Brief description of research methods in psychology. Methods of psychology. Specific methods of psychology

Psychology, like any other science, has its own categorical apparatus, and its own research methods, that is, techniques and means that allow it to obtain objective information of interest, assess the state of a person’s mental processes, and, if necessary, plan further psychological correctional or advisory work.

The psychological processes of a person are of a complex nature, they require attentiveness and patience in the study. Still, their manifestations are very diverse and depend on specific circumstances, external and internal factors, each of which must be taken into account.

Each method has its own tasks and goals, object, subject and situation, during which the study will take place. An important detail is the method of recording the results (video filming, note-taking).

• The simplest and most accessible to everyone is the method of observation. In terms of time, it can be short, called a slice, and long, covered by a time frame of several years - lungitudinal. Observation, the object of which is certain individuals or individual indicators, is called selective, and there is, accordingly, such a view as continuous. The researcher can be a member of the research team, in which case the observation will be included.
• The next method is conversation. The main requirement is ease and trusting atmosphere. In the process of communication, the psychotherapist receives interesting information about the life, activities and views of the subject. In a conversation, questions, answers, and reasoning come from both sides. Varieties of conversation - interviews and questionnaires, here, unlike a simple conversation, the structure is as follows: question - answer.
• Experiment - requires the creation of a certain situation and conditions. Its purpose is to reveal or refute a psychological fact. It can be carried out in natural conditions for the subjects, the person should not know that he is a participant in the experiment. Some prefer the laboratory, then the auxiliary means will be: equipment, instructions, prepared space. In this case, a person understands the purpose of his stay in the created "laboratory", but the meaning of the experiment should remain unknown.
• Testing is a popular and rewarding method. For diagnostics, methods and tests are used, the purpose of which is to identify the state of specific indicators (memory, attention, thinking, intelligence, emotional-volitional sphere) and personality traits. They have a task that the subject performs, and the psychologist interprets and draws conclusions. For this method, tests should be selected that have been tested and recognized in the scientific world, as they say "classic". Tests for assessing the level of intelligence and all kinds of personality aspects are very popular.
• The study of products of activity is perhaps the fastest and most informative method, especially when working with children. Holding crafts, drawings, workbooks, diaries in your hands, you can find out the level of human development, his life preferences, character traits and other important characteristics.
• Psychological modeling is not so simple, and not one hundred percent method. Helps to construct habitual patterns of human behavior.
• Biographical method - involves compiling the life path of the subject and marking on it the factors that influenced the formation of his personality, crisis moments and important changes, especially his behavioral reactions in different periods. They make a life schedule, according to which it is possible to predict the future of a person, as well as to find out which periods of life have become formative or vice versa, destructive, for the formation of certain criteria.

Psychological science has come a long way, using its research methods, they are accurate and effective, accessible to every psychologist.

Psychology is an independent science, as it has its own subject of study and methods of cognition of phenomena and processes. It is possible to obtain reliable information about the mental characteristics of a person, the reasons for his behavior, the features of social interaction between people, using special psychodiagnostic tools. Psychological methods are the main tool of professional psychologists.

Research methods in psychology

A method in psychology is the definition of a way to achieve a set research goal.

The methods of studying the psyche include:

• Experiment and modeling. The experiment is carried out to test the hypothesis. Modeling involves the development of a program (model) for the development of an individual or a group and its testing.
• Observation does not imply the active participation of the researcher in the activities of the subjects. The psychologist cannot direct the behavior and activities of the subjects, he only records the observed facts.
• The analysis of activity products involves the study of drawings, applications, essays in order to determine the personal characteristics of the subject, the features of his relationship with others.
• Testing is represented by a huge number of tests aimed at studying various components of personality. The subject is invited to answer the questions of the methodology, after which the psychologist interprets his answers in accordance with the key to the test.
• Poll - oral communication of a psychologist with the subjects in order to obtain the information necessary for the study.
• Biographical and genetic methods are used to identify the causes of a particular psychological phenomenon or phenomenon.

Additional Information. In the methodology of psychology, the types of diagnostic tools are combined into groups. The classification criterion is the scope of their application. Any psychological research involves the use of several groups of methods.

