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Research Methods in Psychology

Wilhelm Wundt is considered the founder of experimental psychology. There are several schools of psychology including structuralism, functionalism, behaviourism, and humanism. Research methods in psychology aim to test hypotheses through empirical observation and evidence. Key methods include descriptive observation, correlational research observing relationships between variables, and experimental research where variables are manipulated. Variables must be clearly defined and different research methods have limitations that can impact making causal claims.

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187 views

Research Methods in Psychology

Wilhelm Wundt is considered the founder of experimental psychology. There are several schools of psychology including structuralism, functionalism, behaviourism, and humanism. Research methods in psychology aim to test hypotheses through empirical observation and evidence. Key methods include descriptive observation, correlational research observing relationships between variables, and experimental research where variables are manipulated. Variables must be clearly defined and different research methods have limitations that can impact making causal claims.

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Hillary
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Research Methods in Psychology

Wilhelm Wundt – formal founder of experimental psychology, thought meter (used to measure reaction
time)

Schools of Psychology:

1. Structuralism (Titchener) – break down consciousness into basic components (ex. introspection – too
subjective)
2. Functionalism (James) – focus on the evolutionary function of the behaviour (modern day
psychology)
3. Behaviourism (Watson, B.F Skinner) – focuses only on observable (empirical) behaviour, more
scientific
- disregards inner workings of mind and emotion, takes humanity out of the data
4. Humanism (Rogers, Maslow) – focus on humans reaching their full potential (optimism)
5. Gestalt – experience is more than the sum of its basic elements (generally accepted theory)

Empiricism – knowledge comes from observed/sensory experience

- empirical evidence: data that has been collected by scientific observation


- theory: collects empirical data and various ideas to explain the relationship between two variables
 used to predict current phenomena and generate new hypotheses
 must be testable, falsifiable, and parsimonious (preference for simplicity)

Variables – a characteristic or condition that changes for different individuals

- conceptual definition: abstract theoretical constructs


- operational definition: concrete, observable procedures to measure the abstract
 psychology often deals with intangible properties of people that are hard to quantify
 constructs: internal attributes that can’t directly observed, but useful for describing
behaviour
 validity: the quality of a measure to evaluate the conceptual definition
 reliability: the consistency of a measure over several tests

Research Methods: can be used to test hypotheses and come up with statistically significant results

1. Descriptive Methods: systematic observation and classification of behaviour


- naturalistic observation: passive, observers do not alter the behaviour of the real-world subjects
- participant observation: active, observer actively alters behaviour of the real-world subjects
- laboratory observation: systematic, made in a lab setting than in the real world
- limitations: subject reactivity, observer bias, self-reported bias

2. Correlational Methods: observing relationship btw variables in one group of participants without
manipulating them
- used when it isn’t possible or ethical to manipulate a variable (ie. Genie)
- types of associations (+1, 0, -1): positive, no relationship, negative
 correlation coefficient (r): based on slope of correlation and how precise the values are
- limitations: cannot make causal claims about the two variables (directionality or third variable)

3. Experimental Methods: manipulating the variable of interest while keeping all other conditions
constant
- confounding variables: anything that may unintentionally vary with the independent variable
 limit our ability to make casual claims because they are not controlled for
- random assignment: each participant has an equal chance of being assigned to the control or test
groups
 ensures that the variables that cannot be controlled for are averaged out between groups
- random sample: each member of the population has an equal chance of being chosen to
participate
- quasi-experiments: no random assignment, useful when manipulating the variables is
unethical/infeasible

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