Empirical research methods in psychology - About methodology

About the methodology

O. Comte in the mid-19th century proposed the concept of the development of human knowledge. He considered three sequential forms of knowledge: 1) religious - based on traditions and individual beliefs; 2) philosophical - based on the intuition of the author of a particular idea; 3) positive - scientific knowledge based on recording facts during directed observation. Old forms of human knowledge (religious and philosophical) must inevitably fade away and become the subject of cultural and historical research.

Different forms of knowledge exist and develop in parallel.

The term "psychology" can be applied to various types of human practice and knowledge.

1. there is psychology as a system of people’s everyday knowledge about the psyche” (“everyday psychology”). Everyday knowledge is recorded in natural language in the meanings of words that describe the characteristics of the human psyche, as well as its behavior, motives, abilities, etc. This knowledge is contained in proverbs and sayings.
2. There is “philosophical psychology.” Most philosophers invented concepts about the psyche, created their own ideas about personality, about the characteristics of its development, about the connection between objective and subjective reality (“reflection theory”), about the determinants of human behavior and groups of people.
3. The term “psychology” refers to a science that arose in the 19th century - the science of the psyche as a certain independent reality that has a material basis, that is, it is a mechanism for reflecting and regulating human behavior, it can be studied by objective methods. Psychology as a science that adopted the methodology of natural science was formed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The German philosopher W. Dilthey defined psychology as the fundamental science from which all sciences of the mind arise. From this science comes the fundamental method of the “science of mind,” the method of understanding. He believed that the nature of empirical knowledge in psychology differs from the natural sciences. They contrasted the method of understanding and the method of explanation. A person understands his inner experience through introspection. The experience of another is understood by placing oneself in the inner world of the other and empathizing with it.

Psychology belongs to behavioral science, observations and measurements and experiments are called behavioral research methods in psychology. Behavior is divided into verbal (speech) and nonverbal (object action, nonverbal communication). Research methods are methods that record verbal and nonverbal behavior.

Role in the system of sciences

The definition of “empirical” was first used by the German philosopher H. Wolf. This branch, combining several structural trends, studies mental phenomena: comprehensively and separately. She considers:

• emotions;
• Feel;
• feelings;
• experiences;
• impression.

In the official system of sciences, this direction is not recognized by all researchers.
Proponents of the rational approach believe that a method whose results cannot be verified cannot be considered valid. The disadvantage of the subjective approach is the questionable way of structuring research data: the depth and strength of subjective feelings of one person differs significantly from another.

Classification of psychological research methods

There are different views on the classification of methods of psychological research.

S.L. Rubenstein, in his work “Fundamentals of General Psychology,” developed observations and experiments as the main methods. Observation was divided into “internal” and “external”, experiment into laboratory, natural and psycho-experiment - plus an auxiliary method - physiological experiment (conditioned reflex method). Interviews and questionnaires were methods for studying the products of activity.

Bulgarian psychologist G.D. Piriev called independent methods: Observation (objective - direct and indirect, subjective - direct and indirect), experimental (laboratory, natural and psychological-pedagogical), modeling, psychological characterization, auxiliary methods (mathematical, graphic, biochemical, etc.), specific methodological approaches (genetic, comparative, etc.). Each of the methods is divided into a number of others.

B.G. Ananyev divided all methods: 1) organizational - longitudinal, comparative and complex; 2) empirical - observation methods (observation and introspection), experimental (laboratory, field, natural, etc.). ), psychodiagnostic method, analysis of processes and products of activity (praxiometric methods), modeling method and biographical method; 3) data processing methods - methods of mathematical and static data analysis and qualitative description; 4) interpretive - genetic (phylo- and ontogenetic) and structural methods (classification, typology, etc.).

M.S. Rogovin and G.V. Zalewski reduced the number of basic psychological methods to six: 1) hermeneutic - corresponds to the undifferentiated state of science (subject and object are not opposed, mental operation and method of science are identical); 2) biographical - highlighting the integral object of knowledge in mental science; 3) observation - differentiation of the object and subject of cognition 4) self-observation - transformation of the subject into an object based on previous differentiation; 5) clinical - the task of transition from externally observable to internally observable mechanisms comes to the fore; 6) experiment as an active contrast between the subject of cognition and the object, taking into account the role of the subject in the process of cognition.

Psychological methods

Empirical methods are practical methods of scientific research, within which observation methods are separately distinguished - observation, introspection, experiment.

Psychology, like any other science, has its own research methods, which are the main ways and methods of scientific knowledge of psychological phenomena and their patterns.

Psychology methods are divided into 4 groups:

• Organizational methods including comparative, longitudinal, complex;
• Empirical methods, including observation and self-observation, experimental method, psychodiagnostic methods - tests, questionnaires, surveys, interviews, sociometry, analysis of activity products, biographical methods;
• Data processing methods, including quantitative and qualitative methods;
• Corrective methods - the fourth group of psychological methods - are group training, auto-training, education, methods of psychotherapeutic influence.

