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Developing Ideas for
Research in Psychology
Varieties of Psychological Research
Basic vs. Applied Research

Basic
designed to understand fundamental psychological
phenomena
E.g. stimulus factors affecting selective attention

Applied
designed to shed light on the solution to real-world
problems
E.g. effect of cell phone use on driving
Time Dimension in Research
Cross-Sectional Research

Longitudinal Research
Time-Series Study
Panel Study
Cohort Study

Case Studies

Cross-Sectional Research
Collect data at one specific point of time
E.g. prevalence of a problem (obesity, schizophrenia etc)

may support inferences of cause and effect
Longitudinal Research
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Examine features of people or other units at more
than one time

Time-Series Study

Panel Study

Cohort Study

Time-Series Study
(observe different people at multiple times)
Gather the same type of info across two or more
time periods
To observe stability or change of the subjects
To track conditions over time
E.g. the transformation of advance technology
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Panel Study
Observe the exact same people at two or more times
E.g. twin studies
Before and after parenting for 10 years
Cohort Study
Similar to panel study, but
it focuses on a category of people who share a similar
life experience in a specified time period
E.g. divorce rate at different years
Case Study
Examine one or a handful of cases over a duration of
time
Usually qualitative data
Examine numerous diverse cases more in depth
Review the Scholarly Literature &
Planning a Study
Start with a general topic
Narrow the topic into a specific research question
Design a specific study to address the research
question

Often begin with
curiosity
Hold deep
commitment/
strong feelings
Believe is wrong &
want to change
3 most effective type of study to
pursue for a topic or question
Reading studies that
others have conducted
on a topic
Grasping issues within qualitative
& quantitative approaches to
research design
Understanding how to use research techniques
as well as their strengths & weaknesses
Literature Review
5 important functions of reading the literature or
studies
Narrow down a topic study design, variable measurement
& ways to analyse data

Inform you the state of knowledge consider replicating,
testing or extending what others already found

Stimulating creativity & curiosity

Develop skills to evaluate studies

Improve writing skills
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Where to Find Research Literature
Periodicals
Scholarly journals - OPAC
Citation
Abstracts
Citation Formats
Books
Dissertations
Government documents
Policy reports and presented papers

How to Conduct a Systematic
Literature Review - OPAC
Define and refine topic
Design search
Locate research reports
Articles in Scholarly Journals
Social Sciences Index
Sociological Abstracts
Keyword
Taking Notes
Organize notes

Writing the Review
Requires planning and good, clear writing
Read articles/literature critically
Skepticism
Skills
Reading journal articles
Is the introduction and title really fit with the rest of the
article
Can be misleading sometimes
What a Good Review Looks Like
The wrong way:
To list a series of research reports with a summary of the findings of
each

The right way:
To organize common findings or argument together

A well-accepted approach:
Address the most important ideas first, to logically link
statements or findings, and to note discrepancies or
weaknesses in the research.
Qualitative & Quantitative Research
Orientations
Approach to Data: Quantitative vs.
Qualitative Research
Quantitative
Includes quantitative data and statistical analysis
Experiments
Surveys
Content analyses
Existing statistics
Linear research path (follow a fixed sequence of steps)

Qualitative
Includes narrative descriptions, content analyses, interviews
Field research open-ended or informal interviews
Nonlinear research path
Historical-comparative research

Much research includes elements of both
example gender differences in use of the TV remote
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Preplanned & Emergent Research
Questions
It is important to start your thinking about the
research with a question rather than simply a topic
heading.

Creating a research question is a task.
Good research questions are formed and worked on,
and are rarely simply found.
You start with what interests you, & you refine it until
it is workable.

Ask: what interests you??!!

Whatever you may think at the start of a
study, it could differ after you do the study
and examine its empirical evidence
Characteristics of a good research
question
Focuses on only 2 or 3 variables.
Is defined with respect to current knowledge.
Can be investigated within available time/resources/
ethical constraints.
Can use comparative terms (e.g. "faster", "higher
etc).
Must use clear concepts.
Include cause and effect relationships
Answerable: Quantitative & Qualitative approach
Bad research questions examples.
How do people become aggressive?
How to improve well-being?
Why females are more depressed than male?
Why has my friends been unemployed for the past
12 months?
What causes divorce?
Why is there crime?
Better research questions
Is age at marriage associated with divorce?
Is there the difference between gender in
perceiving marriage?
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Quantitative
Focus research question for
a specific study in different
ways

Plan on steps before
finalising the study design

The research question will
guide the design of a study
before any data collection
Qualitative
Start with semi-focused,
broad research questions

Flexible

Encourages slowly focusing
topic throughout the study

Narrowing or redirection in
the focus occurs after data
collection
Quantitative
When starting research on a
topic, ask:
What is it about the topic that
is of greatest interest?

