INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH
PSYCHOLOGY
 The sciences of behavior and mental
process of man and animals.
Purpose of Psychology
 Describe
 Explain
 Predict
 Influence
Types of Behavior
 Conscious
 Unconscious
 Overt
 Covert
SCIENTIFIC METHOD refers to ways in which:
STEPS IN RESEARCH
STEP 1: Developing a Research Idea and
Hypothesis
 Identify the issue you want to study
 State clearly the relationship between you
expect to emerge in your research study
and formulate precise and testable
hypotheses
 State a research question in terms that
will allow you and others to test it
empirically
STEP 2: Choosing the Research Design
 Design is a plan of attack for your
research;
 options:
o Correlational study: where the
researcher measures two or more
variables and look for
relationships among them
STEP 3: Choosing The Subject/ Population
 Consider the sampling techniques
 Human participants or animal subjects
STEP 4: Deciding On What to Observe and
the Appropriate Measures
STEP 5: Conducting Study
ISSUES IN PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH
Goals of Psychological Research:
 To build an organized body of knowledge
about the field
 To develop explanations for phenomenon
within its domain
Scientific explanations should be:
 Rational: follows the rules of logic and
consistent with known facts
 Testable: could be verified through
replication
Scientific method refers to the ways in which:
 Questions are asked
 Logical
 Credible methods
 Relies on empirical approach: direct
observation and experimentation
STEP 6: Analyzing Data
 Calculate some descriptive statistics
(averages &standard deviations) to
provide a "nutshell" description
 Use inferential statistics for testing
hypothesis.
METHODS OF RESEARCH FOR
PSYCHOLOGY MAJORS
Research Proposal
 Made or written by the researcher/s for
the purpose of outlining his/her/their
planned research project
 It outlines the entire research process to
be undertaken
Parts of the Research Proposal
I. Title
II. Table of contents
III. Covers the chapters 1-3 of your
future paper with the following
contents
Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
 This chapter must be clear and logical in
describing why you decided to conduct
the study.
 Describe the situation, what have you
read, or observed in relation to the
psychological phenomena of interest
 You may quote some data related to it
and cite the source.
 What is the discrepancy between the
current and the ideal situation that
eventually made you interested in the
topic
REMINDER: CITE your sources after every
quoted statement.
It includes the rationale
 The part that tells about the gap.
 Recall - definition of the gap
 Application - presentation of the
gap
 Evaluation
 These three have the same answer (the
gap), but the manner of question would
assess which domain of knowledge you
would wish to assess.
Variable
 A quality or quantity that can take a range
of values.
Statement of the Problem
 The problem may be stated in either
statement or question form.
 STATEMENT FORM: The primary goal of
this study is to state your purpose
 QUESTION FORM: Specifically the study
aims to answer the following questions
o What are the SPECIFIC problems
you wish to answer
 QUESTION FORM: Include the inferential
questions that you wish to explore (in
other words this is where your statistical
exhibition will come in, what do you want
to relate with what? Or differences that
you want to establish.)
IMPORTANT CONCEPTS THAT YOU SHOULD
KNOW:



Variable - any quality or quantity that can
take on a range of values
Hypothesis
o give a hypothesis for every
problem that you have to prove
statistically
o state the hypothesis/(es) in null
form for ease of proving it (them)
Theoretical Framework
o Discuss briefly the theory which
was the basis of your study. Name
the theory and give a brief
description of it and how you will
use it in your study.
o Different theories and concepts
related to the topic can also be
combined provided that you make
a logical arrangement of ideas.
o It would then be a conceptual
framework rather than a
theoretical one.
Significance of the Study
 Identify who will benefit from the results of
your study and how they can benefit from
it.
 State from the most important group or
person.
Definition of Terms
 Give the important terms found in the title
of your study.
 Define each in two ways:
o State the Conceptual definition
which would be quoted. Get the
definition from a credible source
(book in psychology, PLEASE this
is a serious endeavor do not be
contented with the dictionary
definition)
o Operational definition: how the
term will be used in your study. In
other words, how will the term be
contextualized in your study - is it
based on the raw score or the
interpreted score
Scope and Limitations of the Study
 Give in a paragraph or two a brief
description of the extent of the coverage
of your study as well as what is not
included.
Chapter 2: REVIEW OF RELATED
LITERATURE
 This chapter includes all types of
materials reviewed, conceptual literature
which came from books, related studies
both local and foreign journals.
 Aimed mainly to show how the present
study relates to the existing knowledge
and previous studies in terms of both
similarities and differences
 Classify literature by topic and subtopics
or by themes
 At the end each subtopic give a summary
and at the end of the chapter, give an
overall summary of what were said in the
entire chapter.
Chapter 3: METHODOLOGY
 Research Design
 Quantitative
 Qualitative
 Mixed
Methods Vs. Methodology
Method
 Is the specific technique or means by
which you will answer the question.
(through a survey, interview, structured
observation, etc.
 How you collected your data.
Methodology
 Covers the theory behind the approach.
Selection of Subjects and Sampling Design
 Describe who will be your subjects or
respondents
 What is the sampling design or how will
you select them
Study Site
 Describe the place where you will conduct
your study
 What are the peculiar or unique features
that the location has or have that should
be noted?
Data Gathering
 Instrument
o describe how your
 Instrument was develop
o who developed it
o where was it developed
o
o
what was the purpose of its
original development
how was it validated and what are
the validation indices.
RESEARCH DESIGN
1. Quantitative Approach
 To generalize from a sample to a
population to make inferences.
Survey
o
o
o
o
The preferred type of data
collection procedure for this type
of study.
Considers the advantage of the
design such as scoring.
Rapid turnaround in data
collection.
Advantage of identifying attributes
in a large population from a small
group of individuals.
Four types + one data collection method
 Self-administered questionnaire
 Interview
 Structured recorded reviews
 Structured observation
 Data collection involving the web (added
due to the rise of modernization).
Note:
When one modifies an instrument or combines
an instrument in a study, the original validity and
reliability may not hold for the new instrument. It
is important to reestablish validity and reliability
during data analysis.
2. Qualitative Approach
 Go deeper into a phenomenon
a. Natural setting
 Qualitative researchers collect
data at the site where participants
experience the issue of the
problem under study.
 Studies the life of the people.
b. Researcher as the key instrument
 Qualitative researchers collect
data themselves by examining
documents, observing behavior, or
interviewing participants.
c. Multiple Sources of Data
(Triangulation)
 Typically gather multiple forms of
data such as interviews,
observations, and documents
rather than relying on a single
data source.
 Researchers review all the data
and make sense of it into
categories o themes that cover the
resources.
Note: In choosing the participants, one must
have an inclusion criteria
 It is the certain characteristics that you
must be mindful of.
3. Mixed Methods
 A combination of both qualitative and
quantitative approaches.
 It could be sequential
 Quali, then quanti
 Quanti, then quali
 It could be concurrent (both quali and
quanti are conducted at the same time).
SELECTION OF SUBJECT AND SAMPLING
METHODS
 Describe who will be your subject (if
animal) or respondent (if human
participants).
 What is the sampling design and how will
you select them?
Random Sampling
 A probability sampling
 Everyone has an equal chance of being
chosen.
Example:
 Fishbowl Technique
 Stratified Random Sampling (strata)
 Systematic Random Sampling (every
nth number).
Non-Random Sampling
 The sample selection is based on factors
other than just random chance. Here, the
sample will be selected based on the
convenience, experience, or judgment of
the researcher.
Example:
 Snowball Sampling / Chain Referral


