Research Procedures

7 Key excerpts on "Research Procedures"

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  eBook - PDF

  Psychology

  • Douglas Bernstein, , , (Authors)
  • 2015(Publication Date)
  • Cengage Learning EMEA

    (Publisher)

  Throughout this book, you will see that research in psychology has created a large body of knowledge that is being put to good use in many ways. Let’s now look at the scientific methods that psychologists use in their research and at some of the pitfalls that lie in their path. RESEARCH METHODS IN PSYCHOLOGY How do psychologists learn about people? Like other scientists, psychologists try to achieve four main goals in their research: to describe a phenomenon, to make predictions about it, and to introduce enough control in their research to allow them to explain the phenomenon with some degree of confidence. Five research methods have proven especially useful for gathering the evidence needed to reach each of these goals. They include observational methods, case studies, surveys, correla-tional studies, and experiments. Observational Methods: Watching Behavior Sometimes, the best way to describe behavior is through observational methods , such as naturalistic observation , the process of watching without interfering as behavior occurs in the natural environment (Hoyle, Harris, & Judd, 2002). This method is especially valuable when more noticeable methods might alter the behavior you want to study. For example, if you ask people to keep track of how often they exercise, they might begin to exercise more than usual, so their reports might give a false impression of their typical behavior. Much of what we know about, say, gender differences in how children play and commu-nicate with one another has come from psychologists’ observations in classrooms and playgrounds. Observations of adults, too, have provided valuable insights into friendships, couple communication patterns, and even responses to terrorism (e.g., Mehl & Pennebaker, 2003a, 2003b).

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  Psychology, 6th Australian and New Zealand Edition

  • Lorelle J. Burton, Drew Westen, Robin M. Kowalski(Authors)
  • 2022(Publication Date)
  • Wiley

    (Publisher)

  Pdf_Folio:227 CHAPTER 5 Research methods in psychology 227 • Two of the key ethical issues in psychological research include informed consent (the participant’s ability to agree or refuse to participate in a study) and deception (where participants are not informed of the aims of the investigation until the end of the study). 5.4 Outline the procedures for evaluating a study. • To evaluate an empirical or scientific psychological study, a critical reader should answer several broad questions: (1) Does the theory make sense, and do the hypotheses flow sensibly from it? (2) Is the sample adequate and appropriate? (3) Are the measures and procedures valid and reliable? (4) Are the data conclusive? (5) Are the broader conclusions warranted? (6) Does the study say anything meaningful? (7) Is the study ethical? • In qualitative research, consider the research questions being explored to determine if the approach taken is suitable. Choice of methodology will inform how the data collected will be analysed and interpreted. • Critical thinking requires you to identify arguments that are not based on the research evidence. Common fallacies in argu- ments include the straw man, appeals to popularity, appeals to authority and arguments directed to the person. • The ‘crisis of replicability’ in psychology refers to the difficulties researchers have in replicating the results of earlier research. An experiment or study is replicable if it can produce the same results when repeated. 5.5 Discuss the benefts and limitations of psychology research on the internet. • Internet technologies are impacting the way psychology research takes place. The benefits of using these technologies come from a capacity to access, automate and process data quickly and eas- ily. Potential downsides include sampling bias, uncontrolled data collection procedures, protecting the welfare of participants and ensuring participants’ right to confidentiality.

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  Research Methods in Psychology For Dummies

  • Martin Dempster, Donncha Hanna(Authors)
  • 2015(Publication Date)
  • For Dummies

    (Publisher)