Classification of methods of psychology

There are several approaches to the classification of methods of psychological research. All methods of psychology were briefly described by B.G. Ananyeva:

• Research organization methods. The entire methodology is based on them. These include cross-sections, a comprehensive study of a mental phenomenon, a comparative method involving a study in the control and experimental groups, a longitudinal study based on ascertaining and control diagnostics.
• Methods for collecting empirical data. With their help, they study something, extract facts. These include experiment and observation, testing and surveys, questioning and conversation, the study of products of activity, biographies, modeling.

• Methods for quantitative processing of experimental data. These include mathematical and statistical methods.
• Interpretation methods. They make it possible, on the basis of quantitative results, to compile a descriptive description of the phenomena being studied.

Basic methods of psychology

Observation and experiment can be called the main methods of psychological science.

Observation

Observation is a psychological method that involves a purposeful and planned study of behavioral reactions or the human psyche in normal, familiar conditions with the obligatory keeping of a protocol.

Important! Observation should be carried out by an experienced specialist, because the observed facts must be correctly described.

Experiment as a Method of Psychology

Experiment is the main method of psychology and pedagogy. In psychology, all experiments are usually divided into:

• pilot experiments. This is the name of research in little-studied areas of science, which are carried out in the absence of the possibility of formulating a hypothesis.
• Pedagogical experiments are the organization of studying the features of the educational and upbringing process in educational institutions. Subjects of different age groups are involved in these studies: from younger preschoolers to students.
• natural experiments. They involve the study of one or another phenomenon of the psyche in conditions familiar to people.
• Laboratory experiments are the organization of the study of some mental phenomenon in artificially created conditions, excluding the influence of external factors that can distort the results of the study.
• Ascertaining experiments. They are aimed at identifying the characteristics of the development of an individual or group.
• Formative experiments. They are aimed at the development of certain qualities in the individual or the formation of group unity of the team.
• Control experiments. They are conducted in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the developed program for the development of skills or qualities among the participants in the experiment.

Additional Information. Such a division of experiments into types is conditional. Some types of experiments are complementary, others are complementary.

Basic Methods of Practical Psychology

A feature of practical psychology is that its goal is not just to study some features of an individual or group, but to correct and optimize them. The specificity of the methods of practical psychology differs from the methods of general psychology.

a brief description of

In practical science, the following psychological methods are used:

• Clinical and personality-oriented psychotherapy. Clinical psychotherapy is the medical and psychological impact of a psychologist on the personal characteristics of a person suffering from a mental disorder, having psychosomatic manifestations or subject to drug addiction. Person-centered psychotherapy is a technique in psychology, the task of which is to help a person change his attitude towards himself or his environment.
• Hypnosis. It makes it possible to influence the consciousness of a person in order to constructively change it.
• Psychodrama is the study of the inner world of a person. Its application allows you to identify the actual problems of the client and find ways to solve them.
• Body therapy expands the scope of a person's consciousness through bodily sensations and teaches him to resolve conflicts between mind and body.
• Art therapy is a way to correct the emotional sphere of a person. Creative activities with a qualified specialist make a person engage in reflection, help to actualize their negative emotions, fears and overcome them. Art therapy techniques are used in the correction of mental disorders, in working with depression and neurosis.
• Sand therapy. Playing in a large sandbox is used as a means to help children learn to connect, communicate and interact. In addition, sand therapy contributes to the normalization of the emotional background of the child.
• Color therapy is a technology of working with the inner world of a person. One of the options for color therapy is coloring mandalas.
• Fairy tale therapy is a technology of psychological diagnostics and correction used in work with children of preschool and primary school age. It helps to understand the motives of the child's actions, to reveal his attitude towards peers, adults, to diagnose the psychological climate in the family.

• Right hand drawing. This technology is usually attributed to the ways of actualizing the creative potential of the individual. Classes in this type of drawing help to cope with depression, negative feelings, and gain a personal resource.
• Training is a learning experience. Training technology is used in management psychology when working with personnel in order to increase labor productivity, master effective sales technologies.

Additional Information. The toolkit of practical psychology is constantly expanding, as its application must meet the modern demands of society.

Survey as the main method of practical psychology

The survey method is a process of purposeful collection of information in psychology through the communication of the experimenter with the respondent.

