A wide range of research methods are used in psychology. These methods vary by the sources of information that are drawn on, how that information is sampled, and the types of instruments that are used in data collection. Methods also vary by whether they collect qualitative data, quantitative data or both.
Qualitative psychological research is where the research findings are not arrived at by statistical or other quantitative procedures. Quantitative psychological research is where the research findings result from mathematical modeling and statistical estimation or statistical inference. Since qualitative information can be handled as such statistically, the distinction relates to method, rather than the topic studied.
There are three main types of psychological research:
- Correlational research
- Descriptive research
- Experimental research
The following are common research designs and data collection methods:
- Archival research
- Case study
- Computer simulation (modeling)
- Content analysis
- Experiment, often with separate treatment and control groups (see scientific control and design of experiments)
- Field experiment
- Interview, can be structured or unstructured.
- Meta-analysis
- Neuroimaging and other psychophysiological methods
- Observational study, can be naturalistic (see natural experiment), participant or controlled.
- Quasi-experiment
- Self-report inventory
- Survey, often with a random sample (see survey sampling)
- Twin study
Research designs vary according to the period(s) of time over which data is collected:
- Retrospective cohort study: Subjects are chosen, then data is collected on their past experience.
- Prospective cohort study: Subjects are recruited prior to the proposed independent effects being administered or occurring.
- Cross-sectional study, in which a population sampled on all proposed measures at one point in time.
- Longitudinal study: Subjects are studied at multiple time points: May address the cohort effect and indicate causal directions of effects.
Research in psychology has been conducted with both animals and human subjects:
- Animal research
- Human subject research
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“I made a list of things I have
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but I see they are the same list.”
—Linda Pastan (b. 1932)
“Feminism is an entire world view or gestalt, not just a laundry list of women’s issues.”
—Charlotte Bunch (b. 1944)
“One of the most important findings to come out of our research is that being where you want to be is good for you. We found a very strong correlation between preferring the role you are in and well-being. The homemaker who is at home because she likes that “job,” because it meets her own desires and needs, tends to feel good about her life. The woman at work who wants to be there also rates high in well-being.”
—Grace Baruch (20th century)
“There are souls that are incurable and lost to the rest of society. Deprive them of one means of folly, they will invent ten thousand others. They will create subtler, wilder methods, methods that are absolutely DESPERATE. Nature herself is fundamentally antisocial, it is only by a usurpation of powers that the organized body of society opposes the natural inclination of humanity.”
—Antonin Artaud (1896–1948)