Psychologists use scientific methods for studying different behaviors, cognitive processes etc.

Before the twentieth century, science largely used the principles of induction - making discoveries about
the world through accurate observations, and formulating theories based on the regularities observed.

For eg: Piaget developed his theory of cognitive development based on observations of his children.

This view was modified and logical positivism was introduced. Logical positivism, also called logical
empiricism was a philosophical movement that arose in Vienna in the 1920s.It stated that scientists
should use deduction to make specific predictions on the basis of general theories principles. If the
prediction comes true, the theory is correct. However, this view was opposed by Popper who said that a
scientific theory should be falsifiable. According to him, if a hypothesis passes a number of tests, one
cannot be sure that it’ll pass all future tests. So the hypothesis can never be accepted 100%. To
overcome this, he suggested that scientists make a hypothesis and prove that it is not correct. For
example, even if you observe a million black crows, you cannot prove the hypothesis that ‘all crows are
black’. But if you find even one white crow which is not black, you can reject the hypothesis.

COMPONENTS OF SCIENTIFIC METHOD

 Accuracy- a commitment to gathering and evaluating information about the world in a careful,
precise and error-free manner as possible.
 Objectivity- a commitment to obtaining and evaluating such information in a manner as free
from bias as humanly possible.
 over and over again, preferably by many different scientists.
 Open-mindedness- A commitment to changing one’s views-even views that are strongly held-in
the face of evidence that these views are inaccurate.
 Predictability- A commitment that future events can be predicted.

RESEARCH

Kerlinger (1973) defined research as a systematic, controlled, empirical and critical investigation of
hypothetical propositions about the presumed relations among natural phenomena.

Research is a systematized effort to gain new knowledge (Redman & Mary, n.d)

CHARACTERISTICS OF RESEARCH

 Systematic
it implies that procedure adopted to undertake an investigation follow a certain logical sequence.
The different steps cannot be taken in a haphazard way. Some procedure must follow others.

 Controlled
 The concept of control implies that in exploring the causality in relation to two variables, we set
up our study in a way that minimizes the effect of other factors affecting the relationship.
 Rigorous
One must be careful in ensuring that the procedures followed to find answers to question are
relevant, appropriate and justified.
 Valid and verifiable
Implies that whatever we conclude on the basis of our findings is correct and can be verified by
others.
 Empirical
any conclusion drawn are based upon hard evidence gathered from information
collected from real life experiences or observation.

 Critical
The process adopted and procedures used must be able to withstand critical scrutiny.

METHODS AND METHODOLOGY

Methodology determines how the researcher thinks about a study, how they make decisions about a
study and how they position themselves to engage firstly with the participants and then with the data
generated or collected. Writing a research question comes before choosing methodology.
Methods include choice and recruitment of participants or sampling, data collection, fieldwork, data
recording, data analysis and the reporting of study. Choosing a methodology is strongly linked to the
desired outcome of the study.
OBSERVATION
In observation, information is sought by investigator’s own direct observation.
Types of observation:
Covert v/s overt: how far is the observation revealed to those who are observed?
Non-participant v/s participant: how far does the observer have to go to become an active part of the
observed field?
Systematic v/s unsystematic or standardized v/s flexible: how far observation involves utilizing codes
and a strict observational schedule or not?

Phases of observation:
Authors such as Adler and Adler(1998), Denzin(1989), and Spradley (1980) name the following phases
of such an observation:
 The selection of a setting (i.e., where and when the interesting processes and persons can be
observed)
 The definition of what is to be documented in the observation and in every case
 The training of observers in order to standardize such focuses
  Descriptive observations that provide an initial, general presentation of the field
 Focused observations that concentrate on aspects that are relevant to the research questions
 Selective observations that are intended to purposively grasp central aspects
 The end of observation, when theoretical saturation has been reached, which means that further
observations do not provide any further knowledge.

