How do researchers study the human mind and behavior? Although there are a number of different research methods, natural science experiments allow researchers to look at cause-and-effect relationships. They identify and define key variables, formulate a hypothesis, manipulate variables, and collect data on results. Extraneous variables are carefully controlled to minimize potential effects on results.
Types of experiments
There are several different types of experiments that researchers could use. Each of these may depend on a variety of factors, including the participants, the hypothesis, and the resources available to the researchers:
- Laboratory experiments are very common in psychology because they allow experimenters to have greater control over variables. These experiments may also be easier for other researchers to perform. The problem, of course, is that what happens in the laboratory is not always identical to what happens in the real world.
- A natural experiment is what is called a field experiment. Sometimes researchers may choose to conduct their research in a natural environment. For example, imagine that a social psychologist is interested in studying a certain type of social behavior. This type of experiment can be a great way to see behavior in action under realistic conditions. However, this makes it difficult for researchers to control for variables and may introduce confounding variables that may influence the results.
- Quasi-experiments. Although laboratory and natural experiments in psychology represent a group of the most popular methods, researchers may also use a third type known as a quasi-experiment. They are often referred to as natural experiments because the researchers have no true control over the independent variable. Instead, the level of goal achievement is determined by the natural conditions of the situation. This is a good choice in situations where scientists are studying phenomena in natural, real-world settings. It is also a good choice in situations where researchers cannot, for ethical reasons, manipulate the independent variable in question.
You may be interested in: Words with double meaning: definition, examples of use
Psychological foundations of the experimental method
Irina Kuznetsova
Psychological foundations of the experimental method
Content
Introduction
1. Experimental psychology
2. Psychological, pedagogical and formative experiment
Bibliography
Introduction
The development of modern psychological science is characterized by the fact that the knowledge accumulated over decades is increasingly being used in practice, and this practice is gradually expanding, covering more and more new areas of human activity. (str 2)
If earlier
psychology mainly represented abstract knowledge obtained in scientific laboratories and presented from university departments, now applied branches of psychology experimentation is also widely used . However, such an experiment is not aimed at obtaining so-called “pure”
knowledge, but at solving life, practical problems and tasks.
This state of affairs corresponds to the existing division of developed branches of psychology into scientific and applied ones. Scientific directions are focused on obtaining theoretical knowledge necessary for a general, fundamental solution of problems related to the knowledge of man, his psychology and behavior . In applied industries, on a scientific basis , practical problems related to improving human activity, improving his behavior and increasing the level of psychological development solved, and practical recommendations are developed. (dl 3)
According to this logic, scientific-cognitive and applied areas of research in educational
psychology , including experimental-scientific educational psychology and experimental-practical educational psychology, along with theoretical scientific and theoretical applied psychology . In scientific-cognitive psychological-pedagogical research, knowledge is mainly obtained that enriches the relevant science, but does not always find practical application, and in applied psychological-pedagogical research, hypotheses and assumptions are put forward and scientifically tested, the practical implementation of which should give a significant educational effect .
1. Experimental psychology .
without experiment in science and practice, despite its complexity and labor intensity, since only in a carefully thought-out, properly organized and conducted experiment can the most conclusive results be obtained, especially regarding cause-and-effect relationships.
Experimental psychology is a field of psychology that organizes knowledge about research problems common to most psychological areas and ways to solve them. Experimental psychology is called the scientific discipline of psychological research methods .
The use of experiment played a crucial role in the transformation of psychological knowledge , in the transformation of psychology from a branch of philosophy into an independent science. An experiment in psychology became a decisive factor in the transformation of psychological knowledge ; it separated psychology from philosophy and turned it into an independent science. Various types of mental research using experimental methods are experimental psychology .
Since the end of the 19th century, scientists have been closely involved in the study of elementary mental functions - human sensory systems.
