Someresearch methods in psychologyinvolve having participants perform tasks in a lab.

For example, imagine that researchers want to learn more about the connection between sleep and memory.

They might conduct an experiment to see if getting more sleep improves memory.

Experiments on causal relationshipsinvestigate the effect of one or more variables on one or more outcome variables.

This pop in of research also determines if one variable causes another variable to occur or change.

Descriptive Research

Descriptive research does exactly what the name impliesit describes.

This throw in of research seeks to show whatalreadyexists in a group or population.

It often utilizes strategies like observations and interviews,

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Consider a study examining the ratio of men and women selecting either classical or jazz music.

Here, the correlational study is exploring the link between gender and musical preference.

Before a study begins, researchers need a clear idea of exactly what they are investigating.

People often confuse the termstheoryandhypothesisor are not quite sure of the distinctions between the two concepts.

Atheoryis a well-established principle that has been developed to explain some aspects of the natural world.

Cross-Sectional Psychology Research

Cross-sectional researchtakes place at a single point in time.

In this design, all tests, measures, or variables are administered to participants on one occasion.

The effects of aging are often investigated using longitudinal research.

One of the most important distinctions to make when discussing the relationship between variables is the meaning of causation.

A causal relationship is when one variablecausesa change in another variable.

Acorrelationis the measurement of the relationship between two variables.

These variables already occur in the group or population and are not controlled by the experimenter.

Acorrelationsimply indicates that there is a relationship between the two variables.

The most important concept is thatcorrelation does not equal causation.

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