Lec. 1 The Research Process

Question 1

The Research Process

Answer 1

THE RESEARCH PROCESS – Follows a series of clear steps

1. FIND A PROBLEM
   
   • Each research project begins as a problem or a question for which we are seeking an answer.
2. REVIEW THE LITERATURE
   
   • Once you have chosen the problem you plan to research, you must discover what psychologists already know about the problem. Find out what research studies have been published in this area.
3. THEORY – a formal statement of the relation among the variables or factors of interest in a particular research area.
   
   • The results of numerous research studies typically form the basis for a psychological theory. A theory is NOT based on the researcher’s guess about the relations among variables (That would be a hypothesis).
   • All good theories share two common properties.
   1. They attempt to organize a given body of scientific data.
      
      • If a theory has not been developed in a particular area of research, we are faced with the task of having to consider the results of many separate experiments and decide how these results are related to each other.
   2. They can point the way to new research.
      
      • By illuminating the relations among relevant variables, a good (i.e., testable) theory also suggests what might logically happen if researchers manipulate these variables in certain ways.
4. HYPOTHESIS – attempts to state specific relations among variables within a selected portion of a larger, more comprehensive research area or theory.
   
   • As your research project takes shape, you will develop a specific hypothesis.
   • This hypothesis, frequently called the RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS or EXPERIMENTAL HYPOTHESIS, will be the predicted outcome of your research project.
   • In stating this hypothesis, you are stating a testable prediction about the relations between the variables in your project.
   • Based on the scientific literature you have reviewed, your experimental hypothesis will be influenced by other hypotheses and theories that researchers have proposed in your area of interest.
5. RESEARCH PLAN – Once you’ve formulated your hypothesis, you need a general plan or experimental design for conducting your research and gathering data. This plan is called RESEARCH DESIGN.
6. RESEARCH PROJECT – The next step is to conduct the research project.
7. ANALYSE THE RESEARCH FINDINGS – analyze the data that you gathered.
   
   • If the results would occur rarely by chance alone, researchers can REJECT THE NULL HYPOTHESIS and conclude it is a STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT result.
8. INTERPRETATION – Once you have conducted your analyses, then you must interpret your results in light of past research and theory.
   
   • Was your research hypothesis supported?
   • Do your results agree with past research?
   • How do they fit into the current theoretical structure in this research area?
   • If your results do not fit perfectly, what changes need to be made in your interpretation of existing theory to accommodate them?
   • Does lack of support for your hypothesis disconfirm the theory?
9. PRESENTATION – Finally, share your results. Present an oral paper or a poster at a psychological convention
10. FIND A NEW PROBLEM – As you consider the relation of your experimental results to past research and theory and share your results with others who give you feedback, new research ideas will present themselves.
    
    • Why didn’t the results turn out exactly as predicted?
    • Did you fail to account for some factor or variable?
    • What would happen if you manipulated this or that variable in a different manner?