Participant observation:
A field strategy that simultaneously combines document analysis, interviewing of respondents
and informants, direct participation and observation and introspection. Eg: spending few months
in a hospital with patients suffering from a particular illness.

Spradley distinguishes three phases of participant observation:

1. Descriptive observation: At the beginning, serves to provide the researcher with an
orientation to the field under study. It provides nonspecific descriptions and is used to grasp
the complexity of the field as far as possible and to develop (at the same time ) more
concrete research questions and lines of vision
2. Focused observation: narrows your perspective on those processes and problems, which are
most essential for the research questions
3. Selective observation: towards the end of the data collection, is focused on finding further
evidence and examples for the types of practices and processes found in second step.

Types of participant observation:

o Complete Participant : either be genuine participant in what the researcher is studying or
pretend to be a genuine participant. People will see him/her only as a participant not as a
researcher.
o Participant-as-observer: researcher would participate fully with the group under study
but would make it clear that he or she is also undertaking a research.
o Observer -as-participant: identifies herself/himself as a researcher and interacts with the
participants without actually pretending to be a participant.
o Complete observer: observes a social process without becoming a part of it in any way.

INTERVIEW
Is used to gather information regarding the interviewee’s experience and knowledge, his or her
opinions, beliefs and feelings as well as demographic data. Interview questions can be asked so as to
determine past or current information as well as predictions for the future. Interviewing can be
structured, unstructured or semi-structured.
1)Structured: is one where respondents is asked a series of pre-established questions with preset
response categories. The series of questions asked in the interview is usually called an interview
schedule. In this method, flexibility and variability is minimized.
2)Unstructured: precise questions and their order is not fixed. They are allowed to develop as a result of
conversation within the respondent. The traditional type of unstructured interview is non-standardized,
open-ended, in-depth interview, sometimes called an ethnographic interview.
According to Fontana and Frey. There are seven important aspects of unstructured interview: accessing
the setting, understanding the culture and language of respondents, deciding on how to present oneself,
locating an informant, gaining trust, establishing good rapport and collecting empirical materials.
3)Semi-structured interview: relies on asking questions within a predetermined thematic framework.
However, the questions are not set in order or in phrasing.
Semi-structured interviews are a mix of structured and unstructured interview. While a few questions
are predetermined, the others aren’t planned.

Group interview: researcher works with several people simultaneously, such an interview is also known
as focus group interview. The role of the interviewer or researcher changes in a group interview,
functioning more as a moderator/facilitator and less as an interviewer. Here the process will be putting
questions and answers in an alternate way rather than the researcher will be facilitating, moderating,
monitoring and recoding group interaction. This group interaction is directed by questions and topics
supplied by the researcher.

SURVEY
A survey consists of asking a relatively large number of people for information.
Survey design
In survey, there are three major areas of decision making necessary before initiating contact with the
respondents. These are the sample, mode of questioning and the questions themselves.
The survey places particular emphasis on the sample, since the aim very often is to make
generalizations about a relatively large section of the population. If the coverage is the whole population
then the survey is known as Census. Survey work include 2 sample types: panels and focus group.
Panels are specially selected group of people who can be asked for information on a repetitive basis.
They are much used by market researchers, government survey units.
Focus group- the idea of a focus group is to bring together group of individuals with a common interest,
who meet to discuss an issue in a collective interview.
The mode of survey relates to the way in the questionnaire (or other survey instrument) is completed
and the degree of interviewer involvement. The primary distinction in terms of mode is between
whether the questionnaire is administered by an interviewer or is completed by the respondent
themselves. Whether a survey is interviewer administered or self-completion has a strong impact on
response rate, the quality and quantity of data that can be obtained and the overall cost of the survey.
Electronic survey
There is an increasing use of E-mail and internet to conduct survey studies. A criticism raised about
internet surveys has been that the sample gathered may be severely skewed in terms of representing the
general population.