The experimenter can use one of the following types of survey:

• Interview - an oral version of the survey, where a psychologist asks questions to a person or group in order to obtain information about the object being studied;
• Questioning is a written form of collecting information about the object under study.

Consultation as a method of practical psychology

A consultation is a form of interaction between a psychologist and a client, where a specialist helps a person find a solution to difficult life situations. Together with the client, the psychologist identifies the problem and risks, helps parents eliminate mistakes in raising children, and trains managers in effective management techniques.

Thus, there are a huge number of methods of psychological research. Today, many new interesting methods of psycho-corrective work are emerging, so practitioners should pay great attention to self-education and improving their skills.

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The methods of psychology are a set of techniques and methods by which researchers can obtain information and expand the knowledge necessary to create scientific theories in psychology and form practical recommendations. Together with the definition of the concept of "method", the terms "methodology" and "methodology" are used. The method is implemented in a methodology, which is a set of rules necessary for research, describes a set of tools and objects used in certain circumstances and is regulated by the sequence of researcher's influences. Each psychological technique is based on information about age, gender, ethnicity, professional and religious affiliation.

Methodology is a system of principles and methods for organizing scientific research, which determines the ways to achieve theoretical scientific knowledge, and methods for organizing practical activities. The research is based on the methodology, which reflects the worldview of the researcher, his views and philosophical position.

The phenomena studied by psychology are very complex and diverse, they are very difficult for scientific knowledge, because the success of this science depended on the improvement of research methods.

The subject, tasks and methods of psychology have changed throughout the development of science. To use your psychological knowledge correctly, you need to know the basic methods of psychology. The receipt of reliable information depends on the observance of special principles and the application of specific techniques.

The methods of psychology are briefly understood as ways of studying the real facts of the surrounding reality. Each method is accompanied by only the appropriate type of techniques that meet the goals and objectives of the study. Based on any one method, you can create several methods.

Subject, tasks and methods of psychology These are the three important aspects on which all science rests. At different times, the subject of psychology was defined in different ways, now it is the psyche, the study of its laws and mechanisms for the formation of personal characteristics. The tasks of psychology follow from its subject.

The methods of psychology can be briefly described as ways of studying the psyche and its activities.

Research methods in psychology

The exploratory methods of psychology are briefly described as techniques by which reliable knowledge is obtained that is necessary to create concepts and test theories. Through certain norms and techniques, the most effective way for the practical application of knowledge in the field of psychology is provided.

The general characteristic of the methods of psychology used in the study lies in their distribution into four groups: organizational, empirical, methods of correction and data processing.

Organizational basic methods of psychology:

Comparative genetic: comparison of different types of groups according to certain psychological criteria. He received the greatest popularity in zoopsychology and child psychology. The evolutionary method, which was formed in line with the comparative one, consists in comparing the mental development of an animal with the developmental features of individuals located at the previous and subsequent levels of animal evolution;

The cross-sectional method is a comparison of the characteristics of interest from different groups (for example, the study of the psychological characteristics of children of different ages, with different levels of development, different personality traits and clinical reactions);

Longitudinal - repetition of the study of the same subjects for a long time;

Complex - representatives of different sciences who study the same object in different ways participate in the study. In a complex method, one can find connections and dependencies between different phenomena (mental and physiological phenomena, social and psychological).

The cross-sectional method in psychology has both advantages and disadvantages. The advantage of transverse sections is the speed of the study, that is, the possibility of acquiring results within a fairly short time. Despite the great advantage of this type of research methods in psychology, it is impossible to demonstrate the dynamics of the development process with its help. Most of the results on the laws of development are very approximate. Regarding the method of transverse sections, the longitudinal one has a large number of advantages.

Longitudinal methods of research in psychology help to process data in certain age periods. With their help, you can establish the dynamics of the individual development of the child. Thanks to longitudinal methods of psychology research, it is possible to identify and resolve the issue of age-related crises in human development. A significant disadvantage in a longitudinal study is that it requires a large amount of time required to organize and conduct it.