If you know little about
certain topic, get
background knowledge by
reading about it

Qualitative
Sharpen the research
questions

During the study, you rarely
know the issues or questions
until you are immersed in the
data

Interpretation of data

Remain open to unanticipated
data

Be prepared to change
direction of research

The Role of Research Question

The relationship among a small number of
variables

Identify a limited number of variables and specify
the relationship among them
Typical research questions for
qualitative research
How did a certain condition or social situation
originate?

How is the condition/situation maintained over
time?

What are the processed by which a
condition/situation changes, develops, or operates?
You may discover new ideas based on your data collected
and interpretation of data
Specify the universe
What is your research samples? Population?

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Techniques for Narrowing a Topic into
a Research Question
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Limitations to research
Time, cost, access, approval, ethics,
expertise

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Quantitative Research vs Qualitative
Research
Qualitative Design Issues
The Language of Cases and Contexts
To examine social processes
Focus in interpretations
E.g. how people create social understandings and
meaning in specific settings
See social life from multiple points of view
Rarely use variables to test hypotheses, or try to
convert social life into numbers
Examine motifs, themes, distinctions & ideas instead
of variables
Document real events
Recording of what people say (with words,
gestures, tone)
Observations of specific behaviour
Studies of written document
Examinations of visual images

Ground Theory
Inductive approach
Develop theory during & after the data collection

It makes qualitative approach more flexible and let
data and theory interact

May change direction of research focus
May abandon the original research questions in the middle
of the process
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The Context is critical
Emphasise the social context for understanding
thoughts and actions

The same events/bahaviours might have different
meanings in different cultures and historical eras

E.g. what does voting mean in the context?
how does skinny/chubby define in the context?
The case and process
Typically measure variables of hypotheses across
many cases
E.g. 450 individuals (participants), each individual is a case
or unit

Data narrative story about particular people or
events

Data is rich and detail

Interpretation
Assign meaning by rearranging, examining and
discussing textual or visual data

First-order interpretation
Viewpoint of the people that are being studied

Second-order interpretation
Researchers own viewpoint

Third-order interpretation
The connections a researcher makes between the detailed understanding
of specific people or events and abstract concepts, generalizations, or
theories used to analyse data

Quantitative Design Issues
The Language of Variables and
Hypotheses
Variable a central idea in quantitative
research
Gender
Marital status
Income
A persons attitude towards abortions etc
Type of crime committed
Attributes the values or the categories of a
variable

Male variable;
= it describes a category of gender & is an
attribute of the variable of gender

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Types of Variables
Independent variable (IV)
The cause variable, or the one identifies forces or
conditions that act on something else

Dependent variable (DV)
The effect, result, or outcome of another variable
depending on the cause
Variables are what you wish to explain

Intervening variable
mechanisms to explain the relationship between an IV and
a DV

An intervening variable facilitates a better
understanding of the relationship between the
independent and dependent variables when the
variables appear to not have a definite connection.

Study higher CGPA (Motivation)
Marital status committing suicide (social
attachment)
Violence on tv violence behaviour (learning)

Family disruption low self esteem on
children depression, poor grades in school
job prospects adult income
Causal Theory and Hypotheses
Hypothesis
A proposition to test
A tentative statement that 2 variables are casually related
Characteristics of casual hypothesis


At least 2 variables
Expresses a cause-
effect relationship
Can be expressed as a
prediction/future
outcome
Logical link between
research and theory
Testable &
measurable by the
proposed experiments
Gives insight into the
research question
Testing & Refining Hypotheses
Knowledge come from testing hypotheses repeatedly
by the sceptical scientists
To strengthen the confidence level in a causal linkage in
the theory

Each hypothesis explanation of DV
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2 types of hypotheses
Null hypothesis

A denial of an attribute, an existence, a difference
or an effect or relationship expressed in negative
statement

E.g. there is NO significant relationship between
marital status and emotional intelligence
Alternative hypothesis
Affirms the existence of a phenomenon,
acceptance of the relationship, effect, and
difference.
E.g. there is a significant relationship between
marital status and emotional intelligence.

