Basic Research Methodologies
Psych 231: Research Methods in
Psychology
Announcements
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Exam 1: Sept 22 (a week from
Wednesday)
Using theories in research
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Induction – reasoning from the data to the general
theory
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Deduction – reasoning from a general theory to the
data
The chicken or the egg?
Theory
induction
deduction
Data
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Typically good research programs use both
Research Approaches
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Basic (pure) research - tries to answer fundamental
questions about the nature of behavior
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Applied research – Theory sometimes takes a
backseat. This is research designed to solve a
particular problem
Research Approaches
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Think of this is as a continuum rather as
two separate categories.
Basic research
Applied research
• Often applied work may bring up some interesting
basic theoretical questions, and basic theory often
informs applied work.
An example
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Claim: People perform best with 8 hours of
sleep a night.
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How might we go about trying to test this claim?
– How should we test it (what methods)?
– What are the things (variables) of interest?
– What is the hypothesized relationship between these
variables?
General research approaches
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Descriptive:
– Observational
– Survey
– Case studies
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Correlational
 Experimental
Observational methods
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The researcher observes and systematically
records the behavior of individuals
– Naturalistic observation
– Participant observation
– Contrived observation
Naturalistic observation
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Observation and description of behaviors
within a natural setting
– Can be difficult to do well
– Good for behaviors that don’t occur (as well) in
more controlled settings
Naturalistic Observation

Observation and description of behaviors
within a natural setting
– Can be difficult to do well
– Good for behaviors that don’t occur (as well) in
more controlled settings
– Often a first step in the research project
Participant Observation

The researcher engages in the same
behaviors as those being observed
– May allow observation of behaviors not normally
accessible to outside observation
– Internal perspective from direct participation
• But could lead to loss of objectivity
– Potential for contamination by observer
Contrived observation

The observer sets up the situation that is
observed
– Observations of one or more specific variables
made in a precisely defined setting
– Much less global than naturalistic observations
– Often takes less time
– However, since it isn’t a natural setting, the
behavior may be changed
Observational methods
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Advantages
– may see patterns of behaviors that are very
complex and realized on in particular settings
– often very useful when little is known about the
subject of study
– may learn about something that never would have
thought of looking at in an experiment
Observational methods
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Disadvantages
– Causality is a problem
– Threats to internal validity because of lack of
control
• Every confound is a threat
• Lots of alternative explanations
– Directionality of the relationship isn’t known
– Sometimes the results are not reproducible
Survey methods

Widely used methodology
 Can collect a lot of data
 Done correctly, can be a very difficult
method
 Doesn’t provide clear cause-effect patterns
Case Histories

Intensive study of a single person, a very
traditional method
 Typically an interesting (and often rare) case
 This view has a number of disadvantages
– There may be poor generalizabilty
– There are typically a number of possible
confounds and alternative explanations
Correlational Methods

Measure two (or more) variables for each
individual to see if the variables are related
 Used for:
– Predictions
– Reliability and Validity
– Evaluating theories
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Problems: Can’t make casual claims
Causal claims
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We’d like to say:
– variable X causes variable Y
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To be able to do this:
– The causal variable must come first
– There must be co-variation between the two
variables
– Need to eliminate plausible alternative
explanations
Causal claims

Directionality Problem:
– Airplanes and coffee spills
– Happy people sleep well
• or is it that sleeping well when you’re happy?
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Third variable problem:
– Do Storks bring babies?
• A study reported a strong positive correlation between number
of babies and stork sightings
Theory 1: Storks deliver babies
Theory 2: underlying third variable
The experimental method
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
Manipulating and controlling variables in laboratory
experiments
Must have a comparison
– At least two groups (often more) that get compared
– One groups serves as a control for the other group
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Variables
– Independent variable - the variable that is manipulated
– Dependent variable - the variable that is measured
– Control variables - held constant for all participants in the
experiment
The experimental method
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Advantages
–
–
–
–
Precise control possible
Precise measurement possible
Theory testing possible
Can make causal claims
The experimental method
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Disadvantages
– Artificial situations may restrict generalization to
“real world”
– Complex behaviors may be difficult to measure
Next time
Ethics in research
 Read chapter 3
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