Title: 3.2 Psychologists Use Descriptive, Correlational, and Experimental Research Designs to Understand Behaviour – Introduction to Psychology – 1st Canadian Edition
Headings: 3.2 Psychologists Use Descriptive, Correlational, and Experimental Research Designs to Understand Behaviour
3.2 Psychologists Use Descriptive, Correlational, and Experimental Research Designs to Understand Behaviour
Learning Objectives
Table 3.2 Characteristics of the Three Research Designs
Descriptive Research: Assessing the Current State of Affairs
Table 3.3 Sample Coding Form Used to Assess Child’s and Mother’s Behaviour in the Strange Situation
Correlational Research: Seeking Relationships among Variables
Experimental Research: Understanding the Causes of Behaviour
Research Focus: Video Games and Aggression
Key Takeaways
Exercises and Critical Thinking
Image Attributions
References
Long Descriptions

Content: Experimental
To assess the causal impact of one or more experimental manipulations on a dependent variable
Allows drawing of conclusions about the causal relationships among variables. Cannot experimentally manipulate many important variables. May be expensive and time consuming. Source: Stangor, 2011. Descriptive Research: Assessing the Current State of Affairs
Descriptive research is designed to create a snapshot of the current thoughts, feelings, or behaviour of individuals. This section reviews three types of descriptive research: case studies, surveys, and naturalistic observation (Figure 3.4). Sometimes the data in a descriptive research project are based on only a small set of individuals, often only one person or a single small group.