Statistics are a method of finding the truth and psychologist use statistical methods to help them make sense of the numbers that collect during their experiments and research and is the essence of human evolution and psychology of science. With these statistics psychologist are able to see if there theory is correct or whether they need to do more research. There are two different types of statistics that are used to draw conclusions and to describe information and they are descriptive statistics and inferential statistics
This paper will evaluate the usefulness of the psychometric approach for understanding personality and human intelligence. Psychometric tests were first created in order to objectively measure intelligence and personality (Eysenck, 1994; Hayes, 2000; Hothersall, 2004; Engler, 2009). As such, it can be said that the psychometric approach for understanding personality and human intelligence is useful as it enables psychological researchers to quantitatively measure intelligence and personality in a scientific manner. Furthermore, such an approach allows for individuals be to placed in categories based on definable characteristics, which better allows psychological research on different subjects, as participants of psychological research can be more easily assigned to different groups or conditions. Thus, the psychometric approach for
This is because it gives the analysis a more statistical power. In a qualitative research there don't need to be a large number of people, a small group or even a single participant can give good results. Another difference is that qualitative researches are more subjective than quantitative researches, small groups of people are asked a number of questions and the researcher explores and probes into these questions. Quantitative research studies test theory while qualitative researches develop theory. Qualitative research generates rich, detailed and valid data that contribute to in depth understanding of the context, quantitative researches generate reliable population based and generalised data.
Evaluate some of the research methods used in psychology In order to gather the research and finding there are a number of ways in collection data, three type to use. Laboratory method, field experiment then the natural or quasi experimental method this comes under experimental method next is the non-experimental method which consists of observation, survey method, case study method, interviews, ethnogeny, archival research and simulation and role play. Finally correlation a measurement of a relationship between two variables, the variables are controlled by the group not the experimenter, a correlation can be either positive were both variable increases and negative were one variable increases and the other decreases, in both cases this how there a link or relationship not how one variable affect another. Surveys can be used for researched this is when a questionnaire is given out to a sample of the population ,the questions used can be closed ended either yes or no which gives limited information but is the best answers for quantitative data which is all about facts and figures that’s represented in graphs and statistics, while opened ended question gives people the chance to put more of their opinions e.g. it was interesting, these question support qualitative data while is about words this gives a broader view but harder to represent in graphs.
University of Essex Department of Psychology Discovering Psychology: The science Behind Human Behaviour Discuss the value of the true experiment in psychology 1301109 24/10/2013 979 “A true experimental design as the most accurate form of experimental research, in that it tries to prove or disprove a hypothesis mathematically, with statistical analysis” Shuttleworth (2008). This means that an experimental design basically tries to see how accurate an hypothesis is through statistical analysis. So, for an experiment to be classed as a true experimental design, the sample groups must be assigned randomly, in which there must be a viable control group, only one variable can be manipulated and tested i.e. It is possible to test more than one, but such experiments and their statistical analysis tend to be large and difficult and the tested subjects must be randomly assigned to either control or experimental groups. Therefore, in a true experiment subjects are randomly assigned to the levels of the independent variable.
There are a wide range of quantitative sources for example questionnaires, structured interviews, experiments and official statistics. Positivists favour the laboratory experiment because it reaches their goal of reliability. It lets the researcher recognize and assess behaviours quantitatively to control variables to create cause and effect relationships. Also, they know that they have control of the conditions in the experiment and they produce reliable data that means that future researchers can do the same experiment and get the same results as the first person that did the experiments. Positivists realise that there are some downfalls with using laboratory experiments and resort to the comparative method as they’re samples are usually quite small scale so the results may not be
Ricky Taylor The Four Goals of Psychology is based on its findings from scientific research and critical thinking. Information is obtained from direct observations and measurements, making it an ideal way to learn more about behavior. Most people don't know why psychology is so widely studied. There is a lot more to it than identifying a specific type of behavior strictly by looking at the classic symptoms. There are four main goals: to describe, explain, predict and change behavior and mental processes through the use of scientific methods.
This process was also used to weed out fraudulent claims or false evidence. This, perceived through the concept of “unpacking the centre”, allows the trusted reviewers to have significant control over what becomes knowledge and power. Scientific knowledge includes language, images and things because they
Theories in Natural science are constructed to explain, predict, and master phenomena. They must be empirically testable or lead to retro dictions that are testable. This is extensively know as the scientific method. The scientific method is one reason is that we put our confidence in scientists. To yield and to develop their theories and conclusions.
Theories beginning with processing of low-level features are known as bottom-up theories, which are mainly data driven theories. Not all theorists focus on the sensory data of perpetual stimulus, however, many theorists fancy top-down theories, which are determined by a high level cognitive process, on hand knowledge and previous expectations that control perception. Expectations are vital. When people anticipate seeing something, they may see it even if it is not there or is no longer there. For instance, when a person expects to see another in a certain place, they may think that they are seeing them even if they are seeing someone else who looks vaguely similar.