Psychological research - Part 2 by @amitvegada

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It can be said that psychological research is much like any other scientific discipline in that people need to figure out how to bring their general questions about a topic into specific, measurable claims and test those claims. This is called operationalizing your questions. Basically, the scientific method starts with a question and a theory. And where I say theory, I'm not simply referring to an idea that you might think better after drinking four espresso shots. Rather, a theory is intended to explain and organize different observations and predict outcomes in science.

The hypothesis is the only testable prediction that you make. You have a hypothesis and theory in place, but you need to refer to them in a common language, so you can, for instance, explain how the "thinking better" hypothesis relates to your espresso hypothesis so that other researchers can replicate the results. And replication is key.

You can watch someone exhibit a specific behavior once, but it won't prove much, but if it keeps happening just the same, even with different topics or situations, then it probably means you're onto something. In fact, where psychological research is concerned, there is a problem with case studies that focus on one individual in detail.

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Despite their inherent limitations, case studies, by their very nature, are unreplicable, which means they are susceptible to overgeneralization. However, they help frame questions that can ultimately be more comprehensive and generalizable by showing us what can happen. Psychologists also use them to describe and observe behavior because they're memorable and they're effective storytelling devices. For example, It's not true that everyone is affected the same way by the scent of coffee. The smell of coffee can make Naman feel anxious and irritable, but it doesn't mean everyone else does, too.

Naman's case is actually quite rare because he associates that smell with terrible memories. Poor Naman. Still, you'd need to observe lots of other cases in order to make that statement conclusive. The naturalistic method is another straightforward method of studying behavioral tendencies, which involves watching behaviors in the wild, whether it's chimpanzees probing anthills in the jungle, kids acting silly in a classroom, or drunk dudes yelling at soccer matches.

This aims to let the subjects just be themselves without trying to control or manipulate them. In other words, spying on people is all it is. While naturalistic observations give a great description of behavior, they are limited in their ability to explain it. Psychologists can collect behavioral data by surveying people or interviewing them and asking them to describe their thoughts and behaviors.

We will be talking more about this in our next lesson, until then. Take care and see you all later.