Five Types of Psychological Research
Describe Five Types of Psychological Research.
Experiments
- Researcher controls everything that could have influence the result
- All test subjects are tested with the exact same variables, except for the variable being tested in the experiment. This ensures that the results come from the variable being tested.
Correlational Studies
- Look for a “natural experiment” that has happened in the world outside of the laboratory. For example, if an individual possesses a certain illness, you can use them in an experiment. This should be done instead of infecting another person that hasn’t been exposed to the disease, with the disease. You would then compare the people exposed to the illness to the people not exposed to the illness; they should be comparable in every way (such as age, family income, and gender), other than exposure to the illness.
- Can’t be certain that condition of interest was cause of effects being observed. It can only be said that the condition of interest was “correlated” with the effects.
- Degree of correlation can be represented by the correlation coefficient (the letter r). This summarizes the difference between the two variables, and can range from -1.0 to +1.0 (from a negative to positive number). Instructions on calculating the correlation coefficient can be found in any preliminary statistics book.
- The difference between positive, negative, and zero correlation is crucial; if the variables have no relationship with one another, then their correlation is zero; but if the two variables vary in the same way with one another (if one increases, so does other), then they have a positive correlation; on the contrary, if they vary in a different way (if on decreases, other increases), then they have a negative correlation. A negative correlation, can however, also depict a strong relationship.
Surveys
- Used to interpret people’s preferences, attitudes, and other characteristics.
- Is used extensively by marketing consultants,
Experiments
- Researcher controls everything that could have influence the result
- All test subjects are tested with the exact same variables, except for the variable being tested in the experiment. This ensures that the results come from the variable being tested.
Correlational Studies
- Look for a “natural experiment” that has happened in the world outside of the laboratory. For example, if an individual possesses a certain illness, you can use them in an experiment. This should be done instead of infecting another person that hasn’t been exposed to the disease, with the disease. You would then compare the people exposed to the illness to the people not exposed to the illness; they should be comparable in every way (such as age, family income, and gender), other than exposure to the illness.
- Can’t be certain that condition of interest was cause of effects being observed. It can only be said that the condition of interest was “correlated” with the effects.
- Degree of correlation can be represented by the correlation coefficient (the letter r). This summarizes the difference between the two variables, and can range from -1.0 to +1.0 (from a negative to positive number). Instructions on calculating the correlation coefficient can be found in any preliminary statistics book.
- The difference between positive, negative, and zero correlation is crucial; if the variables have no relationship with one another, then their correlation is zero; but if the two variables vary in the same way with one another (if one increases, so does other), then they have a positive correlation; on the contrary, if they vary in a different way (if on decreases, other increases), then they have a negative correlation. A negative correlation, can however, also depict a strong relationship.
Surveys
- Used to interpret people’s preferences, attitudes, and other characteristics.
- Is used extensively by marketing consultants,