Research Methods

Ms. Aisha Bano

Social sciences)
 PHASES OF RESEARCH

1. Find a topic  Idea generation

2. Defining the Problem  Formulate questions
What, Why, How
3. Design the Procedures How
4. Collect Data How
5. Analysis of data Why
6. Interpreting the data Why
7. Communicate the findings  Tell about what you
did and found out
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 THE BASICS

I. What is a research?
Research defined:
Psychological research is for answering the
questions.
Q: Where do the questions come from?
The questions come from;
 Already established Theories
Past Researches
Scientific intuition
 unanswered Observations
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 Research Methods by Ms. Aisha Bano,
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II. What is a variable?
Variable defined:
It is a characteristic that changes or has different values
e.g. height, temperature etc. can have different values.
Q: What are some variables in this room?
Some of the variables in this room are:
Temperature
Noise
Height
Gender

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 Types of Variables
There are 2 types of variables:
1) Independent Variable (IV)
– It is the Variable that is manipulated (changed) in the research to
see its effect
Example: room temperature, noise etc.

2) Dependent Variable (DV)

– It is the Variable that is affected after manipulation of IV
Example: performance, memory etc.

Research question will be as follows;

– How does X (IV) affects Y (DV)?
X = Independent Variable, and
Y = Dependent Variable
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 Figure: Manipulation of independent variable in an experiment
In this case;
IV: Music
DV: Performance
Research questions: How does music (IV) affects performance (DV)?
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 Hypothesis
III. What is a hypothesis?
Hypothesis defined:
• Hypothesis makes a prediction about how the
manipulation of the IV will affect the DV
OR…..
• Hypothesis makes a prediction about the relationship
between two variables
Q: What can be the hypothesis for the previous figure?
“The greater the level of noise the lower will be the
performance of the worker”.
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 Population Vs Sample
IV. What is a population?
Population – The entire group of people in
which the researcher is interested.
V. What is a sample?
Sample- Subjects drawn from a larger
population for data collection.

This will be more understood by the next figure…….

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 LO 1.9 Case studies and surveys

SAMPLING FROM POPULATION

INFERENCE

POPULATION

SAMPLE
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 APA style of research
Four Main Sections of research are:
– Introduction (Literature Review)
– Methodology
– Results
– Discussion (Conclusion)
– References

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 The research methods we’ll be looking at
are….

1. Naturalistic observation

2. Case study method

3. Surveys & Interviews

4. Experimental research method

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 1). Naturalistic Observation
Naturalistic observation research method is
“observing people in their natural
environment”, e.g., observing in a
classroom, observing in a shopping mall,
etc.
Note: Naturalistic observation can be made
more systematic by the operationalization
of variables.
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 Wait a minute!!!!

WHAT DO “OPERATIONALIZATION”
MEAN???
AND WHAT IS A “VARIABLE”?

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TO “OPERATIONALIZE” A VARIABLE IS TO DECIDE
HOW YOU WILL MEASURE IT

• For example, if the variable you’re interested in is

depression:
– Then deciding upon the ways “how you will measure
depression variable in research process” is as follows
1. By facial expression?
2. By some behavior that you observe?
3. In some other way?
• Asking these sorts of questions is completing the
process of “operationalizing” your variables.
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 2.Case study
Case study is defined as “an in-depth analysis of a
single person”
 Notice that the study is “in depth”!! Some case
studies involve spending hours, days, months,
years with a particular person to understand them
thoroughly
 Advantage: Rare phenomena can be studied by this
method e.g., people with particular types of brain
damage, psychological basis of suicide bombers etc,.
 Disadvantage: RESULTS cannot apply to others.
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 3.Survey Research / Interview

Survey research – researcher will ask a series

of questions (by paper and pencil or
interviews) about the topic under study.
 Advantages:
Data from large number of people as compared to case
study and the findings can be generalized to a given
population.
 Disadvantages:
Have to ensure representative sample (or results are not
meaningful).
People are not always accurate in responses (bias).
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 Figure: A representative sample is the one that
corresponds toResearch
allMethods
the byunits of its population
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 4. Experimental research method

• An experimental research “looks for the cause

and effect relationship between the variables”.
• In other words, the researcher is hypothesizing
that the independent variable causes the
dependent variable and is doing an experiment
to test this hypothesis.
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To make sure you understand this, think about
the experiment that we can do in the class

Experiment:
2 students (one male & one female) had to try to
catch a ruler dropped through their fingers…
– What is the independent variable in this experiment?
– What is the dependent variable?
– What is the hypothesis?

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Independent and Dependent Variables in the
Class Demonstration
• The CAUSE is the independent variable.
• The EFFECT is the dependent variable.
– The independent variable is GENDER
– The dependent variable is REACTION TIME (i.e.,
how quick the ruler was caught)

• The experimenter believes that the CAUSE of different

reaction times is gender.
– The hypothesis is that gender causes differences
in the reaction time

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