  Part I Visit www.dummies.com for free access to great Dummies content online. Getting Started with Research Methods In this part . . . ✓ ✓ Get an overview of what it means to do research in psychology. ✓ ✓ Find out what the terms ‘validity’ and ‘reliability’ mean and why they’re so important when conducting or evaluating research studies. ✓ ✓ Discover the five key ethical principles of conducting research and how to go about making sure your studies meet these standards. Chapter 1 Why Do Research in Psychology? In This Chapter ▶ ▶ Finding out what research is and why psychologists do it ▶ ▶ Discovering the various stages of a research study ▶ ▶ Understanding the different research methods used to gather information I n this chapter, we introduce you to the main research methods, designs and components that you encounter during your psychology course, and we signpost you to relevant chapters in this book where you can find more information – and discover how to become a research methods maestro (or at least pass the course!). What Is Research? Research is a systematic way of collecting information (or data) to test a hypothesis. A hypothesis is just a testable (or falsifiable) statement. For example, a good hypothesis is that ‘you see a statistically significant difference in self-esteem mean scores between male and female psychology students’. A poor hypothesis is hard to test (or falsify) – for example, ‘gender differences in self-esteem develop in the womb for some individuals’. How can you possibly collect data to refute this statement? No single research study sets out to conclusively ‘prove’ a hypothesis. Over time, research studies generate, test, refine and retest hypotheses, and build up a body of knowledge and evidence. Research is more of a process than a single thing. You need to have the skills to conduct your own research study, but you also need to be able to review and critically evaluate existing research studies.

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  Introduction to Psychological Science

  Integrating Behavioral, Neuroscience and Evolutionary Perspectives

  • William J. Ray(Author)
  • 2021(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  There are four stages to the scientific method: (1) develop an idea or expectation (hypothesis), (2) turn this hypothesis into an experiment, (3) evaluate the ideas and expectations about the world through observation and experimentation, and (4) draw conclusions or inferences about the ideas and expectations and consider the impact of the new information on theoretical conceptualizations. This is very different from the phenomenon of pseudoscience—or “fake” science—which presents information as if it is based on science when it is not. There are many research designs and which one to select begins with the question the scientist wants to answer. Some of the research designs used to study psychology include case study, naturalistic observation, correlational approaches, experimental method, and behavioral genetics designs.

  Learning Objective 3: Explain how logic and inference are used to reach a conclusion.

  Logic can help us answer questions of inference, which is the process by which we look at the evidence available to us and then use our powers of reasoning to reach a conclusion. Logical procedures are also important for helping us understand the accuracy or validity of our ideas and research. Using measures of two types of validity (internal and external), we logically design our research to rule out as many alternative interpretations of our findings as possible and to have any new facts be applicable to as wide a variety of other situations as possible. There is no “one perfect study”; designing and conducting research is always a trade-off between internal and external validity. Behavior can be described or measured in many ways; likewise, there are a variety of ways to measure a particular process. A useful way to begin analyzing the results of any experiment is to convert numerical data to pictorial form and then simply look at them. A second step is to calculate descriptive statistics for the sample—measures of central tendency and variability. The measure of central tendency that you use in your analysis—mean, median, or mode—depends on the question that you are asking. Measures of variability indicate how spread out the scores are. Measures of variability (or dispersion) include range, variance, and standard deviation. One characteristic of human beings is that we seek to determine what will happen next. If participants’ expectations (demand characteristics) or researchers’ expectations (experimenter effects) interfere with the influence of the independent variable, then the study could give inaccurate results. A related phenomenon is the placebo effect. To control for the placebo effect in research, various procedures have been used, the most powerful of which is to design a double-blind experiment.

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  Handbook of Research Methods in Clinical Psychology

  • Michael C. Roberts, Stephen S. Ilardi, Michael C. Roberts, Stephen S. Ilardi(Authors)
  • 2008(Publication Date)
  • Wiley-Blackwell

    (Publisher)

