Scientific+Method+and+Research+Design


 * 1) Why do psychologists use scientific method to study human behavior?
 * Because intuition and common sense are often completely wrong. Intuition and common sense are limited where as the scientific method is self-correcting.
 * 1) Explain the steps a researcher would go through when using scientific method.
 * The researcher would consider a topic, develop a theory, create a hypothesis, and finally conduct research.
 * 1) What is a case study? When would it be appropriate to use? What are the pros and cons?
 * A case study involves a psychologist studying one person in great detail.
 * **It would be appropriate to use a case study:**
 * to learn things that are true of everyone.
 * to describe a rare phenomenon.
 * to provide stories that help illustrate a point.
 * **Pros & Cons**
 * Con: The case study might not be representative in some way.
 * Con: Case studies cannot be used to test theories or treatments.
 * Con: Case studies only rely on the research of one psychologist.
 * Pro: A case study may allow for future research to be conducted.
 * Pro: A psychologist can learn a lot of information from studying one subject.
 * Pro: Case study can provide clear and concrete examples of psychological phenomenons.
 * 1) What is a survey? When would it be appropriate to use? What are the pros and cons?
 * A survey asks people to provide their opinion about a variety of different topics, or to report their own actual behavior.
 * **Pros & Cons**
 * Con: The survey is only accurate when they involve a random sample.
 * Con: What people say is often very different from what they do.
 * Con: Survey's provide minimal information.
 * Pro: Does not take a lot of time.
 * Pro:
 * 1) What is naturalistic observation? When would it be appropriate to use? What are the pros and cons?
 * Naturalistic observation involves watching and recording the behaviors of animals or people in their natural environment. The goal is to describe the behavior of the animal or person with his/her presence having an effect on those behaviors. Naturalistic observation can be used to explore many types of research questions.
 * **Pros & Cons**
 * Con: Very specific questions can not be answered
 * Con: The researcher needs to be as unobtrusive as possible.
 * Pro: Can research a topic first hand.
 * 1) What is laboratory observation? When would it be appropriate to use? What are the pros and cons?
 * Laboratory observation is when participants are brought into a lab and they are observed in whatever setting the researcher has created. It would be appropriate to use when the researcher wanted to create their own environment to conduct a study.
 * **Pros & Cons**
 * Pro: There is more control in this situation
 * Pro: Irrelevant variables can be controlled