research methods

Research Methods

There are many different types of research studies, and the type of study that is done depends very much on the research question. Some studies demand strictly numerical data, such as a comparison of GPA among different college majors or weight loss among different types of eating programs. Others require more in-depth data, like interview responses. Such studies might include the lived experience of people that have been through a terrorist attack or understanding the experience of being physically disabled on a college campus. While there are a number of different types of studies that can be done, all of them fall under two basic categories: quantitative and qualitative.

Quantitative Research

Quantitative research deals with numerical data. This means that any topic you study in a quantitative study must be quantifiable—grades, weight, height, depression, and intelligence are all things that can be quantified on some scale of measurement. Quantitative data is often considered hard data—numbers are seen as concrete, irrefutable evidence, but we have to take into account a number of factors that could impact such data. Errors in measurement and recording of such data, as well as the influence of other factors outside those in the study, make for some limitations of this kind of research.

Some examples of quantitative studies include the following:

· Depression levels of widowed fathers: A comparison of fathers who lost their wives at different times in their child's life.

· Comparing two approaches for increasing medication compliance in schizophrenia patients.

· Grade point average and alcohol intake: A correlational study.

Qualitative Research

Qualitative research deals with verbal and observational data. The primary data collection tool in qualitative research is the personal interview. Interview responses are transcribed and analyzed for their content, and in the case of multiple participants, compared for common themes in that content. Qualitative data paint a rich picture of a person or group of people in an attempt to better understand their experience. Many students assume qualitative research is easier than quantitative research because there are no numbers, thus no math, but, in fact, the opposite is often true. Qualitative research is far more intense and in depth and the level of analysis in such studies requires a lot of training to master (Salkind, 2012).

Some examples of qualitative research include the following:

· The lived experience of widowed single fathers of infants.

· Doctors' experience of working with noncompliant patients.

· College drinking: Understanding the reasons behind the behavior.

The Research Report

Research is presented to the scientific community in the form of a research report. These reports are published in scientific journals which are peer reviewed, meaning that other researchers have reviewed the research to make sure it is scientifically valid. In order to understand a research report, it is important to know how it is structured.

Research reports are basically structured around the process of scientific inquiry: the scientific method. The scientific method comprises five steps:

· Observe a phenomenon and review the literature.

· Develop a research question or hypothesis.

· Choose a research method and conduct the study.

· Analyze the results.

· Report the results.

It is fitting that a research report also has five basic sections:

· Introduction.

· Literature Review.

· Method.

· Results.

· Conclusions.

Each step of the scientific method fits into one of these sections. In the Introduction of a research paper, the researcher will state the research problem of interest, identifying the observed phenomenon. In the Literature Review, the researcher will explore the research question that has arisen as a result of this observation, noting what research has already been done on the topic in order to identify a logical path toward a new research question that needs to be answered. In the Method section, the researcher will lay out a plan for testing the hypothesis they have created from their review of the existing literature. The fourth section, Results, details the data collection and analysis process wherein the researcher tests the hypothesis. Finally, in the Conclusions section of the report, those results are reported in terms of their application to the field of psychology and the larger context of everyday life.

Research Questions

Research is first and foremost about questions. All research is guided by research questions, which give an individual research study its focus and scope. We cannot answer all of life's questions or save the world in one study—each research study is a small piece of a larger puzzle that will eventually provide greater understanding of a particular problem or issue.

Research is a collaborative effort among the entire scientific community. Researchers read the work of others in their field to determine what they can do to add the next piece to the puzzle. If one researcher finds that women who were exposed to abuse as children have lower self-esteem, another researcher might build on that and try to discover if men suffer the same consequence.

Another researcher may build on it in a different way by trying to discover if a particular therapeutic intervention helps enhance damaged self-esteem. All of these studies would have different research questions driving the inquiry, but each of them contributes to that particular area in a unique way that both builds on the previous research and sparks additional research.

The Hypothesis

In quantitative research, you create a hypothesis after you decide on your research question. The hypothesis is based on your knowledge of previous research on human behavior. The hypothesis is an educated guess as to what will be shown by your study's results. Hypotheses are not typically used in qualitative research as that process is one of discovery. The researcher avoids predicting the outcome so as not to taint their interpretation of the results.

Variables

Variables are the concepts of interest in a study. If we are interested in studying the effects of psychotherapy on depression, psychotherapy and depression are our variables.

Variables can be categorized as either independent or dependent. The independent variable is the variable that causes change in the dependent variable, or in other words, the dependent variable's value is dependent on the level of the independent variable.

Using the first example above, psychotherapy would be the independent variable, and depression would be the dependent variable. A person's level of depression would be dependent on whether or not they got psychotherapy.

Selecting a Research Problem

The research problem is the situation or problem that sparks your research question. A good research problem has two characteristics—it is worthy of investigation (meaning it would further the current research in the field) and is of interest to the researcher. You can come up with a research question by considering what aspects of psychology interest you. For example, you might be interested in the impact of social media on children's social development or on the effect of television on marital satisfaction; you might be interested in the best treatments for children with autism or on the most effective methods to delay cognitive decline in the elderly.

Once you have come up with a research question, you should determine what the key variables are. For example, if your hypothesis is, "The social media impedes the development of teenager's social skills," your variables are social media and teen social skills.

Reference

Salkind, N. J. (2012). Exploring research (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.