Top 10 Most Used Research Methods in Psychology

According to a recent survey, 262,700 high school students applied for the AP Psychology Exam worldwide. Psychology is one of the most opted fields of study with tremendous research options. If you are also interested in field research as well, there are plenty of research methods in psychology you can practice.

Is Psychology a Good Major?

Is psychology a good major? Is it worth it or not? It’s a very valid question because students wonder what their future will be if they study psychology. Let’s take a look at the results of this survey that aimed to discover what psychology graduates are doing in their careers.

	Full-Time Employed	Half-Time Employed	Unemployed
Professional	53%	46%	1%
Doctoral	74%	26%	1%
Masters’	65%	30%	5%
Bachelors’	71%	23%	6%

Different Research Methods in Psychology

Research in psychology is mandatory. Students are more likely to submit their synopsis research papers to fulfill their degree completion requirements. Different research methods in psychology are preferable in institutions around the world. 

1- Case Study 

Case studies originated in clinical history in order to study the patient’s case. But now, it is one of the most common research methods in psychology. It helps in relating the patient’s past experience with the current mental health condition. Case studies help to study a segmented population and generalize the results to the entire population. There are six major types of case studies:

• Explanatory Case Studies: These case studies explore causes and explain the related principles and facts. It is common in qualitative analysis to discover the causes of different phenomena.
• Explanatory Case Studies: This type of case study explores situations where an explanation is needed to determine why an intervention is not producing significant outcomes. It helps identify questions and develop hypotheses. For example: studying modernism in literature and what changes it undergoes. 
• Descriptive Case Studies: This type of case study describes an intervention or phenomenon and the context of its occurrence. It illustrates topics, ideas, and research questions within an evaluation. 
• Multiple Case Studies: This type of case study involves different case studies to explore their similarities and differences. It helps most in comparing and contrasting the cases and checking their findings.
• Intrinsic: These case studies are essential for understanding a particular case. It captures the complexity of a single case.
• Collective: This is one of the common research methods in psychology.This type of case study explores a collection of studies in order to jointly study their conditions, implications, impact, and relationship between them.

For Example:

Perceptions of gender roles: a case study

Kambouri-Danos, M. and Evans, A. (2019)

This case study used a mixed-method technique to gather data from different resources. The purpose of the study was to find out how gender perceptions are planted in the minds of children, when the kids start differentiating themselves from others, and when gender stereotypes take over their minds. This is an explanatory case study.

2- Variables

One of the most popular research methods used in Psychology is to have two variables in research: independent and dependent variables. Such research studies the relationships between the two variables and how they impact each other. There are different types of variables, such as:

• Independant Variable: This variable directly affects the dependent variable and changes the experiment’s results. 
• Dependent Variable: This variable is measured and is directly affected by the independent variable and changes accordingly.
• Extraneous Variable: This variable is not independent, but it may affect the research experiment results.
• Demand Characteristics: These are a type of extraneous variable that can be used in research to behave in a certain way.

For Example:

EMPLOYEE TURNOVER: CAUSES AND RETENTION STRATEGIES

Kristina Samašonok, Vilniaus kolegija

Higher Education Institution, Saltoniškių Str. 58, Vilnius, Lithuania.

30 March 2024

This research has found different reasons for employees to leave their jobs. It has been discovered that unfavorable conditions like lack of professional growth, appropriate workload, injustice, and low salaries increase employee turnover. In this research, all the causes are the independent variables, and turnover is the dependent variable. This is one of the most common research methods in psychology. 

3- Experimental Design

This is one of the well known psychology research methods, which refers to studying different variables and the conditions that impact and control them.

1. Independant Design: This is a between-group design in which each participant is picked independently for only one group. 
2. Matched Participants Design: In such experiments, participants are selected for only one group, but the other group’s participants are matched based on some relevant factors.
3. Repeated Measures Design: In such experiments, each participant is selected for both groups, and the participants in each group are the same.

For Example:

Bullying in School: Prevalence, Contributing Factors, and Interventions Research Valerie L. Marsh, PhD. October 2018

This research paper uses the independent experiment design by picking different schools independently in order to study the pattern of bullying in general.

