Steps in Conducting Scientific Research: Psychology Methodology

1. Chapter 2 Section 1 Conducting Research Obj: List and explain the steps scientists follow in conducting scientific research.

2. Psychology, like chemistry and biology, is an experimental science. In an experimental science, assumptions (such as about the behavior of chemical compounds, cells, or people) must be supported by evidence. It is not enough to argue that something is true just because someone says it is. Psychologists and other scientists make it their business to be skeptical of claims that lack actual scientific evidence.

3. Psychologists use a variety of research methods to study behavior and mental processes. These methods differ in a number of ways, but psychologists tend to follow the same general procedure when conducting their research. This procedure consists of five steps: forming a research question, forming a hypothesis, testing the hypothesis, analyzing the results, and drawing conclusions.

4. Forming a Research Question Psychologists begin a study by forming a research question. Many research questions arise from daily experience. For example, ever wonder about the aggressiveness of Siamese fighting fish? But aggressiveness, like anxiety, is a psychological construct. It can be assumed that it is present, but it cannot be seen or measured directly. Therefore, research questions are best directed toward behavior.

5. Other research questions arise out of psychological theory. According to social-learning theorists, for example, people learn by observing others. Thus, these theorists might ask, what effects (if any) does watching television violence have on viewers?

6. Research questions also arise from folklore and common knowledge. For example, questions might arise from such well –known - and often-repeated - statements as “Two heads are better than one.” Psychologists ask, is it true that pairs or groups of people solve problems more effectively than people working alone?

7. Forming a Hypothesis After psychologists ask a research question, they form a hypothesis about the answer. A hypothesis is an educated guess. The accuracy of a hypothesis can be tested by research. Psychologists may word a hypothesis in the form of an if-then statement. If-then reasoning is an example of social scientific reasoning. Because it is only an educated guess, a hypothesis must be tested.

8. Testing the Hypothesis Because psychology is a science, psychological knowledge rests on carefully examined human experience. No matter how good a hypothesis sounds and no matter how many people believe it, a hypothesis cannot be considered to be correct until it has been scientifically tested and proved to be right. Psychologists do not rely on people’s opinions. Instead, they examine the evidence and draw their own conclusions. They use a variety of testing methods.

9. Analyzing the Results After psychologists have tested their hypotheses, they analyze their results. In other words, they ask what their findings mean. In most psychological studies, psychologists collect a great deal of information, or data. They might spend weeks, months, or even years gathering data. The more information collected, the more complex a task it is to analyze it. Often, psychologists look for patterns and relationships in the data. They must decide which data support their hypothesis and which data do not.

10. Drawing Conclusions Once psychologists have analyzed their research observations, they draw conclusions about their questions and their hypotheses. These conclusions are useful in the development and validation of theories in psychology. When their observations do not support their hypotheses, they often must change the theories or beliefs from which the hypotheses were derived. Therefore, psychologists need to keep open minds. They must be willing to adjust or modify their hypotheses if their findings make it necessary to do so.

11. Replication Even when a study carefully follows proper procedures, its findings might just represent a random occurrence. For the findings of a study to be confirmed, the study must be replicated. That is, the study must be repeated-and it must produce the same results as before. When scientists replicate a study but obtain different results than were obtained the first time, the findings of the first study are questioned. This is one reason that most psychologists do not believe that ESP is a valid scientific phenomenon, even though some isolated studies have supported the existence of ESP. These studies have not yielded the same results when replicated.

12. Sometimes scientists repeat a study under slightly different circumstances than those in the original study. Sometimes researchers repeat a study using a different set of participants. Example, male instead of female. In a study in which people are the participants, researchers might want to replicate the study using participants who differ not only in gender but also age, ethnicity, education, economic background, etc.

13. New Questions Whether the findings of a research study support or contradict the hypothesis of that study, they are likely to lead to new research questions. Once new questions have been asked, the process begins all over again. The researchers must propose a new hypothesis about the answer to the new question. And once again, the hypothesis must be tested.