PSY 315
Research, Statistics, and Psychology Paper
Two important factors of psychology and studying it are statistics and research. This paper will explain what research is and the scientific method. This paper will also explain how research is important to psychology. When a researcher does studies on psychology they receive data from the subjects, they are studying. In any type of research there are two major types of data, they are primary data and secondary data. Data is important to statistics because it is the information a researcher receives from the studies they perform. Statistics puts all the data into a form that many people can understand. Statistics is an excellent way to organize data. All this will be explained in this paper.
Research and Scientific Method
When a person is trying to learn more about a subject or idea the best way to do that is through research. If a person wants to learn more about psychology and the different theories on it this person must do research. In the psychology and the scientific communities when research is performed, it must be done in a more in-depth way than if a person is researching a new restaurant. During the research process a person may look for theories, statistics, results of testing, and facts about the subject he or she wants to learn about. For a scientist or psychologists to prove a theory or idea, he or she must prove through testing, and this test cannot just happen once. When testing and research is being done a scientist or psychologist can use the scientific method to complete his or her research and testing.
The scientific method has a very important role in science and psychology. “The definition of the scientific method is a strict protocol dictating the underlying philosophy behind scientific research” (Shuttleworth, 2009, pg. 16). Many researchers use the scientific method to prove that their theory or idea is accurate. When using the
References: Aron, A., Aron, E., & Coups, E. (2009). Statistics for Psychology (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Person Education Inc. Sciencebuddies. (2011). Steps of the Scientific Method. Retrieved from http://www.sciencebuddies.org/mentoring/project_scientific_method.shtml Shuttleworth, M. (2009). Definition of the Scientific Method. Retrieved from http://www.experiment-resources.com/definition-of-the-scientific-method.html