Psychological Research Methods Vocabulary

Primary Purpose of Research: Psychologists conduct research to support ideas with empirical data and systematically observe behavior.
Basic Research: Designed to expand the general scientific knowledge base and understand fundamental psychological processes.
Applied Research: Conducted to address specific, real-world problems and develop practical solutions or interventions.
Scientific Goals:
- To Describe: Identifies and quantifies the frequency or characteristics of specific behaviors.
- To Predict: Identifies associations between variables to anticipate outcomes.
- To Explain (Causal): Establishes cause-and-effect relationships to determine what causes a specific behavior to occur.

Methods of Knowing: Include intuition (relying on common sense), authority, deduction, and direct observation.
Hypothesis Types:
- Deductive Hypothesis: Formulated based on existing overarching theories.
- Inductive Hypothesis: Derived from observed patterns or trends in existing data.
- Characteristics of a Good Hypothesis: Must be testable, logical, and positive.
Feasibility: Practical limitations such as funding, equipment, and access to participants remain essential considerations even when addressing major real-world problems.
Replication: Repeating studies is essential to confirm the reliability of research findings.

Variables and Constructs: A variable is an observable characteristic that varies across individuals (such as height or age). A construct is an abstract concept that is measured using concrete variables.
Cross-Cultural Definition: Psychological constructs established in one demographic (e.g., U.S. college students) must be re-evaluated and potentially re-defined or re-measured when studying different populations.
Operationalization: The specific, concrete method used to measure or manipulate a construct within a study (e.g., defining cyberbullying as reporting the frequency of posting negative comments with intent to hurt).
Types of Indicators:
- Behavioral Indicator: Involves direct observation and recording of outward actions (e.g., tracking how often a participant avoids eye contact).
- Self-Report Indicator: Involves participants reporting their own behaviors, thoughts, or feelings.
- Physiological / Biological Indicator: Measures physical body responses or biological processes.
Scales of Measurement:
- Nominal: Unordered categorical data.
- Ordinal: Ordered ranks or values where the interval between levels is not equal or known (e.g., rating stress from 1-very low to 5-very high).
- Interval: Ordered numerical values with equal intervals between measurements, but lacking a true zero point.
- Ratio: Numerical values with equal intervals and an absolute true zero point.

Scope of Ethical Reflection: Ethical issues must be considered continuously throughout the entire research process, not solely during the design stage.
Core Ethical Principles:
- Beneficence: Maximizing benefits while minimizing potential risks, including providing ongoing participant support.
- Respect for Persons: Recognizing autonomy. If deception (such as cover stories or confederates) is used to minimize demand characteristics, participants must be debriefed immediately following the study.
- Justice: Ensuring fair distribution of research burdens and benefits. Selecting vulnerable groups (e.g., low-income populations) to bear trial risks for a drug meant for the general public violates justice.
Coercion: Involuntary participation caused by explicit or implicit threats, such as linking study participation to job performance evaluations.
Institutional Review Board (IRB) Roles and Categories:
- Purpose: Oversees ethical aspects of research and protects human participants.
- Exempt Review: Applies to low-risk research involving publicly available, de-identified data.
- Full Review: Mandatory for studies involving vulnerable populations (e.g., children) who cannot fully assess risk or protect their own interests.

Resource Types:
- Primary Resource: Direct, first-hand data collected by the researchers (e.g., original experiments or surveys).
- Secondary Resource: Summaries, analyses, or interpretations of data collected by other researchers.
Peer Review: A critical evaluation process in scientific publishing to ensure only methodologically sound and scientifically rigorous research is published.