4- Experimental Research

This research method includes independent and dependent variables and then conducts different strategies to find the impact and implications of one on the other. There are some popular experimental research methods in psychology.

1. Lab Experiments: These experiments are conducted in a well-controlled environment to measure the findings accurately and objectively.
2. FieldExperiments: These experiments are conducted in everyday scenarios and natural environments where the conditions are not fully controlled. The independent variables can be manipulated to test their impact on the dependent variables.
3. Natural Experiment:These experiments discover the naturally occurring effects of the Independent variable on the dependent variable.

For Example:

Minimum Wages and Employment: A Case Study of the Fast-Food Industry in New Jersey and Pennsylvania

David Card and Alan. B Krueger

This study used the natural experiment approach, surveying almost 410 fast-food restaurants across New Jersey to find whether the rise in the minimum wage increased employment.

5- Correlational Studies

Correlation studies aim to determine the association of independent variables with dependent variables. In such studies, one variable is the predictor of the other. A correlation study’s primary purpose is to determine the degree of association between two variables. Three common results can be found in correlational studies.

1. Positive Correlation: This correlation shows that one variable tends to increase with an increase in the other.
2. Negative Correlation: This correlation shows that the increase in one variable caused a decrease in the other.
3. Zero Correlation: This result occurs when there is no relationship between variables variables.

For Example: 

The relationship between grades and career success

Raffy Afarian,Brian H. Kleiner

Management Research News 26(2/3/4):42-51

March 2003

This study aims to determine the correlation between grades and career success. It gathers answers from people in the workplace and finds out how many of the top scorers in school are successful and how many backbenchers are doing their best. It clarifies how both variables impact each other.

6- Interview

Interviews are one of the common research psychology methods that involves collecting responses from a certain demographic of people. There are two major types of interviews prominent in interviews:

• Structured Interview: These are formal interviews collected through structured questionnaires, and responses are recorded. The interviewer may be far from the interviewee. An editorial example and magazine interview can be good structured information.
• Unstructured Interview: These are informal and casual conversations. They are unstructured questions and general conversations that involve the interviewer being close to the interviewee and collecting responses to the subject.

For Example:

Destructive Hostility: The Jeffrey Dahmer Case: A Psychiatric and Forensic Study of a Serial Killer

Jeffery Jentzen from the Medical College of Wisconsin

George Palermo from the Medical College of Wisconsin

• Thomas Johnson From The Marquee University

Khang-Cheng Ho from the Medical College of Wisconsin

• Alan Stormo from the Medical College of Wisconsin

This detailed research paper is based on structured interviews with forensic experts to have direct insight into Jeffery Dhamer’s psychology. The researchers have also taken information from the serial killer’s interviews.

7- Survey

They are one of the common psychology research methods that involves a structured set of questions and collect responses from the targeted segment of the population. It consists of a questionnaire that collects data. The results ran in software like Eviews to understand the relationship between the variables. There are a few types of research methods in psychology for surveys:

• Mail: This survey is conducted by sending mail, such as an alumni survey might be distributed to collect answers from that demographic.
• Telephone: Telephone surveys include a set of questions that are most common in market research and collect user experience and customer responses regarding a certain product or service. 
• Online: These are the online surveys that are usually open to fill out for people on the internet. They help record customers’ experiences regarding websites, online businesses, and products. 
• At-Home Interviews: These surveys are conducted through some administration or even governmental surveys to collect information from the public. The census is a good example of such an interview survey.

For Example:

SurveyMoneky.com is a platform where millions of surveys are floated around the internet to collect responses from customers and the general public. Employers and businesses can structure their surveys and float them online to get answers and feedback from all over the world.

8- Control Group

The control group research method comprises participants who do not receive the experimental treatment. In an experiment, the people from the control group do not receive treatment, but they play an essential part in studying the other participants in the experimental group. Most experiments study variables to compare the control group and the experimental group. There are different types research methods in psychology regarding control groups:

1. Positive Control Groups: This type of control group had psychologists already know that it is effective but still requires research to study the impact on the variables. In such research, the control group will receive a known treatment, and the results will be compared to what was previously found.
2. Negative Control Group: In this control group, participants will not be given a treatment. They might not have experienced the same things as the participants in the experimental group, and they are only used to compare the results. 
3. Placebo Control Group: This type of control group is selected based on the belief that it will affect the variables. Such a group helps see the impact of the placebo effect on most clinical and psychological treatments. 
4. Randomized Control Group: These randomly selected control groups help study the impact of certain variables on the experimental group in different psychological research methods.
5. Natural Control Group: This is a naturally selected control group chosen by situational factors; for example, in a research study, students who were bullied in high school compared to those who never went to high school. The people who never went to high school are the control group.

