Routines are a huge part of our lives. We follow a certain order, and that is because we think that they are the right way. The same can be said about research. Planning and conducting research in psychology is essential because psychologists have established a reliable and valid way to investigate phenomena. Let's take a look at the order of planning and conducting research in psychology!
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Jetzt kostenlos anmeldenRoutines are a huge part of our lives. We follow a certain order, and that is because we think that they are the right way. The same can be said about research. Planning and conducting research in psychology is essential because psychologists have established a reliable and valid way to investigate phenomena. Let's take a look at the order of planning and conducting research in psychology!
Psychological research aims to test a theory, but the point of research is not just to prove that we are right but, more importantly, to prove to others that our idea is right.
If you told someone that there is a pot of gold at each end of a rainbow, no one would believe you; however, if you showed the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, they would.
The notion described is known as empiricism, a crucial feature of scientific research.
Empiricism refers to the idea that a theory should be verifiable via observation that can be experienced through our five senses, e.g. we should be able to touch, smell, hear, taste or see it.
For research to be accepted by the scientific and psychological community, it must be empirical, reliable and valid (we will get into the latter two a little later). For research to be established as empirical, reliable and valid theories, it needs to be tested vigorously and meticulously, following the guideline of how research should be conducted.
The first three steps involve deciding what you wish to research. First, researchers decide roughly a research area or topic they want to explore.
A good hypothesis is: "Participants who slept more are more likely to perform better than sleep-deprived participants in the Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE); cognitive abilities test".
The example shows that the researcher will compare sleep deprived versus non-sleep deprived participants (independent variable) to see if changes in sleep patterns affect cognitive abilities measured using the MMSE test (dependent variable).
Following these steps, the researcher can begin to design their research. This is when the researcher establishes how they will actually measure the variables.
The following steps involve actually carrying out the experiment.
Low validity refers to research that does not measure what it intends to. It can be caused by factors such as bias or using inaccurate tools to measure variables.
Generally, it is believed that the sampling method influenced by little experimenter bias is a random sampling method, and volunteer or opportunity samples are the most affected.
Random sampling methods use a generator to pick participants, so the researcher has little to no influence over the latter, which recruits whoever is available at the time. In addition, researchers should try to recruit a large representative sample so that the study's findings are generalisable.
These are methods used when collecting primary data; data from the original source rather than secondary data. Secondary data has been collected previously from a primary source, such as a diary and do not typically use these methods.
Following this, the researcher collects data from participants through conducting their research. The method can be either quantitative, qualitative or a mix of both.
Quantitative methods is a data collection method that collects numerical data, such as close-ended questions in questionnaires and interviews, or numerical data collected from experiments.
In contrast, a qualitative method is a data collection method that collects non-numerical data, such as responses to open-ended questions, case studies or unstructured interviews.
After the data has been collected, it should be analysed using appropriate tests. The main purpose of research is to test if the findings empirically support or disprove the hypothesis. Therefore, statistical tests, such as hypothesis testing, are carried out.
If research is trying to establish a relationship between two variables, such as time spent playing video games and aggression, then they would test the hypothesis using correlational analysis.
Once the data has been analysed, it should be investigated and interpreted to identify what the study results infer. The final step is to write up the experiment in the form of a psychological report.
Let's summarise what the 10 steps in planning and conducting research are!
Although the steps in planning and conducting research are the same across all psychology domains, let's look at how research methods in social psychology may be carried out.
Researchers carried out an experiment to identify if there was a relationship between media violence and aggression. As this is a correlational study, the researcher did not need to identify the independent and dependent variables.
The researchers recruited 50 participants using a random sampling method and decided to measure the variables by:
After the data was collected, the experimenters analysed the data and completed a correlational analysis to identify if the data supported or disproved their hypothesis. The results inferred that people who are exposed more to media violence report higher aggression levels. The experiment was reported in the form of a psychological report.
As we mentioned earlier, two of the core features of research are reliability and validity. If research lacks reliability or validity, the results found are likely inaccurate and will not be accepted by the psychology community.
Reliability refers to consistent results. If a study is replicated and similar results are found, then the study is considered to have high reliability.
In comparison, validity refers to the accuracy of results, and understanding if the test used in the experiment is measuring what it says it measures.
There are different types of reliability and validity. To carry out a study with high validity and reliability, they can implement different methods and techniques in their research. A few of these are shown in the table below.
Type of reliability/ validity | Definition | How tested |
External reliability | If a measure consistently measures what it intends to even when carried out under different conditions, e.g. different settings and different individuals. | Method called test-retest; each participant could carry out the same experiment twice but at different times of the day. If similar results are found, then the study can be considered to have high external reliability. |
Content validity | The measure should test every aspect of what is being investigated. | A questionnaire, for example, that consists of questions that measure each symptom of anxiety, can be considered to have high content validity. |
Another important tool to ensure that research is valid is that researchers should identify types of bias and how they could control them.
For example, if experimenter bias is an issue when the researcher's subjective opinion may influence the findings, this should be managed. A double-blind experiment is a method to combat this issue; this is when neither the experimenter nor participants know if they are taking part in the control or experimental group.
The 10 steps in planning and conducting research are:
Planning is when someone meticulously chooses how they wish to do something, and research is when someone investigates a theory, hypothesis or research question.
When carrying out research, researchers must meticulously plan it to gather reliable and valid data. If data is unreliable or invalid, then the conclusions inferred from the study will not be generalisable or true.
While planning and conducting research, researchers should follow the 10 steps in planning and conducting research. In addition, they should identify potential factors that may influence the reliability and validity of the study and try to control them.
Conducting research in psychology is carrying out an empirical investigation to either support or disprove a theory or hypothesis.
What is validity?
Validity in psychological research refers to the extent to which a test measures what it is supposed to measure
What is the name of variables that reduce the validity of findings?
Extraneous and confounding variables.
If the researcher's subjective opinion influences a study, then can it be considered valid?
No.
What is an example of a study that has high content validity?
Take anxiety, for example. A test would be considered to have high content validity if it measures every symptom of anxiety.
Give five examples of the sub-types of validity?
Which of the following does reliability refer to?
Consistency.
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