Saylor URL: http://www.saylor.org/books Saylor.org
2.2 Psychologists Use Descriptive, Correlational, and Experimental Research
Designs to Understand Behavior
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
- Differentiate the goals of descriptive, correlational, and experimental research designs and explain the advantages
and disadvantages of each. - Explain the goals of descriptive research and the statistical techniques used to interpret it.
- Summarize the uses of correlational research and describe why correlational research cannot be used to infer
causality. - Review the procedures of experimental research and explain how it can be used to draw causal inferences.
Psychologists agree that if their ideas and theories about human behavior are to be taken
seriously, they must be backed up by data. However, the research of different psychologists is
designed with different goals in mind, and the different goals require different approaches. These
varying approaches, summarized in Table 2.2 "Characteristics of the Three Research Designs",
are known as research designs. A research design is the specific method a researcher uses to
collect, analyze, and interpret data. Psychologists use three major types of research designs in
their research, and each provides an essential avenue for scientific
investigation. Descriptive research is research designed to provide a snapshot of the current
state of affairs. Correlational research is research designed to discover relationships among
variables and to allow the prediction of future events from present
knowledge. Experimental research is research in which initial equivalence among research
participants in more than one group is created, followed by a manipulation of a given experience
for these groups and a measurement of the influence of the manipulation. Each of the three
research designs varies according to its strengths and limitations, and it is important to
understand how each differs.