Humanities Homework Help

Introduction to Psychology Research Methods

Purpose
Psychology is a social science that aims to understand the mind and behavior. To gain knowledge in the field, psychologists and researchers use a variety of research methods. These research methods have specific strengths and limitations and can only be used to address specific research problems. Additionally, while using human and animal subjects, it is important to protect the participants against physical and psychological harm. There are several agencies that have posed guidelines for ethical procedures while conducting research. Among various institutions, American Psychological Association (APA) has a set of guidelines that researchers must follow; the Institutional Review Board ensures that researchers have followed the guidelines. The purpose of this assignment is to assess your understanding of the various research methods and the ethical guidelines for conducting research and be able to apply these appropriately.

Objectives
Upon completion of this assignment, you will be able to:

1. Identify the various research methods used to gain knowledge in psychology.
2. Analyze the strengths and limitations of the research methods.
3. List the APA guidelines for conducting research ethically.
4. Evaluate the ethics involved in two famous psychological experiments.

Directions

Make sure you fully answer the 4 questions below in complete sentences. Please respond to these on a word document and upload your completed assignment.

1. Fill out the table below (the first one provides an example of what you have been asked to do).

Research Method	Description	Strengths	Weaknesses/ Limitations	One hypothesis that can be addressed using this method
Case Study/ Clinical Study	In-depth analysis of one or two individuals	Allows for a lot of insight into the case	Findings cannot be generalized.	How does damage to frontal lobe change a person’s personality? Use Phineas Gage as a subject.
Naturalistic Observation
Survey/ Interview
Archival Research
Longitudinal Research
Cross Sectional Research

1. You are interested in exploring if there is a relationship between the number of hours spent studying, the number of beers consumed per week, height and G.P.A. How would you collect the data? What research method would you use to explore if there is a relationship between these variables?

1. As part of your new research on weight loss, you are interested in answering, does eating cereal really cause people to lose weight. What research method would you need to use and why?

1. What are some ways to reduce bias in your experiments?