For Example:

The effects of breakfast on behavior and academic performance in children and adolescents

Katie Adolphus, Clare L. Lawton, and Louise Dye

This research aims to find out the impact of having breakfast in the morning on the activities people perform in the day. It compared people who have breakfast with the people who don’t. In this research, the people who don’t have breakfast in the morning are the control group that is only studied in order to find the answers for the experimental group, which is people who have breakfast in the morning.

9- Observational Research

This psychology research method involves observing the participants and the research phenomenon in their most natural setting. It helps researchers to find how participants react to natural situations and occurrences. It drives findings from natural responses rather than the controlled lab research. There are different kinds of research methods in psychology regarding observational research:

1. Naturalistic Observation: In this research, the experiment and the observation are done directly in the environment where the phenomenon being studied occurs.
2. Participant Observation: This research includes observing the participants in the experiment and recording their responses to different situations. Event sampling methodology uses this approach.
3. Structured Observation: This includes research in which the participants are observed in a close laboratory under controlled conditions.

For Example:

Jane Goodall’s observational research regarding the behavioral pattern of chimpanzees and their ability to develop different skills and learn various tools. Her natural observational research is a massive discovery in the field of psychology.

10- Qualitative Research

This psychology research method helps reveal the behavior and perception of an experimental group in the light of more theoretical data. These research results are more descriptive and detailed than the quantitative research answers. There are different types of qualitative research methods:

• One-on-one interviews: In-depth interviews help observe the individual’s behavior and conversation. They also help focus on one participant at a time to determine their motivations and inspirations precisely. This approach is used in different research methods.
• Focus Groups: This includes a focused group with limited respondents that will be studied precisely. It answers questions like what, why, and how different variables impact the group. 
• Ethnographic research: This is one of the functional research methods in psychology that observes people in their natural environment and requires the researchers to adapt to the target segment’s environmental conditions. 
• Content Analysis: This is the exclusive qualitative observation process involving subjective methodologies to gather information and data to analyze differences between different observations. 
• Case study research: This includes authentic research that collects data from the targeted demographic and analyzes the responses to explain the phenomenon and answer the research question.

For Example:

Lifetime Activism, Marginality, and Psychology: Narratives of Lifelong Feminist Activists Committed to Social Change 

Anjali Dutt and Shelly Grabe

University of California, Santa Cruz

This is qualitative research that uses feminist narratives to discover the life of activism. It discusses different phenomena using theoretical concepts and observations. 

Software for Different Types of Research Methods in Psychology

Every psychology student needs to know these top three software to conduct the research methods.

1- E-Prime

E-Prime is one of the most comprehensive software programs for generating computerized experiment designs for data collection and analysis. It is easy to use and uses millisecond precision timing to ensure accuracy. It helps analyze different types of research methods in psychology.

2- Eviews

This is the most common and functional software used in different psychological research methods to run time series-oriented econometric analysis. It efficiently manages your data, organizes it, performs statistical analysis, and produces high-quality graphs, tables, and charts for publication.

3- R

R is a programming language for data visualization and statistical computing. It helps in mining and organizing data from different research methods and generates high-quality results. It’s not recommended for beginners due to its complexity, but students from high educational levels can try it. 

Get Assitance

Research methods in psychology can be challenging to follow and compile the results. If you are a beginner and unsure about the quality of your work, don’t worry. Instead, opt for our research paper writing help to incorporate accuracy, quality, and perfection in your psychology paper.

That’s All For Research Methods In Psychology

You made it to the end, and we hope you are now equipped with a vital understanding of the research methods in psychology. We have shared the methods in detail and how you can use them to conduct your research and run them in different software to obtain critical findings. You are all set to start your work, but you can always rely on us if you are stuck somewhere on your paper.