Steps In Psychology

Steps in Research

1. Name and describe each step

1. Formulate a testable hypothesis: The first step in a scientific investigation is to translate a theory or an intuitive idea into a testablehypothesis. Hypothesis is a tentative statement about the relationship between two or more variables.

2. Select the research method and design the study: The second step in a scientificinvestigation is to figure out how to put the hypothesis to an empirical test. You have to choose the most appropriate research strategy for empirically addressing your hypotheses.

3. Collect the data:third step in the research enterprise is to collect the data. Researchers use a variety of data collection techniques, which are procedures for making empirical observations and measurements. Commontechniques are: direct observation, questionnaires, interviews, psychology tests, physiological recordings, and examination of archival records. The technique depends largely on what is beinginvestigated. If you study personality, you should use psychological tests.

4. Analyze the data and draw conclusion: Observations made in a study are usually converted into numbers, which constitute the rawdata of the study. Researchers use statistics to analyze data and decide whether their hypotheses have been supported.

5. Report the findings: Scientific progress can be achieved only ifresearchers share their findings with one another and with the general public. This final step is to write up a concise summary of the study and its findings. Usually, researchers prepare a report that isdelivered at a scientific meeting and submitted to a journal for publication.


2. Two types of hypothesis

A hypothesis is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. For a hypothesis to be ascientific hypothesis, the scientific method requires that one can test it. Scientists generally base scientific hypotheses on previous observations that cannot satisfactorily be explained with the...