Particularly noteworthy is Wilhelm Wundt, a German psychologist , physiologist, philosopher and linguist. He created the world's first psychological laboratory, which later became an institute. the subject of psychology to be direct experience—phenomena or facts of consciousness accessible to introspection; however, he considered higher mental processes (speech, thinking, will) inaccessible to experiment , and proposed studying them using the cultural-historical method .
If initially the main object of experimental psychology was considered to be the internal mental processes of a normal adult, analyzed with the help of specially organized introspection (introspection), then later experiments are carried out on animals, mentally ill people and children are studied.
Experimental psychology begins to cover not only the study of general patterns of mental processes , but also individual variations in sensitivity, reaction time, memory, associations, etc.
Galton developed methods for diagnosing abilities, which laid the foundation for testing, methods for statistical processing of research results (in particular, a method for calculating correlations between variables, mass questioning.
Cattell considered personality as a collection of a certain number empirically (using tests)
established and more or less autonomous
psychological characteristics . Thus, in the depths of experimental psychology, a new direction is emerging - differential psychology , the subject of which is individual differences between people and their groups.
Achievements of experimental psychology , which was initially “academic”
nature, i.e., which did not aim to apply its results to solving problems posed by the practice of teaching, treating patients, etc., subsequently receive wide practical application in various spheres of human activity - from preschool pedagogy to astronautics.
The prerequisite for the emergence of differential psychology , which studies individual differences between people and groups, at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries was the introduction , as well as genetic and mathematical methods, psychology .
Now experimental psychology in practice is considered as a discipline responsible for setting up correct experiments within many areas of applied psychology - for example, to determine the feasibility and effectiveness of a particular change or innovation (for example, in occupational psychology )
.
Great success in the use of its methods has been achieved in the study of psychophysiology and psychology of sensations and perception.
The methodology of experimental psychology is based on the principles :
General scientific methodological principles :
1. The principle of determinism. Experimental psychology proceeds from the fact that human behavior and mental phenomena are the result of some causes, that is, they are fundamentally explainable.
2. The principle of objectivity. Experimental psychology believes that the object of knowledge is independent of the knowing subject; an object is fundamentally knowable through action.
3. The principle of falsifiability is the requirement for the existence of a methodological possibility of refuting a theory that claims to be scientific by staging one or another fundamentally possible real experiment .
Principles specific to :
1. The principle of the unity of physiological and mental . The nervous system ensures the emergence and course of mental processes , but reducing mental phenomena to physiological processes is impossible.
2. The principle of the unity of consciousness and activity. Consciousness is active, and activity is conscious. An experimental psychologist studies behavior that is formed through close interaction between an individual and a situation.
3. Development principle. Also known as the principle of historicism and the genetic principle. According to this principle, the psyche of a subject is the result of prolonged development in phylogenesis and ontogenesis.
4. System-structural principle. Any mental phenomena should be considered as integral processes (The impact is always made on the psyche as a whole , and not on some isolated part of it.)
2. Psychological, pedagogical and formative experiment
The essence of the experimental method is that the experimenter deliberately creates and in a controlled manner changes the conditions in which the subject being studied acts, sets certain tasks for him and, by how they are solved, judges the processes and phenomena that arise during this process.
An experiment (from the Latin experimentum - test, experience) is a research strategy, which is characterized by the fact that it carries out targeted observation of any process in conditions of regulated changes in individual characteristics of the conditions of its occurrence. In this case, the hypothesis is tested.
For practical problems, it is important that by conducting research under the same conditions with different subjects, the experimenter can establish the age and individual characteristics of the course of mental processes in each of them.
There are two main types of experiment used in :
- laboratory experiment , which is usually carried out in specially equipped rooms and on subjects who consciously participate in the experiment , although they may not know about the true purpose of the experiment ;
- a natural experiment in which participants are unaware of their role as subjects.
A natural experiment combines the positive aspects method and laboratory experiment . Here the naturalness of the observation conditions is preserved and the precision of a controlled experiment . The fact that the subjects are unaware that they are being subjected to psychological research ensures that their behavior is natural.
