Introduction to Psychological Research Methods

In this sample essay, we are going to discuss the topic of psychological research methods. As research methods and research, in particular, give birth to all new theories and improves the world for the better. We need to understand this concept well and deep.

Therefore, in this essay, we will be going through the following topics: What are psychological research methods? Three types of psychological researches, the five research methods in psychology. Moreover, we will be discussing each of these different aspects in brief. This is in order to understand them properly.

What are the psychological research methods?

As the name implies, psychological research methods are different types of methods used by psychologists or researchers while researching in the field of psychology. Moreover, there are different types of psychological researches, each of which is useful in different objectives. Nevertheless, there are different ways of research too.  Similarly, different methods of research have different applications and each has there are own advantages.

Nevertheless, later in the sample essay, we will be discussing all of these in brief.

Three types of psychological researches

In this paragraph, we shall discuss the different types of psychological researches. There are three types of psychological researches that we will be discussing. Moreover, the psychological researches is mentioned below:

• Causal or Experimental Research
• Descriptive Research
• Relational Research

Moving on we shall discuss these in brief below:

Experimental Research

Also known as causal research, these types of psychological research studies the cause and effect. In other words, what are the causes of a variable and what are its effects are studied in this type of psychological research.

Descriptive Research

Descriptive research aims to study the patterns and conditions occurring in a large group of people. Unlike experimental research, descriptive researches do not try to measure the effect of the variable instead it concerns itself with just describing things.

Relational Research

Relational research also known as correlational research is somewhat a mixture of the past two research types. Nevertheless, in this research type goal is to find the relation between variables. Moreover, this variable already exists in large groups of people.

The five research methods in psychology

Previously we discussed different types of psychological researches. However, to conduct research a method is needed. Therefore, in this paragraph, we will be discussing five different research methods in psychology. Obviously, each of these methods serves different purposes and has different advantages.

Moving on, the five research methods are, namely:

• Case study method
• Experimental method
• Observational study
• Survey method of research
• Content analysis method

Now we shall discuss these in brief below:

Case Study

Perhaps the most widely known research method is a case study. Not just in psychological research but also in almost every other field case study is used. Regardless, a case study is a qualitative method of research i.e. it focuses on quality instead of quantity. Moreover, this method involves observation of a single entity or a collective one, over a stretch of time.

During this time, researchers document the information gained through observation. Furthermore, this method is usually used to put theories and hypotheses in real-life scenarios. Also, it is widely used in

Experiment

The term experiment applies to a variety of things, however here it is used to denote a very specific process. Regardless, the experiment is the most used method of research in psychology or any other science field for that matter. Moreover, there are few principles that govern experiments in psychological which we will be discussing below:

1. The first principle is control. It says that an individual entity or a group subjected to an experiment should not be manipulated.
2. The second principle concerns variables. It says that experiments should be free of unrelated or irrelevant data.
3. The third principle is the consistency of measurement, i.e. a uniform measurement method should be used in order to achieve useful results.

Observational Study

Similar to the case study, observation study is also a type of qualitative research. Moreover, there can be two types of observational study, namely: 1. Naturalistic or 2. Controlled. The goal of this research method is to identity and describes a variable or a group of variables.

Survey

This type of research method depends on the self-reported data and as a result, there is a risk of it being highly subjective. Therefore, this method usually involves more than one subject.  It is a quantitative method. However, this is the only research method where random sampling of subjects is used. Moreover, this is not an experimental method, yet the samples as selected carefully.

Content Analysis

This form of research includes analyzing different media including prints, T.V.s, radios, etc in order to find patterns. Similar to the previous it is a quantitative method. Moreover, this method uses mathematical data involving words, concepts, etc to study patterns in culture.

Moreover, different sources of data can also be used. Regardless, this method is used to predict behavior and is especially useful in advertising.

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Moreover, if you like this essay we can write one for you too. We are open to our customers 24/7. Nevertheless, you can read more like this one concerning the field of psychology. For example Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy, Development of Psychology Reflection, Model of Adaptive Grieving Dynamics (MAGD), Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development.