Empirical methods are the main methods of psychology in research, since it separated into a separate science:

Objective observation (external) and self-observation (internal);

Analysis of activity products;

Experimental (natural, formative, laboratory) and psychodiagnostic (questionnaires, tests, questionnaires, interviews, sociometry, conversation) methods.

Psychology of the introspective direction considered self-observation to be the main way of cognition in psychology.

In the process of objective observation, the researcher inquires about the individual motives, experiences and sensations of the subject, the researcher directs him to perform appropriate actions, deeds, so that he observes the patterns of mental processes.

The method of observation is used when it is necessary to have the least interference in the natural behavior, interpersonal relationships of people, in the case of striving to obtain a holistic picture of everything that happens. The observation must be carried out using objective methods.

Scientific observation is directly related to ordinary life observation. That is why, in the first place, it is desirable to create the basic conditions that satisfy observation, so that it becomes a scientific method.

One of the requirements is the presence of a clear goal of the study. According to the goal, you need to define a plan. In observation, as in the scientific method, the most essential features are planned and systematic. If observation proceeds from a well-conscious goal, then it must acquire a selective and partial character.

Praximetric methods have been developed mainly in line with the psychology of work in the study of various mental aspects, human actions, operations and professional behavior. These methods are chronometry, cyclography, professiograms and psychograms.

The method of analyzing the products of activity is used in many areas of science: from general psychology to age psychology, and is a comprehensive study of the results of labor as the materialization of mental activity. This method is applied equally to a child's drawing, as well as a school essay or a writer's work or a painted picture.

The biographical method in psychology consists in the life path of a person, a description of his biography. When a personality develops, it changes, rebuilds life orientations, views, experiencing certain personal transformations during this.

Modeling in psychology has a variety of options. Models can be structural or functional, symbolic, physical, mathematical or informational.

The third group of methods of psychology is represented by methods of processing the obtained results. These include - a more organic unity of qualitative and quantitative meaningful analysis. The process of processing the results is always creative, exploratory and involves the selection of the most adequate and sensitive tools.

The fourth group of methods of psychology is interpretive, which theoretically explain the property or phenomenon being studied. Here are complex and systemic sets of different variants of structural, genetic and functional methods, which close the general cycle of the process of psychological research.

Speaker of the Medical and Psychological Center "PsychoMed"

When students of psychology study the methods of psychology in order to answer them on the exam, they study the methods of not all, but only theoretical (academic) psychology. Methods of practical psychology are not yet asked from psychology students. About them - at the end of the article, and in the main article, when "methods of psychology" is written, one should read "methods of academic psychology." So,

The methods of (academic) psychology are those techniques and means by which psychologists obtain reliable information that is used further to build scientific theories and develop practical recommendations. A good method does not replace a talented researcher, but is an important help to him.

The methods of psychology are aimed at studying mental phenomena in development and change.

The development and change of the psyche in the history of the animal world, in the history of mankind, with age characteristics, under the influence of exercise, training and education, as a result of adverse environmental influences, as a result of diseases are studied.

Methods of psychological research study not only the special person himself, but also the conditions affecting him.

It is impossible, for example, to understand the properties of a child's personality without taking into account the situation around him in the family and at school.

Methods of psychology are very different. Classifying them, first of all, the methods of the actual scientific research and the methods directly applied in practice are distinguished. Methods can be more general and more specific, more or less scientific. In a psychology that claims to be scientific, there must be appropriate scientific methods.

The main methods of psychology, like most other sciences, are observation and experiment. Additional -, conversation, and biographical method. Recently, psychological testing has become increasingly popular.

In the study of mental phenomena, various methods are usually used that complement each other.

For example, the manifestation of an employee's confusion when performing a certain task, repeatedly noted by observation, has to be clarified by conversation, and sometimes verified by a natural experiment, using target tests.

If sensation and thought cannot be seen, then they are observed indirectly, not only through self-observation, but also through practical deeds and actions.

Methods of psychology must be used systematically, in a complex - and always purposefully, for each task specifically.

First of all, the task that has arisen, the question to be studied, the goal to be achieved are specified, and then, in accordance with this, a specific and accessible method is selected.

