RESEARCH METHODS IN PSYCHOLOGY

1. Describe the characteristics of scientific psychological research

a. To introduce the topic psychological research and relating it with real life tasks
b. Explaining the characteristics of scientific psychological research namely theoretical
framework, standardized procedure, and generalizability
Lecture notes:
Slide 1: Title slide
The topic discussed today is characteristics of scientific psychological research.
Slide 2: Research Methods in Psychology: Introduction
The relationship between mind and body have been speculated and studied for centuries.
Scientists in the field of psychology have demonstrated empirically how a psychological even can
affect the bodys ability to either protect or cause infection. In another study carried out to
examine the effect of a stressful experience, scientists studied a group of students who were in
the transition from school to university, a stressful event. They observed that the students who
were in the emotional disclosure group had significantly better grade point averages than the
control group, which is presented in this figure.
Slide 3: Characteristics of scientific psychological research
What are the characteristics of a scientific psychological research? Tasks of a psychological
researcher trying to understand human nature are in some respects similar to the tasks we all
face in our daily lives as we try to predict other peoples behaviour and these are:
Observing a psychological phenomenon (behavior)
Constructing a theory
Using the theory to develop a hypothesis
Measuring psychological responses
Testing the hypothesis
The only difference is that psychologists are much more systematic in applying scientific
methods.
Slide 4: Characteristics of scientific psychological research
Studies vary tremendously in design, but most quality research shares certain attributes: a
theoretical framework, standardized procedures, generalizability and objective measurement.
A theoretical framework includes systematic way of organizing and explaining observations and
forming a hypothesis that flows from the theory or from an important question. Then comes a
standardized procedure which is the same for all participants except when there is a variation.
Generalizability follows standardized procedure and here the sample that is representative of
the population is identified and a procedure that is sensible and relevant is identified. The last
characteristic is the object measurement where the reliable and valid measures are noted. We
shall study about the first three characteristics in this session.
Slide 5: Characteristics of scientific psychological research: Theoretical framework
Theoretical framework provides a rationale for predictions about the relationships between
various variables. The main components are theory, hypothesis, and variables.
Theory: Research is grounded firmly on theory. It is a systematic way of organizing and
explaining observations and includes a set of propositions or statements about the relationship
among various phenomena. It is the theory that provides a framework for a researchers specific
hypothesis.
Hypothesis: It is a tentative belief about the relationship between 2 variables and helps to
predict the findings to be observed if the theory is correct.
Variable is any phenomenon that can differ, or vary, from one situation to another or from one
person to another.
Slide 6: Characteristics of scientific psychological research: Theoretical framework
For example, a research team interested in the links between optimism and health decided to
test the hypothesis that optimism is related to speed of recovery from heart surgery. Hypothesis
is optimism is related to speed of recovery. The variables are optimism and speed of recovery
or health. Their theory suggested that optimism should be related to health in general; their
specific hypothesis focused on heart disease in particular.
A variable that can be placed on a continuum such as degree of optimism, intelligence,
shyness or rate of recovery is called a continuous variable. In contrast, a categorical variable
is comprised of groupings or categories, such as gender, species or whether or not a person has
had a heart attack.
Slide 7: Characteristics of scientific psychological research: Standardized procedures
In addition to being grounded in theory, good psychological research uses standardized
procedures, which expose the participants in a study to as similar procedures as possible. In the
study of emotional disclosure and academic performance that was discussed in the previous
slide, students were instructed to write for 1520 minutes a day for four days. Instead, if they
had let the students write as long as they wanted, one group might have written more and it
would have been difficult to tell whether differences in GPA reflected the content or the
quantity they wrote.
Slide 8: Characteristics of scientific psychological research: Generalizability from a sample
Generalizability refers to the applicability of the findings to the entire population of interest to
the researcher. Psychological research usually studies the behavior of a subset of people in order
to learn about a larger group (population) to whom research findings should be applicable.
Population can be broad or narrow. A sample is a subgroup of the population that is likely to be
representative of the population as a whole. Conclusions drawn from the sample are likely to be
true of the rest of the population. The individuals who participate in a study are called
participants or subjects.
A sampling bias can occur when the sample is not representative of the population as a whole.
Slide 9: Characteristics of scientific psychological research: Generalizability from a sample
For a study to be generalizable, its procedures must be sound, or valid. To be valid, a study must
meet two criteria.
First, it must employ methods that convincingly test the hypothesis. If a study has fatal flaws like
an unrepresentative sample or nonstandardized aspects of the design that affect the way
participants respond, its internal validity is affected.
Second, the study must establish external validity, where the findings can be generalised to
other situations. Often researchers must strike a balance between internal and external validity,
because the more tightly a researcher controls what participants experience, the less the
situation may resemble life outside the laboratory.
Slide 10: Key points
Let us know have a recap of what we have learnt today:
Psychological research is generally guided by a theory which helps generate a hypothesis.
Variables can be either continuous or categorical.
Standardized procedure expose participants in a study to as similar procedures as possible.
Psychologists are typically interested in knowing something about a population, to do so
they usually study a sample that is likely to be representative of population.
To be generalizable, a study must have both internal validity and external validity.

2. Outline the steps in conducting an experiment
3. Describe the various descriptive research methods
4. Explain the basic premise of correlational research
5. Discuss the benefits and limitations of psychology research on the internet
6. Summarize the ethical guidelines for the conduct of psychological research
7. Outline the procedures for critically evaluating a study