If you are looking to become a psychologist, there will be many different types of practices that you need to study.
These are the ways that psychologists do their research in helping people work through issues and find solutions. Here are the five types of psychology research you should know about and prepare to study.
What is Career Counseling?
Simply put, career counseling is what a psychologist does to help a professional advance their career through solution building.
Someone may need guidance on how to find a new job or to find solutions for workplace difficulties, so they go to a psychologist for counseling. Psychologists use their five types of research to work with patients and clients.
Observation
The first way to gather information about a client or a group of people is to observe their case. A psychologist could physically go to a work setting to observe the interactions of all the workers.
Observers can be disguised or non-disguised, but if the observed see they are being watched, they may artificially change their behavior. This issue is known as reactivity. This method of study is non-experimental because it does not require the control of any outside actors.
Survey
Unlike the observation method of psychology research, the survey method entails interviewing participants instead of seeing them firsthand. It is important to gauge the correct sample size for the survey to get an accurate representation.
Surveying is a common method that healthcare providers use to gauge health issues in a population, such as levels of diseases or substance abuse. In a workplace, surveying is a good method to gauge the feelings of the general working population instead of observing a few.
Experimentation
Another method that psychologists use in their research is to have controlled experiments. This method allows for the manipulation of variables to see which solutions work in real life. Moreover, controlled experiments let researchers establish cause and effect patterns of issues and solutions, so they will know what to implement for better results.
Additionally, repetition of experiments is important to ensure the reliability of data and make sure that the solutions that are implemented are effective.
Case Study
Case studies are a research method that psychologists use to investigate situations and determine what solutions are necessary.
These likely entail both observations and surveying. Case studies combine different methods of research to produce an accurate investigation and diagnose the situation correctly. Once the investigation of observations and surveys is complete, a psychologist will be able to see the situation from an individual perspective.
Content Analysis
Content analysis is usually the step after research is done to comb through data and draw conclusions.
Researchers can analyze patterns of speech and behavior collected in the study to diagnose any issues and come up with a solution. Psychologists can use more methods of analysis, such as putting text through a filter to notice those patterns.
When you are looking to be a psychologist, knowing all the modes of research is essential to earning your degree and working in the future. You can also reach out to places like CareersInPsychology.org if you want to start your journey into research.