The classification of psychological research methods uses different bases, different psychological trends and schools interpret methods and techniques differently. A detailed and multifaceted classification of research methods in psychology was formed by the classic of Russian psychology B. G. Ananiev. In accordance with the use at different stages of the study, he identified several groups of methods:

1. Organizational methods of psychology, which are the main research in general, all of its methodology. This can include:
   • a comparison that has different options (for example, the result of several subjects, groups can be compared, indicators are compared that can be obtained using the same (or different) methods in the considered time intervals (for example, cross sections);
   • a longitudinal method, which is based on a long-term tracking of mental development, changes in the same parameters in the same group. It represents a "longitudinal slice" in time, which is analogous to the logic of formative research;
   • a complex method, which consists in the system of the two previous ways of cognition, in the interdisciplinary nature of approaches, methods and techniques.
2. The empirical method by which the facts are obtained is the research itself. These methods are the most extensive and branched group.
3. Processing of the obtained results in the form of an organic unity of quantitative and qualitative, statistical and meaningful analysis. This method is always a creative, search process, which involves the choice of the most adequate and sensitive mathematical means.
4. Interpretive methods, concentrating on a theoretical explanation, a psychological interpretation of the phenomenon or property under study. There is always a complex (in the form of a system) set of corresponding variants of the genetic, functional and structural method, which close the general cycle of psychological research.

Remark 1

The classification developed by Ananiev cannot be considered exhaustive, therefore, in the following parts of the article, some of the most common methods of psychology will be described.

Observation as a Method of Psychology

Definition 1

Like other methods, it requires special training to perform. Professionalism is important here, because observation can be carried out both over the landscape opening outside the train window, and over the dynamics of the movement of stars using the latest telescope. Scientific observation requires setting a goal, planning, drawing up a protocol, etc. The most important thing here is the adequacy in the psychological interpretation of the results of observation, since, as is known, the psyche cannot be reduced to behavioral reactions.

Remark 2

An important advantage of the method of observation is the flow of people's activities in normal, natural conditions for them. A person may not know that he is being monitored, and therefore "does not play along" with the researcher at least at a certain moment, as they say, openly.

A variety of observation is self-observation (introspection) in the form of the historically first method of studying the soul and psyche. This is the "internal" observation of the individual over his own mental phenomena. They, for all their seeming everyday simplicity, are in fact a very complex and multifactorial process. For such a reflection of oneself (reflection) of a person, special training is necessary. Qualified introspection, which is compared with the results of other methods, is always useful and important for psychological research.

Experiment as the main method of psychology

The experiment is rightly considered the main method of modern psychology. He was historically at its origins, but due to the specifics of its subject, psychology remains a largely descriptive science. Not everything in the psyche can be experimented with in accordance with its classical, scientific understanding. Thus, the work of a psychotherapist or psychoconsultant cannot always be considered experimental in its own right. The special role of the experimental method is characterized by its undoubted advantages:

• the ability to use in the subjects any process, property or state of interest to researchers (for example, there is no need to wait for the manifestation of will or emotion, creating for this artificial conditions that the experiment provides for);
• preliminary selection of all the alleged conditions that affect the phenomenon under study, the possibility of their systematic change (increase, decrease, exclusion, that is, purposeful organization and change in the course of the process under study);
• the possibility of reliably identifying the measure of influence of each of the controlled variation of factors, that is, the detection of objective patterns, relationships and dependencies. This is the path from a living phenomenon, facts to the knowledge of the essence;
• strict quantitative processing and interpretation of the obtained empirical materials, mathematical description and modeling of the studied phenomena in general.

The listed advantages of the experimental method inevitably lead to its main difficulty in the form of limitations. Both the mental and external work of the subject in experiments proceeds as if artificially, in an imposed order, in unusual conditions. A person may know that this is not a real practice, but only an experiment, which, for example, can always be stopped at his request. Hence, the inevitable methodological problem of studying the adequacy, correctness and reliability of transferring the results of the experiment to practical activity appears.

In accordance with various grounds, one can consider a large number of types of experiment, including analytical and synthetic, ascertaining and forming, psychological and pedagogical, modeling, teaching, laboratory, field, etc. A special place in this list is occupied by a natural experiment, which was first proposed by the Russian psychologist A F. Lazursky.

