Title: Social Psychology Research Methods
Headings: How Social Psychologists Conduct Their Research
How Social Psychologists Conduct Their Research
Social Behavior
Descriptive Research
Types of Descriptive Research
Surveys
The Observational Method
Case Studies
Correlational Research
Experimental Research
Why Social Research Methods Are Important

Content: Each type of observation has its own strengths and weaknesses. Researchers might prefer using observational methods in a lab in order to gain greater control over possible extraneous variables, while they might prefer using naturalistic observation in order to obtain greater ecological validity. However, lab observations tend to be more costly and difficult to implement than naturalistic observations. Case Studies
A case study involves the in-depth observation of a single individual or group. Case studies can allow researchers to gain insight into things that are very rare or even impossible to reproduce in experimental settings. The case study of Genie, a young girl who was horrifically abused and deprived of learning language during the critical period, is one example of how a case study can allow social scientists to study phenomena that they otherwise could not reproduce in a lab. 3
Types of Psychological Research
Correlational Research
Social psychologists use correlational research to look for relationships between variables. For example, social psychologists might carry out a correlational study looking at the relationship between media violence and aggression. They might collect data on how many hours of aggressive or violent television programs children watch each week and then gather data how on aggressively the children act in lab situations or in naturalistic settings. Conducting surveys, directly observing behaviors, or compiling research from earlier studies are some of the methods used to gather data for correlational research.