Among all the methods of psychology, empirical methods are traditionally considered fundamental.

In a word, the methods of psychology are ways of studying the real facts of the surrounding reality. and each method is characterized by a corresponding type of techniques that meet the goals and objectives of the study.

Starting with any one method, you can create multiple methods. Classifications of methods are interpreted in different ways, supplemented with new information, change and develop in the context of new schools of psychology.

Depending on who uses psychological methods and for what purpose, it is necessary to distinguish between scientific research methods in the strict sense and methods that are directly used in practice.

Psychological methods can be both general and specific, but in all cases they implicitly or explicitly reflect the general philosophical positions from which the research is conducted.

The purpose of psychological methods is to record facts, explain them and reveal their essence, which is quite natural, since the forms of phenomena and objects and their content do not coincide.

This requirement cannot always be realized using one method, therefore, when studying psychological phenomena, various complementary methods are used.

Any research requires a research program, the scientific validity of which will determine the effectiveness of this research and the significance of theoretical and practical results.

The program provides a theoretical and methodological basis for psychological research procedures, such as data collection, processing and analysis.

Thanks to the program, a certain sequence of research stages is established - problem statement, definition of the research object, theoretical analysis of the object, goals and objectives of the study, interpretation and operationalization of guiding concepts, formulation of a working hypothesis, preparation of a research plan, preparation of a sampling plan, description of methods for processing and collecting data, analysis and interpretations.

The program can be divided into methodological and procedural sections.

Branches of science

The development of the industry occurred in parallel in several forms, differing, but not contradicting each other. These areas include:

1. Associative - a section that considers the psyche as a set of spiritual phenomena. A complex mental process consists of elements that can be separated: sensations and ideas and associations. Personality is a complex connecting the spiritual and the physical, based on individual associations.
2. Voluntarism is a branch that considers will as the result of an energy impulse combined into complexes of emotional experiences.
3. Functional - a section that studies thinking. Researchers analyzed the functions of consciousness and their participation in the act of thinking. Thinking was considered as an autonomous process, independent of the surrounding reality.
4. Gestalt psychology is a branch based on the idea of ​​the integrity of mental processes. It is complex and multifaceted, but it is impossible to remove a single element from it.
5. Structural - a section that examines mental structures through idealistic ideas. Idealists who adhere to the structural composition of the psyche determined behavioral characteristics not by the influence of the external environment, but by internal processes.

In modern empirics, this direction occupies a special niche due to its dualistic nature.

The experimental approach to describing the nature of the psyche has accumulated a sufficient base of research results, but cannot provide a scientific explanation for them.

Their use in practice is not prohibited, but researchers may refuse to take into account the results of such experiments.

Observation methods

One of the empirical methods is the observation method. This method requires careful preparation and professionalism of the researcher, since observation is carried out based on the mental manifestations of a person.

This oldest method of understanding psychology comes in two forms - the first as introspection or introspection and the second as external or objective observation.

The observation procedure usually consists of certain processes:

• Establishment of goals and objectives of observation;
• Selecting an object, subject and situation;
• Choosing an observation method that will record the necessary information;
• Choosing a method for recording observed phenomena;
• Processing of received information and its interpretation.

Observation becomes a method of scientific knowledge in the sense that it is not limited to recording facts, but formulates hypotheses to be tested for compliance with new observations.

Types of follow-up can be different - short-term follow-up (snapshot), long-term follow-up that can last several years (longitudinal follow-up).

This can happen both in the laboratory, in artificial conditions, and in nature, in conditions familiar to humans.

There are included and non-included observations. In participant observation, both the observer and the observed participate in the activity, but the observed is unaware that observation is taking place.

With inactive observation, a role reversal occurs, with some becoming observers and aware of the activity, while others become observers.

The observation method can be structured, when the structure of the observed facts is strictly structured, and unstructured, in which case observation occurs over the entire complex of facts.

Firm and selective observation. In complete observation, all behavioral responses are recorded, while in selective observation, the scope of observation is limited.

Observation can also be direct or indirect. Direct observation is carried out by a person who draws conclusions from the results obtained.

Indirect observation is carried out by another person.

Each method has its own advantages and disadvantages. Another disadvantage of the observation method is the following:

• The results of observation are quite strongly influenced by the views, interests, personality traits, and psychological state of the observer;
• The observer's focus on confirming his hypothesis leads to large distortions in the perception of events;
• Difficulty in interpreting the data obtained;
• Observation takes a lot of time.

As for introspection (introspection), this is the first method of psychology that allows us to study the soul and psyche of a person.

Introduction is a person's internal observation of his own mental manifestations. In psychology, professional self-analysis is not only useful, but even necessary, and in order for a person to represent himself, this must be learned.