Conducting your first psychology experiment can be a long, complicated, and sometimes intimidating process.
It can be especially confusing if you are not quite sure where to begin or which steps to take.
Like other sciences, psychology utilizes thescientific methodand bases conclusions upon empirical evidence.
William Taufic / Getty Images
But the process doesn’t end there!
After all, there are so many different topics you might choose to investigate.
Are you stuck for an idea?
Review Psychology Literature
Published studies are a great source of unanswered research questions.
In many cases, the authors will even note the need for further research.
Think About Everyday Problems
There are many practical applications for psychology research.
For example, you might investigate different memorization strategies to determine which methods are most effective.
Define Your Variables
Variablesare anything that might impact the outcome of your study.
In this example, you might define sleep deprivation as getting less than seven hours of sleep at night.
You might define driving performance as how well a participant does on a driving test.
What is the purpose of operationally defining variables?
The main purpose is control.
The null hypothesis is the prediction that one variable will have no association to the other variable.
The null hypothesis is assumed to be valid unless contradicted by the results.
The experimenters can eitherrejectthe null hypothesis in favor of the alternative hypothesis ornot rejectthe null hypothesis.
It is important to remember thatnot rejectingthe null hypothesis does not mean that you areacceptingthe null hypothesis.
This represents a logical fallacy that should be avoided in scientific research.
What do researchers already know about your topic?
What questions remain unanswered?
Reading previous research helps you gain a better understanding of what you will encounter when conducting an experiment.
Understanding the background of your topic provides a better basis for your own hypothesis.
After conducting a thorough review of the literature, you might choose to alter your own hypothesis.
This information will be valuable when you begin to write up your experiment results.
There are three basic types of designs that you might utilize.
Each participant in each group must receive the same treatment under the same conditions.
When choosing subjects, there are some different techniques you’ve got the option to use.
Simple Random Sample
In a simple random sample, the participants arerandomly selectedfrom a group.
A simple random sample can be used to represent the entire population from which the representative sample is drawn.
Stratified Random Sample
Participants must be randomly selected from different subsets of the population.
These subsets might include characteristics such as geographic location, age, sex, race, or socioeconomic status.
Stratified random samples are more complex to carry out.
Before doing any testing, however, there are a few important concerns that need to be addressed.
Address Ethical Concerns
First, it’s crucial that you be sure that yourtesting procedures are ethical.
The form also gives participants the option to withdraw from the study at any point in time.
Once this step has been completed, you might begin administering your testing procedures and collecting the data.
Statistical significance means that the study’s results are unlikely to have occurred simply by chance.
If you are using a random sample of a larger population, you will need to utilize inferential statistics.
These statistical methods make inferences about how the results relate to the population at large.
Other methods include sharing results at conferences, in book chapters, or academic presentations.
NOAA SciJinks.What is the scientific method?.
Nestor, PG, Schutt, RK.Research Methods in Psychology.
2023;15(1):e33374.
doi:10.7759/cureus.33374
Colby College.The Experimental Method.
2019;74:e1403.
2020;283:112452. doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2019.06.027
Nijhawan LP, Manthan D, Muddukrishna BS, et.
al.Informed consent: Issues and challenges.J Adv Pharm Technol Rese.
Washington DC: The American Psychological Association; 2019.