CASE STUDY
The basic case study entails the detailed and intensive analysis of a single case.
Eg: The Man who mistook his wife for a hat provides case studies of people with neurological disorder.
Robert Stake (2000) has identified three types of case study:
1.The intrinsic case study:
in this, no attempt is made to generalize beyond the single case or even to build theories. Study of a case
(eg. Person, occupation ,specific group ,department) where the case itself is of primary interest in the
exploration.
2.The instrumental case study:
In this, main aim is to provide insight into an issue or to revise a generalization.

3.The collective case study:

Here, number of cases are studied in order to investigate some general phenomenon.

Types of case:
1.The critical case:
Here the researcher has a well developed theory, and a case is chosen on grounds that it’ll allow a better
understanding of the circumstances in which the hypothesis will and will not hold. Eg: A vet with an
incredibly severe case of PTSD could be studied to find ways to treat his condition.
2) The unique or extreme case:
Is a common focus in clinical studies. Margaret Mead’s (1928)well-known study of Growing up in
Samoa.
4)The representative or typical case(or exemplifying)
Here the objective is capture the circumstances an conditions of an everyday or commonplace situation.
Thus, a case may be chosen because it exemplifies a broader category of which it is a member. Eg:
Russell and Tyler’s (2002) study of one store in the Girl Heaven UK chain of retail stores.
5)The revelatory case:
Is when an investigator has an opportunity to observe and analyse a phenomenon previously
inaccessible to scientific investigation. Eg: Whyte’s study of Cornerville(1955), and Liebow’s research
on unemployed blacks (1967).

CONTENT ANALYSIS
A classical procedure for analysing textual material of any origin, from media products to interview
data. This method is based on using categories derived from theoretical models. Content analysis aims
at classifying the content of texts by allocating statements, sentences or words to a system of categories.

Quantitative content analysis

The methodological core of content analysis is the category system used to classify the materials under
study. The allocation of a passage in the text to a category is described as coding.
Quantitative content analysis is focussed on counting and measuring. Example: To research the
importance of employment issues in political campaigns, one could analyse campaign speeches for the
frequency of terms such as unemployment, jobs and work and use statistical analysis to find differences
over time or between candidates.
Analytic strategies:
Simple frequency analysis: this involves asking how often certain concepts are mentioned in the texts
that the researcher analyse. This method is used to infer the medial presence of a topic in the
newspapers.
Contingency analysis: is interested in which other concepts appear at the same time- for eg: how often is
‘health fund’ mentioned together with ‘costs’?

Steps in quantitative research:

1.Researcher decides which texts are relevant for the purpose of their study.
2.Draw a sample from the text before defining the counting unit (all or certain words, groups of words,
sentences, complete articles, headline etc)
3.From the research questions and from its theoretical background, the researcher then derives a system
of categories. These should be a) mutually exclusive(clearly distinguishable), b)exhaustive, c)precise,
d)based on discrete dimensions and e)independent of each other.

Qualitative content analysis

Is focussed on interpreting and understanding. Eg: to gain a more qualitative understanding of
employment issues in political campaigns, one could locate the word ‘unemployment’, in speeches,
identify what other words or phrases appear next to it (such as economy, inequality or laziness) and
analyse the meanings of these relationships to better understand the intentions and targets of different
campaigns.
The concrete methodological procedure involves three techniques. In summarizing
content analysis, you’ll paraphrase the material so that you can skip less relevant passages and
paraphrases with same meaning (1st reduction) and bundle and summarize similar paraphrase (2nd
reduction).
Explicative content analysis : clarifies diffuse, ambiguous or contradictory passages by involving
contextual material in the analysis. Definition taken from dictionaries or based on the grammar are used
or formulated. Narrow context analysis picks up additional statements from the text in order to explicate
the passages to be analysed, whereas wide context analysis seeks information outside the text (about the
author, the generative situations, from theories). On this basis, an explicating paraphrase is formulated
and tested.
Structuring content analysis:
The objective of the analysis is to filter out particular aspects of the material, to give a cross-section
through the material according to predetermined ordering criteria or to assess the material according to
certain criteria.