Goals of psychological enquiry
- Description: clearly state what the behaviour is and measure it. Example: "How long do teenagers use phones each day?"
- Prediction: once we know how two things go together, we can forecast one from the other with some accuracy.
- Explanation: find the causes — why the behaviour happens.
- Application: use the knowledge to solve real problems and bring positive change (for example, reducing exam stress).
Steps in conducting scientific research
Scientific research is objective (anyone checking gets the same result) and systematic (follows fixed steps).
- Conceptualising a problem: pick a topic, read past research, and write a hypothesis — a testable, tentative answer, such as "more sleep leads to higher scores".
- Collecting data: decide the participants (who), the method (experiment, survey…), the tools (tests, questionnaires) and the procedure (how and when).
- Drawing conclusions: organise data with graphs and statistics and see whether the hypothesis is supported.
- Revising research conclusions: compare with existing theory; if results differ, theory is revised and new questions and hypotheses arise. The cycle repeats.
Variables
A variable is anything that can take different values (sleep hours, marks). The independent variable (IV) is the one the researcher changes; the dependent variable (DV) is the one measured to see the effect.
Alternative paradigms of research
A paradigm is a way of looking at and doing research.
- Scientific (positivist) paradigm: the world can be measured objectively; uses numbers, experiments and statistics; aims at general laws.
- Interpretive (qualitative) paradigm: each person's experience is unique; the researcher tries to understand meanings through interviews and stories, for example how survivors of a flood feel and cope.
Both are useful; many studies now combine them.
Nature of psychological data
Data are the facts collected in research. They can be:
- Demographic: name, age, gender, education, family, religion, income.
- Physical: about the surroundings — room size, noise, crowding, housing.
- Physiological: heart rate, blood pressure, sleep, brain activity, fatigue.
- Psychological: intelligence, personality, attitudes, emotions, values.
Important features
- Data are not independent of context: time, place and setting affect them.
- Data depend on the characteristics of the people giving them (age, culture, mood).
- Data do not speak for themselves: they must be interpreted carefully.
Try it: plan a mini study
Pick a question from the 3D free-play step. Write the IV, the DV and a hypothesis. Then write how you would collect data from 10 classmates, and what result would support your hypothesis.
Key formulas and definitions
- Goals: Description → Prediction → Explanation → Application
- Steps: Conceptualise problem → Collect data → Draw conclusions → Revise
- Hypothesis = testable, tentative statement about a relation between variables
- IV = changed by researcher; DV = measured effect
- Data types: demographic, physical, physiological, psychological
Worked examples
1. A study asks "Does playing mobile games before bed reduce sleep?" Identify the IV, DV and a hypothesis.
IV: playing mobile games before bed (yes / no). DV: hours of sleep. Hypothesis: students who play mobile games before bed sleep fewer hours than those who do not.
2. Classify the data: (a) heart rate during a test, (b) age of students, (c) noise in the classroom, (d) score on an anxiety scale.
(a) Physiological, (b) demographic, (c) physical, (d) psychological.
3. Which goal is shown? "After finding that noise hurts reading, a school moves the library away from the road."
Application: knowledge is used to make a positive change.
4. A researcher finds results that do not fit an old theory. What should happen next?
Step 4, revising conclusions: the theory is re-examined or changed, and a new hypothesis is tested. This keeps science self-correcting.
Common mistakes
- Writing a hypothesis as a question. It is a statement that can be tested.
- Mixing up IV and DV. IV is changed; DV is measured.
- Thinking research ends at conclusions. Revising theory is the fourth step.
- Believing psychological data are the same everywhere. They depend on context and the people studied.