Research Methods

Definition

Research methods are the ways in which researchers measure variables and design studies to test hypotheses. For example, if a researcher wants to study whether people in a happy mood are more likely to offer help to a stranger than are people who are not happy, the researcher might measure or manipulate how research [Page 748]participants feel and then measure how likely people are to offer help.

Overview

Researchers can choose among many different ways to measure variables. They can directly observe people's behaviors, directly ask people for their perceptions, or infer people's perceptions on the basis of behaviors or responses that only indirectly relate to the variables of interest. In most areas of social psychology, researchers want to learn what causes the phenomenon of interest (in the example, whether differences in mood causes differences in helping). Thus, whenever possible, researchers seek to manipulate variables of interest (e.g., mood) in an effort to make confident claims about causes (e.g., happy mood causing larger amounts of helping). Of course, for some variables or in some settings, the researcher cannot or chooses not to manipulate variables but instead looks at the relations between presumed cause and effect variables (such as mood and helping, respectively, in the example).

Measurement techniques will be discussed first and then research designs. Social psychologists commonly use a variety of measurement techniques including self-report, behavioral observation, response latency (time to answer), and physiological measures. Each type of measure has its strengths and limitations, but the extent to which one can draw conclusions from measured data is also a function of the type of research design employed. Social psychological research designs can be broadly classified into experimental and nonexperimental research methods. Nonexperimental approaches are well-suited for identifying associations among variables; however, these approaches are less well-suited to determining cause-and-effect relations. However, experimental designs can demonstrate causal relations because of random assignment to conditions and greater control over variables that may covary (go along) with the cause variables under study.

Measurement Techniques

Whenever possible, researchers try to collect supporting evidence using more than one type of measure. By doing this, the strengths of some measures can offset the weaknesses of other measures. Researchers often have greater confidence in the research conclusions when a particular theory can be supported by more than one type of measure.