Conducting Research Psychology, like chemistry and biology, is an experimental science, assumptions must be supported by scientific evidence. It is not enough to argue that something is true, just because someone says it is. Psychologists use a variety of research methods to study behavior and mental processes, these methods differ in a number of ways, but psychologists tend to follow the same general procedure when conducting their research.

This Procedure consists of five steps… Forming a Research Question Forming a Hypothesis Testing the Hypothesis Analyzing the Results Drawing Conclusions

Forming a Research Question Psychologists begin a study by forming a research question. Many research questions arise from daily experience, psychological theory, common folklore and common knowledge. Forming a Hypothesis After psychologists ask a research question, they form a hypothesis about their answer. A hypothesis is an educated guess. The accuracy of the hypothesis can be tested by research. Psychologists may word a hypothesis in the form of an if-statement.

Testing the Hypothesis Because psychology is a science, psychological knowledge rests on carefully examined human experience. No matter how good a hypothesis sounds and no matter how many people believe it, a hypothesis may not be consired to be correct until it has been scientifically tested and proven to be right. Psychologists do not rely on people´s opinions, instead they examine the evidence and draw their own conclusions. Psychologists answer research questions or test hypothesis through a variety of methods.

Analyzing Results After psychologists have tested their own hypotheses, they analize their results. In other words they ask what their findings mean. In most psychological studies, psychologists collect a great deal of information or data that will help them test their hypothesis. The more information collected, the more complex it is to analyze it, so psychologists look for patterns and relationships in the data. They must decide which data supports their hypothesis and which data do not.

Drawing Conclusions Once psychologists have analyzed their research observations, they draw conclusions about their questions and hypothesis. These conclusions are useful in the development and validation of theories in psychology. When their observations do not support their hypotheses, they often must change the theories or beliefs from which the hypothesis was derived. Therefore psychologists need to keep open minds, they must be willing to adjust or modify their hypotheses if their findings make it necessary to do so.

Replication Even when a study carefully, follows proper procedures, its findings might just represent a random occurence. For the findings of a study be confirmed, the study must be replicated. That is the study must be repeated and it must produce the same results as before. When scientists replicate a study but optain defferent results than were obtained the first time, the findings of the first study are questioned. For example in a study in which people are participants, researchers might want to replicate the study using participants who differ in gender, but also in other characteristics like age, ethnicity, social or economic background etc.

Section Review 1. List and describe the five steps that scientists follow when conducting research. 2. Why is replication of a research study important?