that will establish a cause-and-effect relationship is an experimental research design. A true experiment must feature a control group as one of the experimental groups, along with random sampling from the population and random assignment of the study subjects to the experimental groups.
Which research method is most likely to identify a causal relationship between variables?The use of a controlled study is the most effective way of establishing causality between variables. In a controlled study, the sample or population is split in two, with both groups being comparable in almost every way. The two groups then receive different treatments, and the outcomes of each group are assessed.
What type of research seeks to determine the effect of one variable on another quizlet?The purpose of quasi-experimental research is to examine causal relationships or determine the effect of one variable on another.
Which type of research would an investigator manipulate one variable in order to observe its effect on some behavior or mental process?The True Experiment: A research method in which an investigator manipulates one or more factors (independent variables) in order to observe the effect on some behavior or mental process (dependent variable). By randomly assigning participants to groups, other relevant factors are controlled.
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