At the same time, for the correct and successful conduct of a natural experiment , it is necessary to comply with all the requirements that apply to a laboratory experiment .
In accordance with the purpose of the study, the experimenter selects conditions that provide the most vivid manifestation of the aspects of mental activity .
One of the options for a natural experiment is a psychological-pedagogical experiment , or experimental learning , where the study of the mental characteristics of a preschooler that are subject to formation is carried out in the process of teaching and upbringing.
The psychological-pedagogical experiment was developed in child and educational psychology . This is a unique form of natural experiment , since it is carried out in the natural conditions of life and activity of children.
An essential feature of a psychological-pedagogical experiment is that it aims not only to study itself, but also to actively, purposefully change, transform, form one or another mental activity , psychological qualities of an individual . Accordingly, two types are distinguished:
— educational psychological and pedagogical experiment ,
— educational psychological and pedagogical experiment . 18 SLIDE!
experiment plays a special role in the construction of various theories of mental . This is a form of natural experiment , which is characterized by the fact that the study of certain mental processes , primarily related to the cognitive sphere, occurs during their purposeful formation.
Thus, a psychological-pedagogical experiment , or formative experiment , is a method used in developmental and educational psychology to trace changes psyche in the process of the researcher’s active influence on the subject.
A psychological and pedagogical experiment requires very high qualifications on the part of the experimenter , since unsuccessful and incorrect use of psychological techniques can lead to negative consequences for the subject.
The essence of the psychological-pedagogical experiment is that first they study the features of the mental activity of children (not only the registration of highlighted facts, but also the disclosure of patterns, mechanisms, dynamics, development trends). Then, on this basis , special training is organized in order to optimize the identified processes and promote them to a higher level.
A psychological and pedagogical experiment does not simply establish the level of development of memory and other aspects of mental activity, but studies the possibilities and ways that ensure the improvement of this activity. Here, the study of preschool children is carried out in the learning process, the influence of training and upbringing on the development of mental activity of pupils, on the formation of certain personality qualities is traced. That is why it ensures the connection of psychological with pedagogical search and design of the most effective forms of the educational process.
Let's give an example. When studying the memory characteristics of older preschoolers, it was found that children often memorize material mechanically, instead of meaningfully remembering it. The reason for the established fact turned out to be children’s ignorance of meaningful memorization techniques, with the help of which an understanding of the material and its logical assimilation is achieved. By teaching children methods of semantic grouping of educational material, the experimenter ensured that schoolchildren began to memorize not mechanically, but meaningfully.
During the psychological and pedagogical experiment , the formation of a certain quality is assumed. The formative experiment is widely used in Russian psychology when studying specific ways of forming a child’s personality, ensuring the connection of psychological research with pedagogical search and design of the most effective forms of the educational process.
In psychological and pedagogical research, there are distinguished ascertaining and formative experiments . In the first case, the teacher-researcher experimentally establishes only the state of the pedagogical system being studied, states the fact of connection, dependence between phenomena. When a teacher-researcher applies a special system of measures aimed at developing certain personal qualities in students and improving their learning and work activity, they speak of a formative experiment .
During a psychological and pedagogical experiment , two groups usually participate: experimental and control .
Participants in the experimental group are offered a specific task, which (according to the experimenters )
will contribute to the formation of the desired quality.
The control group of subjects is not given this task. At the end of the experiment, the two groups are compared with each other to evaluate the results obtained.
During a formative experiment, active actions are performed by both the subjects and the experimenter . A high degree of intervention and control over the main variables on the part of the experimenter . This distinguishes experiment from observation or examination .
basic rules is mandatory for a full-fledged psychological and pedagogical experiment :
• Clear formulation of the problem, goals and objectives of the study, and the hypotheses tested in it.
