I took this class hoping to learn and know more than what I did when I started it, which is why
we all take the classes we take or at least that’s what I think anyways. No matter what we learn
or don’t learn though, everything is some kind of learning experience in one way or another in
our lives.
Since being in this class I can say that I have learned a lot more about the APA writing style
than what I originally knew, which sadly was barely anything. I now know that it is the official
writing style for many different fields of study, not just psychology. Also that there are seven
main sections to a APA-style manuscript. It starts with a title page, which includes a running
head and a page number, along with the title, authors name, and affiliations. An abstract, which
is basically a summary of the article that’s written. The introduction, which is only there to
introduce your topic honestly. The method section, which idealy is there for information on the
experiement and to let the readers know how you conducted your study. The result section is
there for you to present your findings to the readers, which is followed by the discussion section
where you remind everyone of the purpose of the study. It is also where you go over your
hypothesis and compare your findings to previous findings and discuss the work that you did to
get these results. Lastly, there is the reference section, which is where you list all of the work that
you cited throughout the entire thing.
Something else that we learned that stood out to me and I remember reading about was the
goals of psychological research. There is four goals they have or follow, I guess you could say.
These four things are describe, explain, predict, and influence behavior or mental processes. First
the researcher will describe what it is that’s going on, whether it be a behavior or something else.
Then they will explain the process of why this behavior is happening. Next is when they predict
when or where this happens or may happen again and what they believe is causing it to happen.
The last process is when they influence the behavior or process. They will look at all of the
findings and paperwork closely and at all the research that has been done and then try to enhance
or reduce the behavior from happening again. The first three goals fall under basic research and
the last of course falls under applied research.
We also learned about scientific method and how psychologists use this when conducting
research. There are six steps in this method which are; problem identification, hypothesis
formation, collection of data, analysis of data, conclusion, and reporting the findings. Problem
identification is identifying a topic of study and going over a initial review of what has already
been done on it. The hypothesis formation is the development of a hypothesis. Data collection is
the development of the study and figuring out where the variable can be tested. Data analysis is
where they use statistics to analyze the data that was collected. The conclusion is when all the
data that was collected has been gone over and analyzed and the conclusions are drawn on it all.
Lastly is when others will either agree or disagree with your findings and voice their opinions
about your thoughts on it.
Then there was probability sampling procedures. It is about when someone is selecting people
from a population, there is two main ways they can go about it. First is probability sampling,
which is when the individuals have a known chance of being selected, or there is nonprobability
sampling, where each individual does not have a known chance of being selected to participate
(Crawford, 2019). In probability sampling, there are four types of procedures that can be used,
which are simple, systematic, stratified, and cluster. Then in nonprobability sampling there are
three types which are convenience, snowballing, and quota. Now to break it down even more,
simple probability sampling is where all individuals in a population have a equal probability of
being selected. Systematic probability sampling is when a random sample is taken and a
systematic approach is used (Crawford, 2019). In stratified probability sampling, researchers will
begin identifying subgroups and then randomly selecting from the subgroups. Lastly, there is
cluster probability sampling which identifies clusters of individuals from a population and then
they are sampled to obtain the sample (Crawford, 2019). Now in nonprobability sampling
procedures, convenience sampling is when they use the participants who are ready and available
or will volunteer to participate. Snowballing is when a sample is acquired by a referral process
among similar individuals. Then quota is quite similar to stratified sampling because subgroups
are made with similar numbers in each group, the difference is this is a non-random sample
(Crawford, 2019).
Then I remember us learning about factorial research design, which is when there is more than
one independent variable. Usually a factorial research design will have two or three independent
variables, with each of those having multiple levels as well. Then there is a between subjects
factorial research design, which tells us there is more than one independent variable as well, but
since it is between subjects, participants are only exposed to one level of each independent
variable. In a within subjects factorial research design, there is still more than one independent
variable, however, since it is within subjects, the participants are exposed to all levels of each
independent variable. Lastly, in a mixed subjects factorial research design, as with the others,
there is more than one independent variable, but here there are between and within subject
variables (Crawford, 2019).
Single case design is something else that has stuck out to me for some reason. It is when the
focus is all on a single participant, a single group of participants, or a small group of participants
(Crawford, 2019). These are most popular when conducting clinical research or access is limited
due to availability. There are a few methodologies when conducting single case research. There
is AB design which is known as pretest-posttest designs. Then there is ABA design which is also
known as reversal design. Lastly there is multiple base;ine design which involves introducing the
independent variable in a study to a small group of participants (Crawford, 2019).
I must say that I have always been intrigued by the study of the mind, and eager to learn more
about why we act the way we do when it comes to certain things. When I started this class, I was
open-minded and very excited until I received the lowest grade that I have ever received, and I
knew I’d never be able to recover from that. Especially since I was already having a hard enough
time trying to understand the materials we were learning. Please don’t take this wrong because I
am not saying anything bad about my Professor at all, he did his job as he was supposed too. I
had a death in my family and mentally I was not where I needed to be when it came to my
schoolwork, so I take sole responsibility for my lack of learning. I do feel like I didn’t learn as
much or take away from this class as much as I would’ve liked too. This assignment has been by
far the hardest, yet also the most eye opening one by far, as it made me realize what I didn’t learn
because I didn’t know if I could come up with six to nine pages for this assignment. Which made
me very disappointed with myself, however, I know this is a learning experience that the Lord
put in my path for whatever reason so I just have to accept it. This all makes me think about
Psalms 32:8, “ I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you
with my loving eye on you.”
American Psychological Association (2020). Publication Manual of the American Psychological
Association (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000
Crawford, A.R. (2019). Introduction to Research: Less Fright, More Insight (Custom 3rd ed.).
Kendall Hunt.
English Standard Bible (2001). https://esv.literalword.com/
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