Study sheet: Psychological Research Methods

📋 Course Outline

1. Foundations of Psychological Research
2. Psychology’s Areas of Study
3. Characteristics of Sound Research
4. Research Ethics and Participant Rights
5. Steps in a Research Study
6. APA Report-Writing Guidelines
7. Variables and Measurement Scales
8. Hypotheses, Sampling, and Designs

📖 1. Foundations of Psychological Research

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Research : a careful, organized, systematic, objective, and scientific investigation that collects, analyzes, and interprets information to discover knowledge, establish facts, solve problems, or test existing theories.
• Psychological research : the systematic, objective, and scientific study of human behaviour, thoughts, and feelings through the collection and analysis of evidence.
• Participant : a person who voluntarily takes part in a research study by answering questions, completing tasks, participating in experiments, or being observed.

💡 Memory Hook

SOE: Systematic, Objective, Evidence-based

📖 2. Psychology’s Areas of Study

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Behaviour : any observable action or response of a person that can be seen or measured.
• Thoughts : mental processes involved in acquiring, processing, storing, and using information.
• Emotions : people’s emotional experiences and reactions to situations that influence behaviour, thoughts, relationships, and mental health.

💡 Memory Hook

Observable behaviour versus unobservable mental processes

📖 3. Characteristics of Sound Research

★ Must-know

• Psychological research is scientific because it uses observation, testing, and evidence rather than opinions or guesses.

• Empirical research is based on direct observation, measurement, or experience and real-world data rather than assumptions.

• Controlled research keeps other relevant factors constant so that changes in the independent variable can be linked to changes in the dependent variable.

• Ethical research protects participants’ rights, dignity, and well-being throughout the study.

Further detail

• Research is replicable when it is described clearly enough for other researchers to repeat it using the same methods.

• Generalizable findings apply beyond the participants studied when the sample is appropriate for the wider population.

📖 4. Research Ethics and Participant Rights

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Informed consent : participants receive complete information about a study’s purpose, procedures, risks, and benefits before freely agreeing to participate.

★ Must-know

• Parental or guardian consent is usually required when participants are under 18 years of age or below the legal age of consent, or when they cannot legally provide informed consent.

• Confidentiality means the researcher knows a participant’s identity but keeps it private, whereas anonymity means the identity is not collected or cannot be linked to the data.

• Participants have the right to withdraw from research at any time without giving a reason or facing punishment or disadvantage.

• Researchers must protect participants from physical, psychological, emotional, social, or legal harm and minimize risks as much as possible.

Further detail

📌 Deception may be used only when necessary, ethically justified, and unlikely to cause harm, and participants must be told the true purpose after participation through debriefing.

💡 Memory Hook

Consent → participation → privacy → protection → debriefing

📖 5. Steps in a Research Study

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Hypothesis : a clear, testable prediction about the relationship between two or more variables.
• Research problem : a specific issue or question that needs investigation.

📝 Essential Points

• 🔄 A research study proceeds through these stages:
  1. Identifying a research problem
  2. Reviewing literature
  3. Formulating a research question
  4. Setting aims and objectives
  5. Identifying variables and forming a hypothesis
  6. Selecting a design, sample, and research tools
  7. Ensuring ethical requirements
  8. Collecting data
  9. Analyzing and interpreting findings
  10. Identifying limitations and making recommendations

💡 Memory Hook

Problem → literature → question → variables → design → data → analysis → report

📖 6. APA Report-Writing Guidelines

★ Must-know

• APA 7th edition report formatting uses Times New Roman throughout, 12-point main text, 14-point bold main headings, double spacing, 1-inch (2.54 cm) margins, justified alignment, 0.5-inch (1.27 cm) first-line indentation, and page numbers in the top-right corner.

Further detail

• The APA title page contains a bold centered research-paper title followed by the student’s name, institution, course name and code, instructor’s name, and submission date, with all information centered.

📖 7. Variables and Measurement Scales

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Independent variable : the factor that the researcher changes, manipulates, or examines to determine its effect on another variable.
• Dependent variable : the outcome that is measured or observed to determine whether it changes because of the independent variable.
• Controlled variables : factors kept the same for all participants so that the independent variable is the only factor affecting the dependent variable.

📝 Essential Points

📌 Nominal data classify mutually exclusive categories without order or numerical meaning, whereas ordinal data have a meaningful ranking but unequal or unmeasurable differences between ranks.

📌 Interval data have equal differences between values but no true zero, whereas ratio data have equal differences and a true zero representing complete absence.

💡 Memory Hook

Nominal → ordinal → interval → ratio

📖 8. Hypotheses, Sampling, and Designs

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Sampling : the process of selecting a subset from a population to collect data and draw conclusions about the entire population.

📝 Essential Points

📌 The null hypothesis states that there is no significant relationship, difference, or effect and that observed results are due to chance, whereas the alternative hypothesis states that a significant relationship, difference, or effect exists.

📌 A directional hypothesis predicts both that a relationship or difference exists and the direction of the effect, whereas a non-directional hypothesis predicts an effect without specifying its direction.

• Probability sampling gives every population member a known and equal or measurable chance of selection through random methods, whereas non-probability sampling depends on researcher judgment or participant availability.

📌 Random group design assigns each participant to one condition, repeated measures design tests the same participants in every condition, matched pair design assigns one member of each matched pair to each condition, and pre-test–post-test design measures participants before and after treatment.

💡 Memory Hook

Null versus alternative; probability versus non-probability sampling

📊 Synthesis Tables

Scales of Measurement

Scale	Main property	Example
Nominal	Categories without order	Gender; blood group
Ordinal	Ordered ranks without equal measurable differences	Class ranks; military ranks
Interval	Equal intervals without a true zero	Temperature; IQ scores
Ratio	Equal intervals with a true zero	Reaction time; income