Purposive Sampling
Convenience Sampling
Study Site
 Where you will conduct the study.
 What are the peculiar or unique features
that the location has that should be noted.
 Be particular about why the place is
appropriate for your study, then justify it.
Data Gathering Instrument
 Describe how your questionnaire or
instrument was developed, who
developed it and where was it developed
(this can be important in the limitations of
your study).
 What was the purpose of the developer
for making this instrument?
VALIDITY
1. Face validity
 If the test at the surface appears to
measure what it is supposed to measure.
Example:
if a tool intends to measure mathematical
ability, the words used should be simple
or otherwise, it will measure verbal
comprehension.
2. Predictive Validity
 Whether the test predicts the criteria
external to the test.
 Sometimes called criterion validity.
Example:
An aptitude test is predictive because it
will predict where you will ‘probably’ excel.
It will become valid if it can predict the
area you will excel in.
3. Convergent Validity
 Whether the tests correlate with other
measures that it should correlate with.
Example:
The depression subscale of DASS must
correlate with the Hopkins Scale for
Depression for it to be considered valid.
4. Divergent Validity
 Refers to whether a measure should not
correlate with another measure.
Example:
a depression scale should not correlate
with a life-satisfaction scale.
5. Construct Validity
 Measure what it is supposed to measure
based on a theoretical construct.
RELIABILITY
 The stability of the test
1. Repeated measures
 test-retest reliability
 A test given at different times to the same
participants should yield a significantly
same result.
2. Internal Consistency Reliability
 All items must correlate with each other.
3. Interrater Reliability
 Multiple raters and observers should
agree with each other.
Data Gathering Instrument
We must:
 Determine how the developer established
the reliability of the instrument and what
is/are the indices.
 Determine how the instrument will be
scored and interpreted.
Data Gathering
 Includes the steps/process that you will
go through to collect data.
DATA ANALYSIS
1. Quantitative Data Analysis
 Specific statistical tools to analyze the
data
Example:
o Descriptive Statistics
o Inferential Statistics
2. Qualitative Data Analysis
 Specific model to be used for qualitative
analysis.
Example:
o Clarke and Braun Thematic
Analysis
o Collaizi’s Descriptive
Phenomenological Method.
ETHICAL CONSIDERTIONS IN CONDUCTING
RESEARCH


Spells out the ethical safeguards you will
use to ensure that your research
respondents/participants will be
protected.
A brief description of the of informed
content will also be included
RESEARCH ETHICS
a) Research that is harmful to participants is
undesirable
b) Seek informed consent of the participants
by giving full information on the nature,
purpose, the potential risks and benefits
of the study
c) Maintaning anonymity and confidentiality
is very important so that identities of
participants are protected and the data do
not become items of gossip
d) Deceiving individuals in order to get them
to participate is always unethical. Weigh
costs of deception against potential
benefit of research. The researchers are
obligated to conduct debriefing as soon
as possible, that is explaining to the
participants the use of deception.
e) Plagiarism is a serious violation of
research ethics. In reporting, do not
fabricate data, do not “steal” others’ ideas
and pass them as yours.