The most useful information I've learned during this course

The most useful information I've learned during this course

Research is a vital element of psychology as a science. With the help of psychological research scientists are able to build different theories and structure already collected knowledge. For instance, it provides data for the development of causal models for behavior disorders (Haynes, 1995). During this course we have discussed the main aspects of the relevant research and even have tried to create one with stationary objects in order to practice. Thus, the question I am going to answer is whether psychological research can be 100% valid or not.

According to The Association For Qualitative Research Dictionary, validity is how well a scientific test or piece of research actually measures what it sets out to, or how well it reflects the reality it claims to represent. In order to make a reliable and relevant research, a scientist has to prepare its basis quite carefully. The main pre-research decisions should be as follows:

· “Good” research question;

· Testable variables;

· Clear hypothesis (H₀&H₁);

· Strict aim;

· Suitable sampling method;

· Applicable research tools (surveys, experiments).

Controlling these key elements might be complicated but it provides a scientist with an essential frame of the research. For example, taking into account most of the confounding variables, being accurate with selection bias may cause more work with the research but this will result in valid assessment.

What is more, it is highly important to make all the measurements correctly and analyze the results in the right way. As psychological research is usually based on statistics, one of the most necessary explored values is p-value and the level of significance. Petty (2011) explains in her blog, that if the p-value is lower than the significance level, the result is called significant, which means the null hypothesis (H₀) is wrong. If the p-value is higher than the significance level, the result is called non-significant, which means the null hypothesis (H₀) is correct.

Although the criteria of the research validity are commonly known, there is still risk to influence the results. One of such factors is error. It can be an error of four different types (Mohajan, 2017), which are referred to the null hypothesis estimating, or simply an error in measurement (Schmidt, 1996).

Moreover, there are various psychological phenomena which can affect the research. In this essay only 2 of them are named: Placebo effect and self-fulfilling prophecies. Placebo effect can damage the results of the control group. Cherry (2020) wrote that participants in placebo groups have displayed changes in heart rate, blood pressure, anxiety levels, pain perception, fatigue, and even brain activity. Self-fulfilling prophecies, on the contrary, influences not the sample but the scientist. This phenomena is pretty close to the Pygmalion effect (Stukas, 1998). It means that a researcher expect an exact result and may change the collected data during the assessment or ignore some extending values.

To conclude, I’d like to say, that threats to the validity of a research exist at almost every step in the research process. It can be hardly eliminated, so the main goal of the scientist is to minimize the threats as much as possible. Nevertheless, it is really useful for us as students, to know the main elements of a valid research, so that we are able to distinguish reliable (evidence-based) information from non-reliable. Besides, it helps in everyday life: every time we hear “scientists have proved” on TV or another media source, we can apply critical thinking towards this information.

Reference list:

1. Cherry K. (2020). How the Placebo Effect Works in Psychology [Blog post]. Retrieved from: https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-the-placebo-effect-2795466

2. Haynes, S. N., Richard, D., & Kubany, E. S. (1995). Content validity in psychological assessment: A functional approach to concepts and methods. Psychological assessment. Retrieved from:

http://www.bwgriffin.com/gsu/courses/edur9131/content/Haynes_Content_Validity_Assessment.pdf

3. Mohajan, H. K. (2017). Two criteria for good measurements in research: Validity and reliability. Chittagong, Bangladesh: Annals of Spiru Haret University. Retrieved from: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/83458/1/MPRA_paper_83458.pdf

4. Petty N. (2011). Understanding the p-value - Statistics Help. Dr Nic's Maths and Stats. Retrieved from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=eyknGvncKLw&feature=emb_title

5. Schmidt, Frank & Hunter, J.E.. (1996). Measurement error in psychological research: Lessons from 26 research scenarios. Psychological Methods. Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/285539647_Measurement_error_in_psychological_research_Lessons_from_26_research_scenarios

6. Schwartz D. H. (2014). Not all scientific studies are created equal. TED-Ed. Retrieved from: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/not-all-scientific-studies-are-created-equal-david-h-schwartz

7. Stukas, A. A., & Snyder, M. (1998). Self-Fulfilling Prophecies. Encyclopedia of Mental Health: Volume 3. Retrieved from:

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Arthur_Stukas/publication/282863250_Self-Fulfilling_Prophecies/links/5ab038630f7e9b4897c1d6bf/Self-Fulfilling-Prophecies.pdf

⇐ Предыдущая 1 2 3 45