The essence of a natural experiment is the flow of the researched activity of the subject in his usual conditions. The subject does not know about the experiment, being subjected to a strictly dosed experimental effect through the studied conditions and factors.

Remark 3

The organization and conduct of this type of experiment is associated with great difficulties due to the contradictory combination of “experimentality” and “naturalness”. Along with this, the transfer of the obtained laboratory conclusions to real practice is greatly simplified.

For some objective and subjective reasons, modern psychology is becoming less and less of an experimental science. To a greater extent, among the methods of psychological research used, tests, surveys, and interviews are used. It is often misleading to refer to any innovation that is made to something, including uncontrolled changes, as an experiment. Forgetting the experiment significantly impoverishes the methods and theory of psychology, simplifying and distorting the understanding of its subject.

Other methods of psychology

The test (test, test) is used most often in scientific psychology. It has been used for over a hundred years and has become more and more popular in recent years. There are many types and classifications of tests in accordance with their construction, tasks, execution. This can be attributed to a special section of psychological knowledge and practice, which is called psychodiagnostics. However, the latter concept is broader than the doctrine of tests (testology). Not all psychological tests, tests, questions, tasks can be attributed to tests, since tests should be characterized by standardization, reliability, validity, psychometric consistency, clear psychological interpretation, etc.

For example, test standardization is not just presenting the same verbal formulation to all subjects, but selection, statistical adjustment of the degree of complexity of the question, as a result of which the distribution of answers in the maximum samples of subjects has the form of a normal Gaussian curve.

Remark 4

Such a requirement as the validity of a test means confidence that it measures exactly what it is aimed at (for example, an assessment of motivation, not motivation, current mood, and not a stable feeling).

Each test should be based on a certain theory, the author's interpretation of the psyche under study. For this reason, the same terms often hide different content. So, the types of temperament of the same name by IP Pavlov and according to G. Yu. Eysenck are formed on grounds that cannot be compared. Therefore, when interpreting the test results, it is important to strictly comply with the author's semantics without changing the given interpretation of words. This is especially true for projective tests, in which the subjects' free answers are considered as a projection of their personality traits, which can be explained from the standpoint of the original theory.

Remark 5

The test is considered as an extremely simplified modification of the experimental method. If used correctly, it makes it possible to obtain a large amount of empirical data, allowing for a preliminary gradation of subjects.

Often in psychology, methods such as questionnaires and questionnaires in the form of various variations of tests are also used. Their compilation, use and interpretation always require due professionalism, since it is not the wording of the question that is important, but the order in which it is presented. Psychology and sociology, for example, or pedagogy should use different questionnaires and questionnaires due to differences in the subject of research. A special kind of questionnaires are sociometric methods, through which the study of interpersonal relations in a group, the identification of the relationship "leader - follower" takes place.

The method of conversation requires special training of a psychologist, special rules for conducting and the behavior of researchers. This is where individual psychological work takes place.

Example 1

It is one thing - the famous clinical conversation of the school of J. Piaget; a completely different option is a psychoanalytic conversation on the ideology of S. Freud; the third - a conversation during psychological counseling on a certain theoretical concept, etc.

Praximetric research methods were developed mainly for the psychology of labor in the study of various movements, operations, actions, and professional behavior of a person. This can include the methods of chronometry, cyclography, compiling thorough professiograms (and then psychograms).

Analysis of the products of activity is used by many sections of psychology, ranging from general to age. This method is a comprehensive study of the results of labor as a materialization of mental activity, which can be attributed to both children's drawings and school essays, works of writers, and operator's erroneous actions.

The biographical method is characterized by a psychological analysis of the life path, the facts of the personality's biography, which develops and has its own history, certain psychological milestones, including crises and ups and downs.

Remark 6

S. L. Rubinshtein believed that a person who has committed a significant thing, at the same time, changes in a certain sense.

The biographical method is a psychological study, an analysis of a person's ideas about his life path, about the past and the future. He considers the psychology of life plans; psychological strategies of human life and behavior.

In a variety of versions, the modeling method is also presented, which uses structural, functional, physical, symbolic, logical, mathematical, information models. Any of them is poorer than the original, since it highlights a certain aspect in it, forcedly abstracting from other aspects of the phenomenon under study.

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