At the end of this course you will be able to describe different types of research methods and choose them appropriately when conducting your own research.
This course is comprised of two units:
Unit 1: Non-Experimental Research Methods
Unit 2: Experimental Research Methods
Research Methods is a free micro course designed for anyone who wants to learn more about research methods in psychology, it is the 2nd of 3 micro courses. At the end of this course you will be able to:
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Design a research proposal.
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Discuss the key concepts in research design including operational definitions, variables, reliability, validity, and sampling procedures.
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Explain the strengths and limitations of research designs used in psychology, including experimental and non-experimental designs.
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Identify potential flaws in research design.
This course will help you to:
- Define nonexperimental research and distinguish it clearly from experimental research
- Explain when a researcher might choose to conduct nonexperimental research as opposed to experimental research
- Define correlations
- Graph scatter diagrams
- Identify when correlations are inappropriate
- Identify the advantages of correlational research
- Identify the limitations of correlational research
- Describe naturalistic observation
- Identify the advantages and limitations of naturalistic observation
- Describe case studies
- Identify the advantages and limitations of case studies
- Describe survey research
- Identify the advantages and limitations of survey research
- Describe archival research
- Identify the advantages and limitations of archival research
- Define quasi-experimental research
- Identify the advantages and limitations of quasi-experimental research
- Define cross‐sectional research
- Describe the advantages and limitations of cross‐sectional research
- Define longitudinal research
- Describe the advantages and limitations of longitudinal research
- Describe common threats to internal validity, including selection, history, maturation, regression to the mean, instrumentation, and testing
