Preview

Research, Statistics, and Psychology Paper

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
984 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Research, Statistics, and Psychology Paper
Research, Statistics, and Psychology Paper
PSY 315

Research, Statistics, and Psychology Paper
Two important factors of psychology and studying it are statistics and research. This paper will explain what research is and the scientific method. This paper will also explain how research is important to psychology. When a researcher does studies on psychology they receive data from the subjects, they are studying. In any type of research there are two major types of data, they are primary data and secondary data. Data is important to statistics because it is the information a researcher receives from the studies they perform. Statistics puts all the data into a form that many people can understand. Statistics is an excellent way to organize data. All this will be explained in this paper.

Research and Scientific Method

When a person is trying to learn more about a subject or idea the best way to do that is through research. If a person wants to learn more about psychology and the different theories on it this person must do research. In the psychology and the scientific communities when research is performed, it must be done in a more in-depth way than if a person is researching a new restaurant. During the research process a person may look for theories, statistics, results of testing, and facts about the subject he or she wants to learn about. For a scientist or psychologists to prove a theory or idea, he or she must prove through testing, and this test cannot just happen once. When testing and research is being done a scientist or psychologist can use the scientific method to complete his or her research and testing.

The scientific method has a very important role in science and psychology. “The definition of the scientific method is a strict protocol dictating the underlying philosophy behind scientific research” (Shuttleworth, 2009, pg. 16). Many researchers use the scientific method to prove that their theory or idea is accurate. When using the



References: Aron, A., Aron, E., & Coups, E. (2009). Statistics for Psychology (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Person Education Inc. Sciencebuddies. (2011). Steps of the Scientific Method. Retrieved from http://www.sciencebuddies.org/mentoring/project_scientific_method.shtml Shuttleworth, M. (2009). Definition of the Scientific Method. Retrieved from http://www.experiment-resources.com/definition-of-the-scientific-method.html

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Wait until you go to class before buying your textbooks. When you start class, you will get a syllabus, and the teacher will talk to you about which books you need right away. You might be able get the book at the...…

    • 445 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    References: Aron, A., Aron, E., & Coups, E. (2006). Statistics for psychology (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Allyn Bacon.…

    • 3123 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ps300 Unit 2 Project

    • 817 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Research is designed to provide explanations and prove theories, researcher go beyond normal everyday observation and assumption and through various research methods used through systematic and controlled observation show empirical evidence that those observation are valid and prove their hypothesis. There are four different types of research methods that psychology uses to prove the hypothesis and when the researcher begins to prove a theory they must decide on the proper research method to follow to prove that theory.…

    • 817 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Research is an important part in the field of psychology. It is used to establish facts and is defined as an organized and systematic way to find answers to questions (Henrichsen, Smith, & Baker, 1997). There are four main goals of research in psychology: Describe, predict, explain, and apply. Researchers use the scientific method to meet these goals. The scientific method is described as a process involving fives steps to conduct research: Step one- Determine a problem or make an observation. Second step- Development of the hypothesis. Third step- Testing the hypothesis. Fourth step- Recording the observations. Fifth step- Draw a conclusion(s) (Cowens, 2006).…

    • 834 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Aron, A., Aron, E., & Coups, E. (2009). Statistics for Psychology (5th Ed.) Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education Inc.…

    • 790 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    References: Aron, A., Coups, E. J., & Aron, E. N. (2013). Statistics for Psychology (6th ed.). Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.…

    • 1204 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Psychology Quiz 1

    • 335 Words
    • 2 Pages

    8. The scientific method is the assumptions, rules, and procedures that psychologists use to gather observations.…

    • 335 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    psy 201

    • 1814 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Illustrate and explain the major research methods used in psychology, focusing especially on the naturalistic-observation-method, the experimental method, and the correlational method and methods of science.…

    • 1814 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The scientific method is a way to ask and answer scientific questions by making observations and doing experiments.…

    • 2132 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The scientific method is a method for research and study that is applied to investigate observations and to bring answers to questions. Researchers can exploit the scientific method to hunt for cause and effect relationships. Stated plainly, researchers can plan a study so that changes to an entity of the study influence something else in the study to vary in an unpredictable or expected manner.…

    • 1190 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Psych 540

    • 1067 Words
    • 5 Pages

    To help attempt to improve people’s lives psychologist s gain understanding and insights by developing theories and conducting research (psychological) to answer their questions they have created about behavior (Shaughnessy, Zechmeister, & Zechmeister, 2009). Not only does psychologists but also the fields of psychology rely on thorough research design and methods to answer their questions (2009). Psychological science is distinct to human activity that affects humans on numerous levels (2009).…

    • 1067 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Psyc

    • 382 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Experiments have long been the method of choice in psychology. However, the experimental approach does have its limitations. Describe these limitations and explain why many psychologists have called for more field research…

    • 382 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Scientific Method - Grass

    • 812 Words
    • 4 Pages

    University of Phoenix. (2008) The Scientific Method. Retrieved from University of Phoenix on April 3, 2009: https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/classroom/ic/classroom.aspx.…

    • 812 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Intro to psychology

    • 11630 Words
    • 65 Pages

    Suppose you want to draw some psychological conclusions in a way that is consistent with the scientific aspect of psychology. You should base your conclusions on…

    • 11630 Words
    • 65 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Common Sense Psychology

    • 1702 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The scientific method is the way that scientific psychologists gain knowledge about behaviour and the mental processes. The scientific method is a general approach to gaining knowledge through observations and the collection of data in order to answer questions. There are several steps in the scientific process which are the initial observation, in which the experimenter gathers information and forms a hypothesis. The experimenter subsequently tests the hypothesis and then research is conducted. The data is analysed and a conclusion can be drawn. The experimenter reports their findings to the scientific community. Further research is carried out to support the original hypothesis and a new hypothesis is derived from the theory. These answers can be further used to give an understanding of the world (Passer, Smith, Holt, Bremner, Sutherland and Vliek, 2009). There are different methods which are considered scientific in psychology. These methods include observations, surveys and experiments. Knowledge which is not based on scientific evidence or on the scientific method is referred to as pseudoscience or common sense. In common sense a psychological theory cannot empirically be falsified either. Apart from the idiosyncratic experimental construction there are no grounds that establish their temporary truth in the first place. The falsification on a purely empirical level cannot be sufficient. Thus theories are intrinsically related to a common sense that typically requires proof and disproof to be established on several levels (Jury, 1994). Common sense psychology is also referred to as natural psychology, everyday and lay beliefs and folk psychology. Common sense psychology questions…

    • 1702 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays