Psychology is “the scientific discipline that studies
psychological and biological processes and behavior in humans and other animals”
(Psychology, 2013). Psychologist study
the human and behavior to figure out why people think, feel and do the things
that they do. Psychologist observe
individuals, ask questions, develop theories and conduct experiments to get a
better understanding of human nature and how they can help improve the lives of
individuals. The two main components of psychology are research and
statistics. I plan to briefly define
research and the scientific method and discuss how it applies to psychology,
compare and contrast the characteristics of primary and secondary data and
explain the role of statistics in research.
The Merriam-Webster defines research as a “studious inquiry or
examination; especially: investigation or experimentation aimed at the
discovery and interpretation of facts, revision of accepted theories or laws in
the light of new facts, or practical application of such new or revised
theories or laws” (Merriam-Webster, 2013) . The scientific method in research has
five steps which begin by asking a question which seems really simple but in
order to have accuracy the question needs to be about something that can be
measured which is knows as quantitative data when developing statistics. Once
you have determined your scientific problem you have to develop a hypothesis,
which is “merely a good quality speculation, a guess about how or why something
happens” (Cowen, 2006). The next step is
to test your hypothesis by performing experiments and making observations. After conducting your experiments, record
your observations to detail what your findings were. The final step in the scientific method is to
draw a conclusion by comparing the results of the experiment to the hypothesis
to determine whether the hypothesis was true or false.
In conducting research there are two types of data, primary and
secondary. Data is very important to the
research process because it is the information a researcher collects from their
experiments to support their hypothesis.
Primary data is information that is collected by the researcher while doing
an experiment through observation and interviews. Secondary data is “information that is
gathered from existing data for purposes other than those for which they were
originally collected” (Psychology, 2000).
Secondary data can be used to support the primary data that was
collected during the experiment.
Data is very important in the research process because it helps
provide statistics from the experiment.
Statistics for psychology defines “statistics is a method of pursuing
truth. As a minimum, statistics can tell
you the likelihood that your hunch is true in this time and place and with
these sorts of people. This pursuit of
truth, or at least its future likelihood, is the essence of psychology of
science, and of human evolution” (Aron, Aron,
& Coups, 2009) . Statistics are important for psychology
because they help determine whether the accuracy of information given from
research is correct. Statistics also
provide evidence that back up the subject and conclusion of the research.
Every psychological study has a goal that needs to be met and in
order for that to happen researchers must be able to describe, explain, predict
and perhaps have an effect on mental processed of behavior and this is how
statistics are developed. For example, I
personally believe that online social networking have negative effects on
personal relationships. if I wanted to
know how many people agree with what I said and feel that online social
networking effects how people interact with each other in real life, I would
first have to explain a little more in depth why I believe that to be so, then
I would create a questionnaire randomly asking fifty people in different age
groups, race and gender how often they participate in online social media
versus how much time they actually spend with their friends and how it has
affected their personal relationships with friends and family. The information that I gather from the
questionnaire would be my primary data which would calculate statistics based
on my hypothesis. I could than compare
my primary data with those who may have done similar research, which would be
considered secondary data for accuracy.
Research and the scientific method are key components in
developing statistics using primary and secondary data through
experiments. Researchers rely on
statistics when conducting experiments to help them decide whether the results
from their experiments are true or false and that is what makes statistics an
important factor in research when conducting experiments.
Merriam-Webster. (2013). Research.
Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/research
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