Optimal Design in Psychological Research - Essay Example

 Optimal Design in Psychological Research McClelland (1997) s that because of increasing costs related to inefficient research designs, there is more pressure on psychologists to use designs that are more efficient, as well as analytical techniques that are more powerful. In this case, it is proposed that psychologists use some heuristic design principles to enhance design efficiency, as well as answer the specific questions that psychologists want to investigate. Indeed, it is noted that some popular research designs that allocate observations equally and possess numerous factor levels are not efficient in terms of answering the particular questions posed in the research study, while random sampling and subsequent happenstance allocations exacerbate this inefficiency (McClelland, 1997).

Therefore, designing optimal research design is expected to enable psychologists conduct research consisting of many complex questions. From this article, it is clear that the quality of experimental research studies is significantly dependent on the research design, and that this design must be specified prior to collection of data. This is because happenstance or random allocation, such as those that result from research surveys, can be deleterious in detecting interactions; which is essential in psychological research (McClelland, 1997).

Beyond this, it can also be added that all psychological studies stand to benefit substantially from optimizing their research design especially in terms of reducing the effort expended in the experimental aspect of the study. Failure to optimize research design will portend several disadvantages for the psychologist, including reduced statistical capacity to detect the most interesting effects, as well as escalating subject costs so as to compensate for the inefficiencies inherent within the research design.

The article rightly notes the unacceptability of these situations in modern psychological research (McClelland, 1997). Reference McClelland, G. H. (1997). Optimal design in psychological research. Psychological Methods, 2(1), 3-19