Errors in explanation
Ecological fallacy

The empirical observations are at too HIGH a level for the
causal relationship that is stated
Malaysia has a high crime rate. Jenny is living in Malaysia.
So Jenny probably stole the watch.

Reductionism

The empirical observations are at too LOW a level for the
causal relationship that is stated
Because Alan lost his job and did not buy a new car, the
country entered a long economic recession
Errors in explanation
Spuriousness

An unseen third variable is the actual cause of both the IV
and DV
Hair length is associated with TV programme. People with
short hair prefer to watch football and wrestling. People
with long hair prefer to watch romance drama. (Unseen
variable: gender)

From the research question to
hypotheses
Good research question contains hints on hypotheses
Research question: is age a t marriage associated with
divorce?

Ask: what is the IV & DV?
what is the direction of relationship?

Hypothesis: the lower the age at time of marriage, the greater
the chances that the marriage will end in divorce
Research question: are couple who marry younger more likely
to divorce?
Developing a hypothesis from a research question:

A hypothesis predicts the nature and direction of the
relationship between two or more variables.

A good research question should lead almost directly
to at a single hypothesis.
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You can develop several hypotheses for one research
question

The smaller the difference between the ages of the
marriage partners at the time of marriage, the less likely
that the marriage will end in divorce
Hypotheses can specify that a relationship will hold
up under some conditions but not others

The lower the age of the partners at time of marriage, the
greater the chances that the marriage will end in divorce,
unless it is a marriage between two members of a tightly
knit traditional religious community in which early
marriage is the norm.
Where do Research Ideas Come
From?
Where do Research Ideas Come From?
our own observations & serendipity
sometimes from serendipitous (unexpected) events

psychological theories

existing research
development of research teams & the question of whats
next?

Developing research from
observations & serendipity
From observations
E.g. Helping behavior or bystander effect (e.g., following
Kitty Genovese murder)

From serendipitous events
Discovering something when looking for something else
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Scientific Theory Construction &
Testing
Theories are proposed explanations for the causes of
phenomena.
Theories attempt to explain the who, what, when,
where, how, and why of peoples behavior and
mental processes.

A theory is a logically organized set of statements
that
define events (concepts),
describe relationships among these events, &
explain the occurrence of these events.
Psychological Theories
Theories vary in their scope and complexity.
Successful theories
organize what we know about a behavior or mental
process (empirical knowledge),
guide future research by suggesting testable
hypotheses, &
survive rigorous testing (such as falsification).

Good theories are logical & internally consistent,
precise, & parsimonious.
Theory never becomes fact; instead,
theory serves to explain facts
Developing Research from Theory
The Nature of Theory
Summarises existing empirical knowledge of the phenomenon
Organises this knowledge in the form of precise statements of
relationship among variables
Proposes an explanation for the phenomenon
provides basis for predictions about behavior
Developing Research from Theory
The Nature of Social Learning Theory
Banduras Bobo doll experiment
Observing + watching = behaviour imitated
Childrens violence behaviour created from observing the social
world
Domestic violence, smoking behaviour, fashion etc
Developing Research from Other
Research
Usually the conclusion of one project invariably leads
to the beginning of another because while
experiment answers some research questions, they
also typically raise new ones

Banduras experiments

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Begin reading published research, while & after
reading, be thinking in whats next? terms.
Tips of generating research ideas from
reading published research/journals
1. Read the suggestion of future direction in the discussion
session is it testable?
2. Read the explanation of results is this explanation
testable with some other explanation in your study?
3. The general conclusion of a research is the conclusion
applicable to another type of person (e.g. introverts or
extroverts)
4. Could the study extend the findings to another age group,
SES, or culture?
5. Could the research procedures be adapted for another kind
of research problems?
Replication and Extension
Exact replication rare
Because researchers are seldom rewarded for simply
repeating what someone else has done.
Yet, it occurs when serious questions are raised about the
findings

Extension partial replication, with new features
added to extend the findings
Use different variables, different populations, different
procedures, different data collections method, etc

Do not forget about creative thinking while
generating your research idea

Creative thinking recognise meaningful connections
between apparently unrelated ideas see those
connections as the key to develop ideas