Chapter 2 Introduction
28
2
Licensed Material is being used for illustrative purposes only; person depicted in the licensed Material is a model.
Methods of Psychology
29
CHAPTER OUTLINE
Lessons from Clever Hans
- The Mystery
- The Solution
- Facts, Theories, and Hypotheses
- The Lessons
Types of Research Strategies
- Research Designs
- Research Settings
- Data-Collection Methods
Statistical Methods in Psychology
- Descriptive Statistics
- Inferential Statistics
Minimizing Bias in Psychological Research
- Avoiding Biased Samples
- Reliability and Validity of Measurements
- Avoiding Biases from Observers’ and Subjects’ Expectancies
Ethical Issues in Psychological Research
- Research with Humans
- Research with Nonhuman Animals
- Formal Principles and Safeguards for Ethical Research
Reflections and Connections
Find Out More
In Chapter 1, psychology was defined as the science of behavior and the mind. But what does it mean to say that psychology is a science? Science is the attempt to answer questions through the systematic collection and analysis of objective, publicly observable data (data that all observers can agree on). Science attempts not only to describe behavior but also to explain it. Once the results of a scientific experiment are collected and analyzed, they need to be explained in natural cause-and-effect terms. Thus, concluding that a person behaves in a certain way because the stars aligned just so at the time of his or her birth does not qualify as a scientific explanation because no natural mechanism is proposed between the presumed cause (the position of the stars at one’s birth) and effect (one’s behavior or personality). Even if the person’s behavior is described objectively, is reliably recorded, and is replicable, this explanation of the behavior goes beyond the natural world and is not within the realm of science.
In psychology, the data are usually measures or descriptions of some form of behavior produced by humans or other animals. Special problems exist in choosing what data to collect, collecting the data, and drawing conclusions from them. If we fail to deal with those problems carefully and intelligently, the answers we arrive at will not enlighten us, but mislead us.
This chapter is about scientific methods as applied to psychology. You will read sections on the research strategies psychologists use to answer questions, the statistical procedures they use to analyze data, the safeguards they employ to avoid biased results, and the ethical protections they provide to human and animal research subjects. But first, to ease ourselves into the topic, here is a story about a horse—and a psychologist.