CHAPTER 1:
RESEARCH DESIGN IN PSYCHOLOGY:
OBJECTIVES:
• Describe in detail the various methods by which human beings acquire knowledge including
the scientific method
• Compare the scientific method with other means of acquiring knowledge
• Describe and contrast inductive or probabilistic reasoning, and deductive reasoning
• Discuss reductionism in social science research
DEFINITIONS:
• Research: to look again
• Social: people/human beings
• Sciences: process of systematic inquiry (gain knowledge) which makes sense (logical), has a
reference (observed evidence) and gives an explanation (theory).
KNOWLEDGE:
• How does society progress?
◦ by constantly generating new knowledge
◦ formulating specific questions and finding answers to them
◦ Understanding ourselves and our environment
• Epistemology = The study of ways of knowing about the world (i.e., the question: ‘what is
knowledge?’)
◦ Non-scientific methods
◦ Scientific methods
NON-SCIENTIFIC METHODS:
1. METHOD OF AUTHORITY:
• relying on the knowledge and “wisdom” of prominent people,
• e.g. religious leaders, politicians, elderly people, kings in feudal societies, technocrats, etc.
• Critique: allows individuals to hide the superficiality of their knowledge, its underlying
ideologies, and weaknesses in judgment
2. MYSTICAL METHOD:
• Based on texts or supernatural source
3. INTUITIVE METHOD:
• Ordinary reasoning through instinct/intuition
©madri van wyk, 22731202 1
RESEARCH DESIGN IN PSYCHOLOGY:
OBJECTIVES:
• Describe in detail the various methods by which human beings acquire knowledge including
the scientific method
• Compare the scientific method with other means of acquiring knowledge
• Describe and contrast inductive or probabilistic reasoning, and deductive reasoning
• Discuss reductionism in social science research
DEFINITIONS:
• Research: to look again
• Social: people/human beings
• Sciences: process of systematic inquiry (gain knowledge) which makes sense (logical), has a
reference (observed evidence) and gives an explanation (theory).
KNOWLEDGE:
• How does society progress?
◦ by constantly generating new knowledge
◦ formulating specific questions and finding answers to them
◦ Understanding ourselves and our environment
• Epistemology = The study of ways of knowing about the world (i.e., the question: ‘what is
knowledge?’)
◦ Non-scientific methods
◦ Scientific methods
NON-SCIENTIFIC METHODS:
1. METHOD OF AUTHORITY:
• relying on the knowledge and “wisdom” of prominent people,
• e.g. religious leaders, politicians, elderly people, kings in feudal societies, technocrats, etc.
• Critique: allows individuals to hide the superficiality of their knowledge, its underlying
ideologies, and weaknesses in judgment
2. MYSTICAL METHOD:
• Based on texts or supernatural source
3. INTUITIVE METHOD:
• Ordinary reasoning through instinct/intuition
©madri van wyk, 22731202 1
