Methods of Enquiry in Psychology — Class 11 Psychology

This chapter explains how psychologists study behaviour scientifically. The goals of psychological enquiry are description, prediction, explanation and control of behaviour, with the applied goal of improving the quality of life. Scientific research follows steps: conceptualising a problem, collecting data, drawing conclusions and revising research conclusions and theory. Besides the quantitative scientific paradigm, psychology also uses interpretive and qualitative paradigms. Psychological data may be demographic, physical, physiological or psychological, gathered as participants' subjective reports or observers' records. Important methods include the observational method (naturalistic or controlled, participant or non-participant), the experimental method which establishes cause-and-effect by manipulating an independent variable and measuring its effect on a dependent variable while controlling extraneous variables, correlational research which measures the direction and strength of a relationship (positive, negative or zero) without proving causation, survey research using interviews and questionnaires, psychological testing using standardised tests, and the case study which gives an in-depth picture of an individual. Data are analysed using quantitative methods (frequency, graphs, descriptive statistics) and qualitative methods such as narrative and content analysis. Psychological enquiry has limitations of subjectivity, lack of control and measurement difficulty. Ethical issues require voluntary participation, informed consent, debriefing, confidentiality and sharing results.