  Unfortunately, with this enthusiasm there also lies potential to erode ethical standards in the desire to pursue a research agenda. The issues discussed in the present chapter are based on the previous and recently revised editions of the Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct (APA, 1992, 2002), as this code is most applicable to clinical psychology research. It is worth noting that the APA ethics code has been recently revised, effective June 1, 2003, and is available in printed form (APA, 2002) and online at www.apa.org/ethics. Other professional groups (e.g., social workers, physicians, licensed professional counselors) also have their own ethics codes. The Belmont Report (OPRR, 1979) describes basic ethical principles in research, including respect for persons, beneficence, and justice, and preeminent federal guidelines outline ethical procedures in research (OPRR, 1991). These docu-ments can give the clinical psychology investigator additional guidance while planning and conducting research. The purpose of this chapter is to discuss the ethical practices that apply to the four phases of research in clinical psychology. First, research planning will be discussed. This phase includes designing quality research, protecting the welfare and rights of research participants, and conducting a cost-benefit analysis. Second, the issues concerning approval of a research plan and working with institutional review boards are described. Ethical Considerations 53 Third, the parameters of informed consent will be highlighted. Fourth, special ethical concerns with regard to analysis and dissemination of results (e.g., publication) will be described. Finally, ethical issues surrounding special topics in clinical psychology research will be discussed, including confidentiality, research with vulnerable popula-tions, increased inclusion of children in clinical research, use of deception, recording, and international perspectives.

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  Experimental Methods in Psychology

  • Gustav Levine, Stanley Parkinson(Authors)
  • 2014(Publication Date)
  • Psychology Press

    (Publisher)

  CHAPTER 15      

  Clinical Psychology: The Research Problems Encountered, and Procedures Used, in Treatment Outcome Research

     

  Clinical psychology is the subspecialty that offers assistance to people with psychological problems. It is clearly an applied discipline. But it has had the unhappy task of being called to fulfill its mission before an adequate set of therapeutic methods has been fully developed. It had its start as a recognized subdiscipline during World War II (circa 1940). Psychologists were used by the military for the purpose of testing people, as well as for counseling. Initially there was little in the way of theory or technique that these early clinical psychologists could call upon, other than the various psychoanalytic approaches. They were in a position similar to that of physicians in the early years of medicine: It was possible that they were in danger of hurting their patients as well as helping them, because they had no independent assessments of the efficacy of the techniques they used.

  Their task was made harder by the somewhat vague nature of the problems that were recognized as needing treatment (e.g., various forms of neurosis). In recent years the situation has improved through the development of therapeutic techniques that target more specific problems, with measurable symptoms, such as phobias, debilitating test anxiety, or lack of assertiveness. We can, for example, measure how close a person will come to a phobic object, before and after therapy, or check whether he or she is willing to touch the object. Debilitating test anxiety can be measured both physiologically and through test performance. The targeting of specific measurable symptoms has made success or failure of the therapies easier to identify. This greater specificity of therapeutic goals has been accompanied by the gradual development of research paradigms for testing and comparing therapeutic techniques. The findings from this very large body of research suggest that there are at least some problems for which psychosocial treatments appear useful. Examples of successfully treated problems are the aforementioned phobias, lack of assertiveness, many forms of anxiety (e.g., speech anxiety, test anxiety), and some forms of depression.

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  Introduction to Clinical Psychology

  • John Hunsley, Catherine M. Lee(Authors)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Wiley

    (Publisher)

  Many different research areas are relevant to the practice of clinical psychology. It is obvious that clinical prac- tice should be informed by research on assessment, prevention, and intervention. In addition, clinical practice can be enriched by knowledge of research on psychopathology, stress and cop- ing, normal development, normal family processes, and many other areas. Some psychology students may find the rationale behind a number of research design fea- tures obscure or hard to comprehend. It is useful to think of these design features as strategies that address potential shortcomings of psychological research. For example, some studies use control (or comparison) groups to examine similarities and differences between groups. This is done to address the criticism that a pattern seen in the research group of interest—such as the Are the findings of experimental studies more convincing than the results of other types of research designs? more than six pages) of the proposed research that includes full details of the proposed methodology. 4. Research Participants Please provide details about the number of participants required, and their ages and any special characteristics they must possess. 5. Participant Recruitment Please provide details on how and where participants will be recruited. If an organization has consented to provide support for participant recruitment, please provide evidence of this consent. Who will be responsible for contacting poten- tial participants? Please provide copies of all forms or scripts used to recruit participants. If children are to be recruited, what steps have been taken to ensure that they and their legal guardians are provided with developmentally appro- priate descriptions of the research and the nature of partic- ipation in the research? 6. Screening of Participants Will any steps be taken to select or exclude individuals from research participation? If yes, please include copies of the materials used for this screening.

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