Ps300:Research Methods Unit 2 Assignment

RESEARCH METHOD

Evaluating the Method of Research

LeighAnn Hancock

Kaplan University

PS300: Research Methods I

Professor Myeisha Leiva

September 4, 2012

Evaluating Methods of Research

Conducting a research study from start to finish requires an extraordinary amount of planning, organization and effort. The first step in proceeding with a research study is to determine what it is the researcher wishes to study. Developing a research idea often occurs out of a researcher’s intuition and desire to satisfy psychological, scientific curiosity about the causation and or effect of human beings’ interactions with the world, or human behavior. Next the researcher must compose a research study hypotheses, or a tentative explanation for the phenomena or behavior that the researcher is going to study. Hypotheses must be testable in order for the research study to be viable. The next step is to proffer a potential explanation or idea about the study in the form of a research theory. Theories may vary in scope and complexity, but the more complex a theory the more difficult to test. Therefore, contemporary psychological theories are often simpler in scope. Next, the researcher must operationally define what it is that they are testing or studying. Operational definitions define the concepts that are being studied or measured solely in terms that involve the operation or methods being used to measure them. Finally, carrying out a research study involves choosing a research design or the method by which the study will be operated or carried out. Typically psychology researchers rely on four types of research designs: single-case; experimental; quasi-experimental; and observational and correlational. After proposing the hypothesis, proffering the theory, operationally defining the concepts of the study to be measured, and choosing a research design in which to conduct the study, it is absolutely pertinent that the researcher understands and applies ethical standards...