Chapter 1

Why Do Research in Psychology?

In This Chapter

Finding out what research is and why psychologists do it

Discovering the various stages of a research study

Understanding the different research methods used to gather information

In this chapter, we introduce you to the main research methods, designs and components that you encounter during your psychology course, and we signpost you to relevant chapters in this book where you can find more information - and discover how to become a research methods maestro (or at least pass the course!).

What Is Research?

Research is a systematic way of collecting information (or data) to test a hypothesis.

A hypothesis is just a testable (or falsifiable) statement. For example, a good hypothesis is that 'you see a statistically significant difference in self-esteem mean scores between male and female psychology students'. A poor hypothesis is hard to test (or falsify) - for example, 'gender differences in self-esteem develop in the womb for some individuals'. How can you possibly collect data to refute this statement?

No single research study sets out to conclusively 'prove' a hypothesis. Over time, research studies generate, test, refine and retest hypotheses, and build up a body of knowledge and evidence. Research is more of a process than a single thing.

You need to have the skills to conduct your own research study, but you also need to be able to review and critically evaluate existing research studies.

Why Do Psychologists Need to Do Research?

We could tell you that you do research in your psychology course because it's fun, because you can discover something new that no-one else has found and because you develop insights into fascinating areas of the discipline and develop many transferable skills along the way too - but we're biased, and you probably won't believe us.

Instead, we'll tell you that psychologists do research for two main reasons. The first is to expand the knowledge base of the discipline and to explain psychological phenomenon. The second is to apply this new-found knowledge and use it to help individuals and society. Generating a reliable evidence base allows psychologists to describe and explain behaviour, establish cause-and-effect relationships and predict outcomes. Applying research findings can help policy-makers, clinicians and individuals.

Consider a clinical psychologist who meets a client suffering from depression for the first time and wants to recommend a course of therapy:

• How do they know that 'depression' as a construct actually exists?
• How do they know that the questionnaire or interview used to assess depression actually measures it?
• How do they know that an intervention to reduce depression actually works?
• How do they know if one intervention is better than another?
• How do they know the possible causes of the depression?

The answer to all of these questions is the same: research.

Doing Psychological Research

Carrying out a research project can be a complex process. Consider these stages you have to go through (no skipping any of them!):

• First you have to have a comprehensive and viable plan that involves coming up with an idea and developing a research proposal.
• You have to decide if you want to measure and quantify the things you are interested in (quantitative research) or collect information on people's experiences and opinions using their own words (qualitative research).
• You then have to choose a research design that is most appropriate for your proposed project.
• Finally, you have to disseminate your research findings through a written report, a research poster or an oral/verbal presentation.

The stages of a research project are not always separate and distinct. You may have to tackle the question of quantitative vs. qualitative research at the same time you're weighing different research designs. As you read through the book, you see that there may be overlap between stages.

The following sections outline each of these stages and point you to the relevant chapters of the book to help you complete a successful research project.

Planning research

When we task students with conducting and writing up a research study, they're often keen to begin and see the planning stage as a frustrating delay. However, it's impossible to carry out a good research study without good planning - and this takes time.

First, you need to identify your idea. To do this, you review the literature in the area you're interested in. A good literature review demonstrates to your supervisor that you're aware of existing published research in the area and that you're familiar with its strengths and weaknesses. It ensures that your proposed study hasn't been done before. It may also inform you of ways that you can improve your research idea (for example, by using a novel methodology or including a related variable that you haven't yet considered).

Conducting a comprehensive literature review takes time. Don't underestimate how much time you need to explore electronic search engines to find relevant sources, track down these sources and write up your literature review. You find plenty of information on how to conduct a literature review in Chapter 16.

When you've settled on a research idea and defined your research question, you need to draft your research proposal. This document outlines the research that you intend to do and why you intend to do it. You need to submit your research proposal in order to obtain ethical permission to carry out your study (Chapter 3 covers research ethics and how to apply for ethical approval).

Your proposal should comprise two sections:

• An introduction containing your literature review and your research questions or hypotheses.
• A well-defined research protocol, which is a detailed plan of your design and methodology (we look at research designs in more detail in the later section, 'Choosing a research design'). Your protocol clearly states what you intend to do and how it addresses your research questions or hypotheses. You include details of how you intend to analyse your data and a timetable specifying how long each stage of the research process takes.

Chapter 18 guides you step by step through the process of developing a solid research proposal.

A good research proposal helps you (the researcher) and your supervisor establish whether your project is feasible - that is, if your research project is practical, realistic and possible to carry out. You may have a brilliant idea for a research project (and we're confident that you do!), but can it be completed on time, with the resources you have available, with the participants you have access to and in an ethical manner?

When you're writing your research proposal, you need to specify the sample size that you intend to recruit. Calculating the required sample size is essential at this stage. It impacts the time and resources that you require for your study. Also, if you can't achieve the required sample size, you're unable to detect statistically significant effects in the data - which may mean that you reach the wrong conclusions. Chapter 17 discusses sample size calculations in more detail and covers how to calculate the required sample size for your research proposal.

Deciding between quantitative and qualitative research

A lot of research in psychology attempts to quantify psychological constructs by giving a number to them - for example, the level of depression or an IQ score. This is known as quantitative research.

Quantitative research normally uses statistics to analyse numerical data. If you need help analysing this type of data, we recommend you consult a statistics book such as Psychology Statistics For Dummies (authored by us and published by Wiley).

Qualitative research is an umbrella term used to signify that the data you collect is in words, not numbers. It focuses on gaining detailed information about people's experiences, often at the expense of representativeness and internal validity.

You normally collect qualitative data during face-to-face interactions - for example, by conducting a semi-structured interview. You can also collect data using focus groups, existing transcripts, social media or many other novel sources.

The information you obtain through qualitative research is based on the interaction between you (as the researcher) and the participant. Your assumptions and biases can and will affect the data you collect. You must acknowledge this influence and reflect upon the impacts of this in any qualitative study.

Qualitative research uses different sets of guidelines from quantitative research. It often requires smaller sample sizes, employs different sampling techniques and differs in how you interpret and analyse data. We explore qualitative research in detail in Part IV: we share guidelines for conducting qualitative research in Chapter 10, we offer advice on analysing qualitative data in Chapter 11 and we examine some different theoretical approaches and...