{"id":14965,"date":"2012-10-10T14:06:06","date_gmt":"2012-10-10T21:06:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/?page_id=14965"},"modified":"2019-05-20T09:59:30","modified_gmt":"2019-05-20T16:59:30","slug":"scientific-method","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/scientific-method\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientific Method"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DrawingThe\u00c2\u00a0scientific method<\/strong>\u00c2\u00a0is a set of guidelines for conducting effective scientific research. It is a formula for gathering data, reaching conclusions, and establishing scientific\u00c2\u00a0theories<\/a>. A scientific theory is a principle or idea that explains why something happens. Much of psychology<\/a> is grounded in scientific theories, which in turn are created via the scientific method.<\/p>\n

Steps of the Scientific Method<\/h2>\n

The scientific method typically follows these steps.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Identify a research question and create a hypothesis. A hypothesis is a testable explanation for a phenomenon.<\/li>\n
  2. Design and perform an experiment.<\/li>\n
  3. Evaluate the original hypothesis by analyzing data from the experiment.<\/li>\n
  4. Form conclusions about whether to accept or reject your hypothesis. If you believe your hypothesis was wrong, go back to step 1 and create a new one.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    How to Write a Good Hypothesis<\/h2>\n

    Many hypotheses take the following form: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153If X is true, then Y will happen.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d For example, a researcher could write, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153If sleep deprivation makes a person forgetful, then people who don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t sleep the night before will get lower scores on a memory test than those who get 8 hours of sleep.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

    A good hypothesis is testable, meaning each variable can be observed and measured. In the example above, a researcher could easily count how many hours each participant slept or calculate the score they got on a memory test. These measurements will result in objective numbers.<\/p>\n

    Subjective values, such as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153love\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153evil\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, are harder to measure. For instance, take the hypothesis, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153If beautiful people are happy, then becoming beautiful will make a person happier.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Concepts such as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153happy\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153beautiful\u00e2\u20ac\u009d don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have a universal definition. What one person describes as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153content\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153plain,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d another might call \u00e2\u20ac\u0153joyful\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153pretty\u00e2\u20ac\u009d.<\/p>\n

    So how do psychology studies measure emotions, opinions, and other subjective things? In many cases, scientists ask a person to report their subjective experience <\/em>of the concept. For instance, a person could rate their mood on a 1-10 scale several times a week. By comparing later scores to the original score, a researcher can tell when a person\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mood improves or gets worse.<\/p>\n

    What Is a Control Group?<\/h2>\n

    Most scientific experiments have what is called a control group. To explain this term and why it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s important, let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pretend you are setting up a hypothetical drug experiment. Your hypothesis would be, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153If Drug X treats anxiety, then people who have anxiety and take Drug X should stop having symptoms.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

    On the surface, designing the experiment should be easy. Simply give Drug X to the study group<\/strong> and then record what happens. But how do you know the drug caused the improvements? What if some other variable treated the anxiety, like the participants getting more sleep during the study?<\/p>\n

    That is where the control group<\/strong> comes in. The control group is the default you compare the study group to. Ideally everything else about the two groups is the same: their ages, sleep schedules, food intake, etc. The only difference between the groups is whether they are taking Drug X.<\/p>\n

    In general, there are three possible scenarios for a control group and study group:<\/p>\n