The Scientific Method
The scientific method is what gives psychologists credibility when treating, assessing, and predicting behavior. In fact, the entire goal of psychology is that, after studying behavior systematically, psychologists can apply their newly learned knowledge to real-world situations and assist humans in living better lives. The six steps in reviewing the scientific method that allows psychologists to study human behavior are as follows:
• Observing (which we do all the time).
• Defining a problem that we perceive from our observations.
• Proposing a hypothesis (or an educated guess about why the problem exists).
• Gathering evidence to test our hypotheses.
• Publishing the results of our research.
• Developing theories about behavior.
The toughest challenge occurs when we are ready to collect the data. You cannot just go out and talk to people and draw conclusions.
To be the most effective, psychologists employ approaches such as case studies, surveys, correlations, and experiments. Suppose you do not have time to collect the data yourself, or you do not know how. The best research is already published in scholarly psychology journals. Educators, legislators, parents, and employers all have access to this research to develop interventions and action plans for dealing with specific problems and issues.
Quantitative Research
Quantitative research identifies a specific substantive issue to investigate within a scholarly body of science; describes and analyzes accepted or logical theoretical frameworks for understanding those issues; and devises an analytical approach for examining a part of the problem that has not yet been examined in the literature.
Quantitative research designs comprise two areas: experimental designs and non-experimental designs. Experimental designs focus on causality and effect in manipulation of variables through procedures such as random assignment, whereas non-experimental designs involve observation and measurement of existing phenomena (rather than through manipulating events or circumstances).
According to Hopkins (2000), "Quantitative research is all about quantifying relationships between variables. Variables are things such as weight, performance, time, and treatment. You measure variables on a sample of subjects, which can be tissues, cells, animals, or humans"