~ Chapter 1, Pt. 2 ~
Research Methods in Psychology
Research Methods
● Naturalistic observation → observing people in their natural environment
○ This allows for researchers to allow people’s real behavior
○ Two major cons:
■ Time consuming → wide range to how long it can take, anywhere from an
hour to days, etc.
■ Observer bias → an observer might distort their interpretation of what
they saw
● Case study → an intensive description and analysis of a single individual
○ Often used in counseling
○ Involves asking different people who know the person that the study is about
○ Three major cons:
■ Time consuming
■ Expensive
■ Can’t apply the results from one person to another (not generalizable)
● Survey → Tool used by psychologists to ask questions and collect data
○ Easy way to get a lot of data from various participants quickly and cheaply
○ Two major cons:
■ Poor questions may make the data useless
■ People might not always be truthful
Correlational Research
● Based on a naturally occurring relationship between 2 or more variables
○ Positive → both variables increase
○ Negative → one variable increases, the other decreases
● Correlation coefficient → falls between -1 and 1, measures how much closely two
variables are related
○ Causation does not equal correlation
○ Correlation means two things happen together
Experimental Research
● Includes:
○ Making a hypothesis to prove or disprove
○ Subjects to test on
■ Humans or animals
○ Control group → not subjected to a change in the independent variable; used for
comparison to the experimental group
Research Methods in Psychology
Research Methods
● Naturalistic observation → observing people in their natural environment
○ This allows for researchers to allow people’s real behavior
○ Two major cons:
■ Time consuming → wide range to how long it can take, anywhere from an
hour to days, etc.
■ Observer bias → an observer might distort their interpretation of what
they saw
● Case study → an intensive description and analysis of a single individual
○ Often used in counseling
○ Involves asking different people who know the person that the study is about
○ Three major cons:
■ Time consuming
■ Expensive
■ Can’t apply the results from one person to another (not generalizable)
● Survey → Tool used by psychologists to ask questions and collect data
○ Easy way to get a lot of data from various participants quickly and cheaply
○ Two major cons:
■ Poor questions may make the data useless
■ People might not always be truthful
Correlational Research
● Based on a naturally occurring relationship between 2 or more variables
○ Positive → both variables increase
○ Negative → one variable increases, the other decreases
● Correlation coefficient → falls between -1 and 1, measures how much closely two
variables are related
○ Causation does not equal correlation
○ Correlation means two things happen together
Experimental Research
● Includes:
○ Making a hypothesis to prove or disprove
○ Subjects to test on
■ Humans or animals
○ Control group → not subjected to a change in the independent variable; used for
comparison to the experimental group
