Psychological research

Psychological research refers to research that psychologists conduct for systematic study and for analysis of the experiences and behaviors of individuals or groups. Their research can have educational, occupational and clinical applications. Wilhelm Wundt is credited as one of the founders of psychology. He created the first laboratory for psychological research. Philosophy of mind and Philosophy of psychology Human subject research and Animal testing Psychological research risks harming the subjects of the research. In order to prevent that harm, proposed studies are usually approved by an Institutional review board to ensure that the risks to the research subjects are justified by the anticipated benefits IRBs also verify that Informed Consent has been obtained. This involves documenting that the subject (or legally authorized representative) agrees to being a subject after having been informed of what the research is about, risks and benefits to the subject, that the subject may discontinue participation at any time, and how personally identifiable information will be handled. Some research, such as the Milgram experiment, have raised questions about the research ethics and resulted in the revision of the ethical standards of psychological research. List of psychological research methods Psychologists use many research methods, and categorical distinctions of these methods have emerged. Methods can be categorized by the kind of data they produce: qualitative or quantitative—and both these are used for pure or applied research. Psychology tends to be eclectic, applying knowledge from other fields. Some of its methods are used within other areas of research, especially in the social and behavioural sciences. Experiment and Experimental psychology The field of psychology commonly uses experimental methods in what is known as experimental psychology. Researchers design experiments to test specific hypotheses (the deductive approach), or to evaluate functional relationships (the inductive approach).