Question

Name and briefly summarize the various steps associated with the scientific method.

1. Discuss how the various steps of the scientific method are used to study psychological phenomenon.

2. Find a journal article that you believe has used the scientific method to reach valid conclusions about human relations. Post a link to the article. What elements of the scientific method are present in the article you chose? How do you know the article’s conclusions are valid?

3. Critique the journal article chosen by one of your fellow classmates. Do you see elements of the scientific method in their article? Do you believe the conclusions are valid? Explain.

Give at least 2 references in APA format to support your EACH answer. Answers need to be at least 200 words with at least 2 substantial replies with at least 150 words. Give the question in bold and the answer not in bold. The initial post with the answers is due by Thursday and all replies must be posted no later than Sunday.

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/science-fair/steps-of-the-scientific-method

Answer 1

Psychology as always found itself in a turmoil in deciding if it is a science or an art? The theories which explain any psychological phenomenon and its final application is considered an art . But as science, the subject has been developed with a objective outlook and an intention to usher rigorous calibration of mental processes.

Psychology thus tries to understand,explain,predict and control human behavior.All these stesp are done in an objective systematic and scientific way to ensure the scope for subjective interpretation is minimised and this also allows a universal appeal to the phenomenon. There are some particular steps that help us understand any psychological phenomenon. They are as follows.

before the steps are enumerated,

A variable is anything that varies/changes on treatment in observable ways. Its a factor which will be under consideration when we conduct the scientific study.

An operational definition is the actual plan of action or steps of how the variable will be studied for the purpose of that particular study.

A hypothesis is a research question of what one wants to study. It can be an educated guess to understand the relation between variables, if any is predicted.

lets now jump into the steps involved in scientific research.

We start with a basic liking or curiosity for a particular field. It will involve some preliminary reading/ background research on that particular field. This is gives one insights into the heuristic work that has already been generated to explore the understanding between the variables.

Observation: This stage allows one to independantly explore the variables under the particular setting he/she wants to study the variables under. This observation can be naturalistic/ participant/non-participant.  

Form a hypothesis. Based on the observations of the pre-determined variables, the researcher zeroes down on a statement which can be tested. This statement (hypothesis ) indicates the suggested direction of the relation between variables.

Test hypothesis: Now this step cannot be performed in vacuum. One needs to determine the way how the hypothesis needs to be tested. It can be a field/ lab experiment. It can be an case study or a survey research. So basically this steps expects one to design a plan of action to test the hypothesis. This experiment should be a controlled one and the researcher should have pre determined which variables to control and which to measure ? Any science expects replication of the results to stamp it with being scientific. hence being meticulous here is important. Noting of data is important here.

On successfully conducting the experiment, one needs to analyze the data generated. . to analyze the data, statistical methodology and computation can be used.

Now we draw conclusion based on the results drawn.This step will give tell us if our hypothesis has been justified or has been rejected. Mind you, hypothesis rejected is not a negative connotation. It only implies the relation of the variables is otherwise. Sometimes even when the hypothesis is accepted, the researcher tests it under various other conditions.