Understanding the Psychology Research Process

One of the most frequent requests I receive is for help planning, designing or researching a psychology study or experiment. Choosing a topic, selecting research methods and figuring out how to analyze the data you collect can be intimidating, especially if you have little or no background in experimental methods.

The results of psychology experiments are printed and broadcast everyday in newspapers, magazines, television programs and blogs. On a more informal level, we often make judgments about the intentions, motivations and actions of others on a daily basis. While the everyday judgments we make about human behavior are subjective and anecdotal, researchers use the scientific method to study psychology in an objective and systematic way. A large part of being an informed psychology consumer is to understand exactly how the research process works.

If you need help preparing for a research project, study or experiment, start by reading this article outlining the basic steps in psychology research.

• Intro to Psychology Research Methods
• The Simple Experiment
• Correlational Studies