• Establishment of criteria and signs by which one can judge how successful the experiment , whether the hypotheses proposed in it were confirmed or not confirmed.
• Accurate definition of the object and subject of research.
• Selection and development of valid and reliable methods for psychodiagnostics of the states of the object under study and the subject of research before and after the experiment .
• Using consistent and convincing logic to prove that the experiment was successful .
• Determination of a suitable form for presenting the results of the experiment .
• Characteristics of the area of scientific and practical application of the experimental , formulation of practical conclusions and recommendations arising from the experiment .
The objectives of specific experiments in the field of didactics and methods for individual subjects most often come down to the following:
1. checking a certain training system;
2. comparison of the effectiveness of certain teaching methods ;
3. checking the effectiveness of the problem-based learning and education system;
4. development of systems of measures to develop students’ cognitive interests and needs;
5. checking the effectiveness of measures to develop students’ skills in educational activities;
6. didactic research related to the choice of the optimal option for a particular system of measures or pedagogical actions:
• updating the system of measures to prevent academic failure;
• choosing the optimal number of exercises to develop a certain skill;
• selection of optimal options for a system of measures to develop planning skills in students;
• building problem-based learning for low-performing preschoolers;
• differentiated work in learning based on the different degrees of assistance provided to them in learning.
All these tasks are to a certain extent intertwined with each other, but each of them also has some specific emphasis that determines the features of the pedagogical experiment .
Thus, the range of problems that can be solved with the help of a pedagogical experiment is very wide and versatile, covering all the main problems of pedagogy .
Bibliography
1. Aismontas B. B. Pedagogical psychology . Schemes and tests / B. B. Aismontas. - M.: Vlados, 2002. - 208 p.
2. Introduction to scientific research in pedagogy: Proc. allowance / Ed. V. I. Zhuravleva. - M.: Education, 1988. - P. 94
3. Druzhinin V.N. Experimental psychology / V. N. Druzhinin. - St. Petersburg: Peter, 2001. - 256 p.
4. Zarochentsev K.D. Experimental psychology : textbook. / K. D. Zarochentsev, A. I. Khudyakov. - M.: Prospekt, 2005. - P. 30-51.
5. Kondakov I.M. Workshop on general psychology . Textbook for universities / I.M.
Key terms
To understand how the natural experiment method works, there are a few key terms:
Variety of instruments
Psychology has many different tools in its arsenal:
- experiment;
- observation method;
- method of researching products of activity;
- questionnaires and testing;
- psychological modeling;
- biographical and comparative genetic methods.
Let's focus on the experimental method. The word “experiment” itself comes from the Latin root experimentum, and, literally translated, means trial or experiment. In the executive sense, an experiment is based on an experiment or procedure to refute or confirm a hypothesis or theory.
Image by jacqueline macou from Pixabay
According to the method of conducting, experiments may differ in the scale of their implementation, goals, but they are united by one rule: the need to repeat the experiment or the procedure of the experiment itself, for a complete and sufficient analysis of the results.
Experimental process
Psychologists, like other scientists, use the scientific method when conducting experiments. The scientific method is a set of procedures and principles that guide how scientists develop research questions, collect data, and draw conclusions. There are four main stages of the process:
Main tasks and methods
The tasks that are set for the result of the experiment:
- Popper's criterion, according to which any empirical system must be refutable on the basis of experiment, therefore, during the experiment it is necessary to determine the scientific nature of the hypothesis or theory;
- verification: practical confirmation of a hypothesis or assumption.
- According to the method of conducting experiments, they can be:
- laboratory: the study is carried out in specially created conditions, through targeted intervention in the life activity of the subject;
- natural, which, unlike laboratory ones, do not require the creation of special conditions, and intervention is minimized.
What is a natural experiment?
