Psychology Research and the Scientific Method: A Essay

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Psychology

Research and the Scientific Method: A Concise Definition

Research as a term does not have an assigned definition. Indeed, different authors have in the past offered varying definitions of the same. In the opinion of Goddard and Melville (2004), research does not limit itself to information gathering. Research as the authors point out "is about answering unanswered questions or creating that which does not currently exist" (Goddard and Melville, 2004). In that regard, an individual who seeks to systematically gather new information in an attempt to find answers to specific questions is in one way or the other involved in research. On the other hand, when it comes to the scientific method, the same according to Jackson (as cited in Coon and Mitterer, 2010) can be defined as "a form of critical thinking based on careful collection of evidence, accurate description and measurement, precise definition, controlled observation, and repeatable results."

As Coon and Mitterer (2010) point out, the scientific method has a number of elements (six to be precise). The first element identified by the authors in this case is making observations. It is important to note that although formulation of the hypothesis is often thought to be the very first step of the scientific method, observation act as the basis of the hypothesis. The other steps of the scientific method identified by Coon and Mitterer (2010) include: problem definition, proposing a hypothesis, evidence gathering, theory building and finally, publishing of the results.

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Problem definition has largely got to do with expressing an issue of interest in hypothetical terms while at the same time formulating operational definitions. A hypothesis according to Coon and Mitterer (2010) is essentially "a tentative statement about, or explanation of, an event or relationship." Proposing a hypothesis as one of the elements of scientific method therefore involves floating an explanation or tentative statement about the issue at hand. The fourth element, i.e. evidence gathering, has got to do with the collection of all the evidence that would come in handy in seeking a solution to the problem. After gathering evidence, the step that follows is theory building. Coon and Mitterer (2010) point out that a theory should be seen as a map of knowledge. Indeed, in the words of Stanovich (as cited in Coon and Mitterer, 2010), "without theories of forgetting, personality, stress, mental illness, and the like, psychologists would drown in a sea of disconnected facts." The last element in this case is the communication of the results. The relevance of publishing results cannot be overstated. According to Coon and Mitterer (2010), publishing results allows other researchers to go through the said results. This could either act as a basis for future research or help in the identification of critical faults in the study.

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