Examine and Assess the Advantages of Three Different Methods Used in Psychological Research
Examine and assess the advantages of three different methods used in psychological research
Psychological research has many advantages within society, helping us to better understand many different aspects of the world around us; this essay will be looking at three different research methods to ascertain the advantages of using methods within psychology. First of all we will identify which methods we are going to examine then we will assess the advantages of using these methods through the eyes of the relevant psychologist against their individual studies but first let’s distinguish what is meant by the term research method. Methods are used within a psychological study to help determine the hypotheses of the psychologist, or can be used to help better understand life’s issues such as personality, human behaviour etcetera.
One form of Psychological research used is questionnaires; Adorno et al. chose this method to study a specific kind of personality namely the Authoritarian personality. Psychologists need reasonably accurate methods to measure different aspects of the personality, subsequently Adorno devised what was known as a scale, this scale helped to measure aspects of a person’s personality. A scale in psychological research refers to a set of items, statements that participants are asked to reply to, every individual entry on the scale is connected in meaning and together they join, adding up to a bigger picture. Once establishing this form of measurement; Adorno developed what was known as the F-scale this became crucial to his studies. These scales were presented in the form of a questionnaire, circulated to over 2000 people, as you can see questioners have a great advantage of being able to reach lots of people quickly. (McAvoy 2010)
However the authoritarian personality study has had an incredible impact since being published in the 50s not always positive though, nevertheless one main idea to come from his F-scale study is what is known as
Psychological research has many advantages within society, helping us to better understand many different aspects of the world around us; this essay will be looking at three different research methods to ascertain the advantages of using methods within psychology. First of all we will identify which methods we are going to examine then we will assess the advantages of using these methods through the eyes of the relevant psychologist against their individual studies but first let’s distinguish what is meant by the term research method. Methods are used within a psychological study to help determine the hypotheses of the psychologist, or can be used to help better understand life’s issues such as personality, human behaviour etcetera.
One form of Psychological research used is questionnaires; Adorno et al. chose this method to study a specific kind of personality namely the Authoritarian personality. Psychologists need reasonably accurate methods to measure different aspects of the personality, subsequently Adorno devised what was known as a scale, this scale helped to measure aspects of a person’s personality. A scale in psychological research refers to a set of items, statements that participants are asked to reply to, every individual entry on the scale is connected in meaning and together they join, adding up to a bigger picture. Once establishing this form of measurement; Adorno developed what was known as the F-scale this became crucial to his studies. These scales were presented in the form of a questionnaire, circulated to over 2000 people, as you can see questioners have a great advantage of being able to reach lots of people quickly. (McAvoy 2010)
However the authoritarian personality study has had an incredible impact since being published in the 50s not always positive though, nevertheless one main idea to come from his F-scale study is what is known as
References: McAvoy,J. (2010) ‘Exposing the authoritarian personality’ in Brace, N. And Byford, J, (eds) ) Discovering Psychology, Milton Keynes, the open university. Brownlow, C.(2010) ‘Making friends’ in Brace, N. And Byford, J, (eds) Discovering Psychology, Milton Keynes, the open university. Edgar,H. And Edgar, G. 92010) ‘Paying attention’ in Brace, N. And Byford, J, (eds) Discovering Psychology, Milton Keynes, the open university. Brace, N. And Byford, J. (2010) Discovering Psychology, Milton Keynes, The Open University.