Research Methods and Ethics in Lifespan Development
In Developmental Psychology, researchers use specific
research methods. The scientific method, as noted in your text, refers to the
following:
The Scientific MethodLinks to an external site. (2016)
by Thebiologyprimer is licensed under CC
BY-NC-SA 2.0 Links to an external site.
Identify
a problem to be studied. This may come in the form of a question of
certain behavior or an issue or query that stems from previously
established theories.
Develop
a hypothesis. A hypothesis is simply a predictive answer to the
question that was identified previously.
Create
a method of collecting data. This depends entirely on the question and
hypothesis. In developmental psychology, this may include observation,
longitudinal, cross-sectional, interview, survey, or even neuroscience
research.
Analyze
the data. This depends on the data collected. The data can be either
qualitative data (as the type collected from observations, interviews, or
written responses and come in the form of words) or quantitative data (as
collected from surveys, specific measures and always come in the form of
numbers like a score on a test). This is done to see whether the data
supports the hypothesis or not.
Make
inferences. Depending on the results of the data collection, the
researchers draw conclusions from the results.
Have
it peer reviewed. Whether the hypothesis was supported or not, the
researcher then submits the write-up of the research to a pertinent
journal to be peer-reviewed (researchers in a similar field will read the
research and decide on the merits of the research).
Instructions
From your readings (Chapter 1, About Human Development),
remember that development psychologists use different research methods and
designs to learn about human development. These include observation,
interviews, longitudinal design, cross-sectional design, and surveys. Choose
one (1) of the research methods you learned about and discuss the following:
Identify
a hypothetical problem related to lifespan development that you think
would be interesting to study. (Remember, you are not performing any
research.)
What
method would you use to research this problem, and why did you choose it?
How is
this method used to perform research?
What
are the benefits of this method for your pretend research?
What
are the problems or challenges with this method?
What
are the ethical concerns that come from this method?
What
can the researcher do to limit the ethical issues that can arise from
research?
Submission Instructions
Please submit a Word document with answers to each of the
questions above. For each question asked, please respond with at least a
paragraph. Integrate these paragraphs into a full paper with an introduction
and concluding paragraph. Include a minimum of one scholarly source. All
sources must be cited properly both in text and on your reference page.
Reference pages are are separate from the body of the paper.
This assignment uses Turnitin.
