Methods of Psychology

1. Introspection
Method of self-analysis
It means looking into oneself or self-observation or self-analysis
It involves carefully examining and reporting one’s own thoughts, actions, sensations,
emotions.
Merits:
One could do self-observation without depending upon time, place and nature of
situation.
No device is required
Only method to know some individual experiences
Demerits:
Reports are subjective and selective and they cannot verified objectively
Provide little information about experiences of infants, mentally ill persons or of animals
2. Descriptive Research
It is descriptive because the researcher simply records what he has systematically
observed. It includes the following methods.
 Naturalistic Observation
 Case Study
 Survey
Naturalistic Observation:
Making observation in the natural world.
It is a research method for systematically observing and recording events as they occur
naturally in the real world. Subjects are observed in the natural environment.
Case Study:
Studying individual (ie) Depth
Case study or case history method is perhaps the simplest and most direct form of
psychological investigation. One individual is examined intensively to find out as much as
possible about a certain problem or issue as it relates to that person.
Survey:
Asking for responses to interview and questionnaire
 A survey asks subjects a series of questions about the topic of interest, such as product
preferences or religious opinions. It is commonly in the form of interviews or questionnaires.
3. Experimental Method:
Establishing cause and effect of relationship
The researcher carefully controls conditions often in a laboratory and takes measurements
in order to discover relations among variables
Independent Variables: It is independent of what the subject does
Dependent variables: The amount remembered
4. Developmental Method:
In this method the technique of observation is used over the period of growth of the child
and is widely used in the field of developmental psychology.
Normative Investigation: “Development of Norms”
The aim is to describe something that is characteristics of a specific age or
developmental stop
Longitudinal Study: “Studying Development over time”
In this technique changes in the same individual or group over a long period of
time.
Cross Sectional Study: “Comparing Different Age Group”
It compares the groups of different ages at the same time.