A natural experiment is an empirical study in which individuals (or clusters of individuals) are exposed to experimental and control conditions beyond the control of the researchers, but the process itself appears natural. These are some kind of observational studies. A natural experiment is the most useful method when there is a clear exposure with a well-defined subpopulation (and lack of exposure) so that changes in results can plausibly be attributed to the exposure. In this sense, the difference between a natural experiment and a non-experimental observational study is that the former involves comparisons of conditions that pave the way to a causal inference, but the latter does not.
Natural experiments are research projects where controlled experiments are extremely difficult to implement or unethical, such as in several areas of research covered by epidemiology (for example, assessing the health effects of varying degrees of exposure to ionizing radiation in people living near Hiroshima at the time of the atomic explosion) , economics (e.g., estimating the economic returns to adult education in the United States), political science, psychology, and social sciences.
History and present situation
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
Psychology, as a scientific discipline, is a relatively young science.
She studies the patterns, development and, directly, the functioning of the human psyche, his mental activity, as well as interaction within social groups.
Psychology has the following areas in its structure:
- the study of the mechanisms and laws of human mental activity - fundamental psychology;
- the study of mental phenomena of human activity, the reaction of the human psyche to changes in the environment and society, in natural conditions - applied psychology, which is based on research in fundamental psychology;
- the practical application of psychological knowledge in a person’s everyday life, in relation to his activities in society and the natural environment - practical psychology, and this direction, accordingly, is directly related to the research of the first two directions.
I would like to note that practical psychology is very closely interconnected with psychiatry. Their joint research in the field of recognition and treatment of mental disorders, direct impact on the physiology of human orgasm through the psyche, solving problems of a psycho-emotional nature, problems of personality development are very significant, they are difficult to overestimate.
Great Social Experiments
Natural experiment conditions
Key conditions and features of experimental research include manipulation and control. Manipulation in this context means that the experimenter can control the subjects of the study and how they experience the effects. At least one variable may be manipulated. Controlled trials can only answer certain types of epidemiological questions, and they are not useful when investigating questions for which randomization is either not feasible or unethical.
As an example, suppose an investigator is interested in the health effects of poor housing. Because it is not practical or ethical to randomly assign people to variable housing conditions, the subject is difficult to study using an experimental approach. However, if there was a housing policy change, such as a lottery for subsidized mortgages, that would allow some people to move into more desirable housing while leaving other similar people in their previous substandard housing, it might be possible to use this policy change to study the impact of changing housing health conditions.
In another example, the well-known natural experiment in Helena (Montana, USA), in which smoking was banned in all public places for a six-month period. The researchers subsequently reported a 60 percent drop in heart attacks in the study area during the ban's duration.
Scientific method of research
Experiment is the main research method in science. The key functions are control over variables, careful measurement and establishment of cause-and-effect relationships. This is a study in which a hypothesis is tested scientifically. In an experiment, the independent variable (cause) is manipulated and the dependent variable (effect) is measured, and any extraneous variables are controlled. The advantage is that experiments tend to be objective. The views and opinions of the researcher should not influence the results of the study. This is good because it makes the data more reliable and less biased.
Source
Methods and tools
Various methods are used to collect information in a natural experiment.
- Statement of the problem: can be done orally or in writing.
In the formulation of the problem there is a necessary deviation from the natural course of familiar events. Observing the process, the behavior of the subject during the decision process, allows you to confirm or refute the hypothesis put forward.
- Training experiment: the process of teaching the necessary skills itself allows you to observe the formation and development of the personality qualities of the subject.
This method is also called a formative experiment.
- An extraordinary method is the method of changing the operating conditions.
The essence of the method is a purposeful change in the habitual algorithms of the subject’s actions in the course of performing processes that are standard for his professional or everyday life.
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
This allows you to track the flexibility of skills, as well as evaluate the role and significance of variable inputs.
- A modeling method that is closest in structure to laboratory methods.
It is used if research in natural conditions is difficult due to its complexity or inaccessibility. Then a model is created that is closest to the required one, and the phenomenon is studied using this model.
