This lecture provides an overview of the major research methods used by psychologists in their study of behavior and mental processes.

1. www.whatispsychology.biz

2.  Psychologists
employ different research
methods depending on the subject matter.
 Common research methods include:
 Observation
 Case studies
 Self-report measures and surveys
 Correlational studies
 Experimental studies
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3.  Psychologists frequently observe behaviour
and events as they occur in their natural
settings.
 Scientific observation is made in a systematic
and objective manner, with careful record
keeping.
 The primary goal of observational methods is
to describe behaviour as fully and as
accurately as possible.
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4.  In order to observe behaviour in the real
world, psychologists may employ one of two
methods:
 1) Naturalistic observation (observation
without intervention)
 Involves observing behaviour in normal, everyday
settings in an unobtrusive manner
 The observer acts as a passive recorder of events
and tries to be as inconspicuous as possible
 E.g. Observing the activities of children on a
playground from a distance.
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5.  2)Participant observation (observation with
intervention)
 Psychologists using this method observe people’s
behaviour while actively participating in the
situation they are observing.
 E.g. joining a cult or sorority to observe the daily
activities of its members.
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6.  Inparticipant observation, the observer may
be:
 disguised - participants are not aware that
they are being observed; or
 undisguised – participants know that they are
being studied
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7. A case study is a research design in which
one person or a small number of people are
studied in depth, usually over an extended
period of time.
 Case studies are ideal for studying rare
phenomena and may be a useful tool when
studying new research topics.
 These studies often involve collecting
evidence from a wide variety of sources such
as observations, interviews, documents and
artifacts.
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8.  A questionnaire is a structured pencil-and-paper
interview, consisting of standardized written
questions.
 Questionnaires are also called self-report
measures.
 They are easy to administer and can be used to
collect data from a large group of people fairly
quickly.
 On the other hand, respondents may not answer
questions truthfully: they may provide socially
desirable responses and minimize negative
attitudes and traits.
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9.  The questionnaire is the primary research
instrument used in surveys.
 Surveys involve the administration of a
questionnaire to a large sample of people
who are representative of the wider
population being studied.
 They are often used in the study of public
opinion, and to assess knowledge, beliefs
 and attitudes.
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10.  In correlational studies, researchers examine the
extent to which two variables are associated.
 Correlation is a mathematical way of
determining the relationship between two sets
of scores.
 Correlations can be positive, negative or zero.
 A positive correlation means that as the value of
one variable changes, the other also changes in
the same direction.
 E.g. As level of education increases, income also
increases (or vice versa)
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11. A negative correlation means that as the
value of one variable changes, the other
changes in the opposite direction.
 E.g. As self-esteem increases, social anxiety
decreases.
A correlation of zero means that the
variables are not related.
 E.g. A person’s weight might tell us nothing about
their acting ability.
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12.  Correlations reveal the existence and extent of
relationships but do not necessarily indicate
what causes what.
 CORRELATION DOES NOT MEAN CAUSATION
 The only research design that allows researchers
to make statements about cause and effect is
the experiment.
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13.  An experiment is a careful and controlled study
of cause and effect through manipulation of the
conditions to which participants are exposed.
 In a correlational study, researchers simply
measure preexisting differences among
participants (e.g. weight, aggression) but in an
experiment, they manipulate variables to see
whether these manipulations produce
differences in participants’ behaviour.
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14.  An experiment consists of two key
components:
 1) Random assignment of participants to
conditions
 Participants are randomly assigned to either the
experimental group (which receives the
manipulation) or the control group (which does
not)
 NB: random assignment means that each
participant has an equal chance of being selected
for either group.
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15.  2) Manipulation of an independent
variable:
 The variable that is manipulated is called the
independent variable (IV).
 The dependent variable (DV) is the one which the
researcher measures to see if the manipulation
had an effect.
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16.  Example:
 Researchers want to determine if Drug X is
effective in treating anxiety.
 IV: the presence vs absence of the drug X
 DV: level of anxiety
 Researchers randomly assign half of the
participants to the experimental group, which
receives Drug X, and the other half to the
control group, which does not receive the drug.
 After an appropriate length of time, researchers
then measure the level of anxiety of participants
in both groups to see if the drug caused a
difference.
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17.  Researchers must ensure that the experimental
and control groups are treated equally in all
respects, except for the manipulation of the IV.
 If not, there will be no way of telling if changes
in the DV were caused by changes in the IV or
some other variable.
 E.g. If persons who received Drug X also
received regular psychotherapy sessions,
changes in their anxiety levels might be due to
these sessions and not to the drug.
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