Answer the following questions in your summary:
o What type of informal research method did you use? o How was your research method similar to research methods used by psychologists? o If given another opportunity, what would you have done differently?
When thinking about a time I had to test a theory there are many that come to mind. One thing that comes to mind is when my middle daughter had a situation at school where she was being labeled with ADHD and the school demanded her to be put on medication. I wanted to make sure that if there was any issue then we could start at step one. I wanted to make sure that it was not something that was causing this or if it was something medically wrong. My theory was my daughter was bored and just acting out because she was not being challenged. Once I was given the information by the school to get my daughter on medication I used the information and looked online to find out if my daughter had any of the symptoms that the scyhool had described. I used Google to find out the information I needed and was directed to WebMD. I found out that many of the symptoms the school had described were not any of the symptoms I had seen in my daughter myself. I also contacted several groups and asked many questions. One of the most helpful was being able to contact not only my daughters’ pediatrician but I was able to contact several other doctors with informal questions. I also kept a log of my daughters’ behavior for a few weeks as well as have a few conversations with my daughter. It was almost like a process of elimination with changing diets, changing sleeping patterns and changing the home routine for a little bit. With her pediatricians advice I was also asked to do some of the things I had already done to see if that would make a difference. In the end it