two main types of research methods used in psychology
quantitative data quantitative Quantitative psychological research qualitative Experimental research Qualitative psychological research qualitative data Correlational research Descriptive research
title: Psychological research text: Psychological research Psychological research refers to research that psychologists conduct for systematic study and for analysis of the experiences and behaviours of individuals or groups. Their research can have educational, occupational and clinical applications. Psychologists use many research methods, and categorical distinctions of these methods have emerged. Methods can be categorized by the kind of data they produce: qualitative or quantitative—and both these are used for pure or applied research. Psychology tends to be eclectic, applying knowledge from other fields. Some of its methods are used within other areas of research, especially in the social and behavioural sciences. The field title: Psychological research text: Consequently, however, these methods reduce the researcher's control over the type of data collected. Web and others regard these methods as an additional tools to use with the more common "reactive" and "intrusive methods". Psychological research Psychological research refers to research that psychologists conduct for systematic study and for analysis of the experiences and behaviours of individuals or groups. Their research can have educational, occupational and clinical applications. Psychologists use many research methods, and categorical distinctions of these methods have emerged. Methods can be categorized by the kind of data they produce: qualitative or quantitative—and both these are used for title: Psychology text: designed to answer questions about the current state of affairs such as the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of individuals is known as "descriptive research". Descriptive research can be qualitative or quantitative in orientation. "Qualitative research" is descriptive research that is focused on observing and describing events as they occur, with the goal of capturing all of the richness of everyday behavior and with the hope of discovering and understanding phenomena that might have been missed if only more cursory examinations have been made. Qualitative psychological research methods include interviews, first-hand observation, and participant observation. Creswell (2003) identifies five main possibilities title: Case study in psychology text: Case study in psychology Case study in psychology refers to the use of a descriptive research approach to obtain an in-depth analysis of a person, group, or phenomenon. A variety of techniques may be employed including personal interviews, direct-observation, psychometric tests, and archival records. In psychology case studies are most often used in clinical research to describe rare events and conditions, which contradict well established principles in the field of psychology. Case studies are generally a single-case design, but can also be a multiple-case design, where replication instead of sampling is the criterion for inclusion. Like other research methodologies within title: Psychological research text: existing data. The existing data is collected to answer research questions. Existing data sources may include statistical records, survey archives, and written records. Cross-sectional research is a research method often used in developmental psychology, but also utilized in many other areas including social science and education. This type of study utilizes different groups of people who differ in the variable of interest, but share other characteristics such as socioeconomic status, educational background, and ethnicity. For example, researchers studying developmental psychology might select groups of people who are remarkably similar in most areas, but differ only in age. Longitudinal research is