Role of Research and Statistics in Psychology

968 Words4 Pages
Role of Research and Statistics in Psychology PSY/315 June 18, 2012 Role of Research and Statistics in Psychology Research and statistics both play a role in the field of psychology. Psychologists conduct research in order to find the answers to specific problems and then use statistics to track their findings and often report those findings to their peers. There are programs to help compile the numbers that they come up with in their study but psychologists must first fully understand what research is and how to conduct a scientific study to get to those numbers. They must also fully understand primary and secondary data and the role that statistics plays in their research. Research and the Scientific Method The University of Idaho (2012) website defines research as “a detailed study of a subject, especially in order to discover (new) information or reach a (new) understanding.” Another definition from The Department of Health and Human Services regulation is “a systematic investigation, including research development, testing and evaluation, designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge” (Steven Hirschfeld, n.d., slide 3). One way to conduct a detailed study or systematic investigation is to use the scientific method which according to Cowens, J. (2006) is “simple, logical and straightforward.” The scientific method has five steps with the first one being choosing a problem. This is a question a person has about how or why something works or happens. The next step is to develop a hypothesis which means to make a guess about why or how the problem works or happens. The third step is where the hypothesis is tested; this is done by conducting experiments. The next step is recording the observations or outcomes of the experiments. The fifth and final step is making a conclusion from the results of the experiments. Sometimes

More about Role of Research and Statistics in Psychology

Open Document