Psychology Concepts - Research Paper Example

Similar to many other areas, psychology as a science implies a wide range of research concepts, which constitute the carcass of research. Psychology as a research area is aimed at describing and explaining an individual’s behaviors, intentions, motivations, and various mental processes (Cherry). To achieve certain results, which will be both of theoretical and practical use, and answer questions about motivation and deviations in human mental processes and behaviors, psychologists conduct a variety of studies, applying the peculiar scientific approach and deploying a range of research concepts.

In psychology, the carcass of concepts may include such concepts as a case study, observation, levels of measurement, sample (which implies certain groups of people participating in the study), variables, and hypotheses (the concepts typical for studies in many areas), central tendency, interviews, and others (Gavin). Some of the concepts are rather general and are applied in different research areas, while some of them are used specifically in psychology. Research concepts form the scientific method applied in psychological studies: psychologists typically form a hypothesis based on certain phenomena of human behavior and manifestations of mental processes and move on to testing it in a chosen way (most often empirical data is to be collected because psychological studies do not focus on abstract and uncertain phenomena and objects, they deal with completely concrete and real phenomena).

According to Haig (2008), research – particularly in psychology – is conducted in the following way: “guided by evolving research problems comprised of packages of empirical, conceptual, and methodological constraints, sets of data are analyzed to detect robust empirical regularities or phenomena”. In other words, to answer a specific scientific question, the psychologist identifies the problem, develops a hypothesis, defines variables to be used for measurement, designs a relevant experiment, and conducts it using control and experimental sample groups.

Then, collected data – either quantitative or qualitative – is analyzed and evaluated suitably, and results are converted into conclusions. Thus, the hypothesis is either supported or refuted. It should be mentioned that – as far as psychological research is about observation and analysis of human behaviors and mental processes – many studies involve testing (surveys and questionnaires) as the form of data collection. The way the survey is designed makes it rather reliable in the data collection process because the questionnaire contains various types of questions and is completely non-biased. The respondent is expected to answer several questions aimed at evaluating his/her perception of the world; moreover, questions are presented in various forms – free-answer questions, graphic questions, measuring scales, and closed questions.

Thereby, it is clear that the questionnaire is designed to measure an individual’s view of the world in several ways, collecting both qualitative and quantitative data (many questions imply a measuring scale intended to indicate the respondent’s attitude to the statement). Moreover, the introduction to the test indicates thoroughness and validity in terms of ethics, because the survey is completely anonymous and approved by the ethics committee. In conclusion, I would suppose that this test is an adequate way of data collection and a classical part of the scientific method applied in psychology.