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Research Methods
In ThIs ChapTer
Summary: In their scientific study of behavior and mental processes,
psychologists aim to describe, understand, predict, and explain psychological
phenomena. Theories are organized sets of concepts that explain phenomena.
Psychologists conduct research to answer behavioral questions. They system-
atically collect accurate data through a variety of carefully made observations
and measurements. Scientific experiments, naturalistic observations, inter-
views, questionnaires, case studies, and psychological tests are some methods
psychologists use to explore our personalities, values, intelligence, talents,
and the effects of heredity and environment on our development. The scien-
tific method is a set of general procedures psychologists use for gathering
and interpreting data. Other researchers working independently must be able
to obtain similar results using the same methods; this is called replication.
This chapter examines research methods and statistics used to make sense
of research data.Key Ideas
✪ Experimental method
✪ The controlled experiment
✪ Eliminating confounding variables
✪ Quasi-experimental research
✪ Correlational research
✪ Naturalistic observation
✪ Survey and test methods
✪ Case study
✪ Elementary statistics
✪ Descriptive statistics
✪ Measures of central tendency
✪ Measures of variabilityKEY IDEA
ChapTer
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