RESEARCH METHODS

Holly Workman Comparing Research Methods Advantages and Disadvantages to Psychology Research Methods

Many people have a different view or opinion on what Psychology is and what it is capable of and the many different areas that Psychology encompasses. There are many different ways to research and gather information for the purpose of the greater good and to gather facts, information, theories and possibilities. This is a look into those options and what research methods are used for those purposes. The Case Study method is a painstaking, in depth study of one or more individuals. Interviews, observations and written records are used by psychologists to draw information from. Many testable hypothesis and theories can be obtained through case studies to collect a large amount of data that would not normally be easily obtained and allow scientific experiments to be conducted that lead to a wealth of knowledge. Unfortunately the individuals in these case studies can present and pose a problem to the data being collected with inaccurate information, a bias in the data being collected by the experimenter and therefore influencing the results making it difficult to retain the integrity of the data. When using the Survey Method to gather information, psychologists and other researchers can learn a wide range of information and gather a large amount of data in a short amount of time such as behaviors, opinions and beliefs. Structured interviews, questionnaires and surveys are given to target groups of people and can be administered easily and are understood easily by the general population. However though there is a more regimented aspect to this type of study there is room for error on a human level such as there is with the Case Study method. People may tend to give answers that they feel are more socially acceptable or expected instead of what they truly feel, their opinion or how they actually behave or respond to the questions being presented biasing the results of this method. The Naturalistic Observation Method is to directly observe the behavior of humans or other animal species in their natural habitats or environments. This has to be one of the more fascinating Methods to observe in the natural environment gathering unbiased data without any manipulation. For behavioral data collection this is much more credible as there is no interference but it lacks the benefits

of a controlled experiment. For instance if the subject becomes aware of the observer the behavior or reactions may change and no longer be credible as a response to the observation. Ethical guidelines become a factor in some of these types of studies as discussed in the instructors comments and great care must be taken in covert experiments. The Correlation Method as described by our text, to examine relationships between variables and may involve the use of surveys or naturalistic observations to gather relevant data. This data is then analyzed statistically to examine relationships among variables. The correlation between smoking and lung cancer was a result of this method, just as the effect of smoke on a growing fetus. We gain insight into the cause and effect of different variables showing the relationship of common factors and the results but it does not give us conclusion to the cause and effect. Just that they are related. The Experimental Method directly explores cause and effect relationships by manipulating certain variables. These types of methods are usually employed under controlled conditions so as to eliminate influence and should be able to be repeated or replicated. There is no room for personal opinion in this method as there is with the other types of research methods which make this an ideal environment for highly controlled experiments. This can be a disadvantage where natural behavior is inhibited and only one variable can be studied at a time. These different research methods provide a vast range of opportunity to experiment, gather data, observe and survey providing researchers with a set of guidelines for types of collection based on the needs of the information being gathered. Each method has their own set of positive and negative aspects with the most predominant negative being the biased opinion or influence of the researcher, observer or the subject. With the exception of the Experimental research and the Correlational Method this seems to be the largest downside to the integrity of the data being collected. After reading about the Middlemist Study in the instructors comments I became intrigued with the different types of research methods and learned a significant amount of what it means to do research, the amount of time involved and how much influence there can be over the results being studied. If I had been asked before this what methods of research were involved in psychology I would not have had an answer, instead, in my ignorance I would have assumed only one and that probably being the Naturalistic Observation Method simply because it seemed the most logically compared to the term psychology. I was inclined to read about specific case studies, or experiments that were a result from these methods becoming fascinated with the information reported and the findings both on an ethical

and unethical scale. I find the studies to be quite informative and the facts, hypothesis, experiments and the stories behind each one, enticing me to learn more and delve a little deeper into the world of psychology and the misconceptions the term represents. References: Psychology Concepts and Applications; Jeffrey s. Nevid Wiki.answers.com http://www.ask.com/question/disadvantages-of-the-experimental-method http://psychology.about.com/od/nindex/g/naturalistic.htm http://psud43.wordpress.com/2012/02/19/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-case-studies/