Psychology Research paper Essay


            Case study; Case study is a way of researching in Social sciences or Psychology. It involves the intensive analysis of a group of people, society or even an incident. An example would be the study of HIV infections among the youth.

            Historical research; Historical research is the investigation and evaluation of a major event in a life time. The findings of such an event research are a well stored and archived, for future generation’s use. An example would be a research on how president Obama, the first black president won the elections.

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            Ethnography; Ethnography is a methodological style of describing human behavior or the society. An extensive study is therefore carried out. An example would be, describing teenagers’ behavior in writing. There are no observations or interviews. In Psychology,  it can be described as a field study.

            Phenomenology; Phenomenology entails the use of subjective experiences for a particular study on, ones self or individuals. Experience is therefore of major use because the study is on existence or being in this world. An example is how education transforms people.

            Grounded Theory Research Designs; this is the use of qualitative research methods to explain the behavior of people in the society or community. Grounded theory research designs are applied in social sciences, to determine the basics of interactions and relationships. An example is, ways of determining why most people marry at a certain age.

            Content Analysis; Content analysis is a research method in Psychology for determining the content of communication. It can be used in research to analyze the answers given during an interview. It is a way of coming up with information from the data collected.

            Pen coding; Pen coding in research refers to the classification of data in to groups, that can be identified by a few letters. Qualitative data is grouped for easy evaluation. On questionnaires, related behavior can be given one score or answers to questions may have multiple choices for easy evaluation.

(Mark 2001 p.12-34)

            Axial Coding; this is the disaggregation of main themes in the analysis of qualitative data. In research, axial coding is the way of relating codes, types and concepts to one another, through either inductive or deductive thinking. It provides a corner stone for analysis. An example is, when related characteristics are used to come up with one word for a person’s behavior, like an extravert’s characteristics.

            Selective Coding; Selective coding is the scanning of data or information, to previous codes. Researchers consider only cases with illustrate themes and look for similarities or differences for items or individuals, after data has been collected. An example is, determining a student’s behavior in primary school and in high school.

            Pattern; In Psychology, pattern is a sequence in which research is carried out to come up findings on people’s behavior. This is the repetition of data collection in a predictable manner and in a unique way. Patterns can be applied in interviewing students to join a particular school in different years.

            Category; Category is any broad class of research materials. It refers to items that can be discussed but not reduced to anything else. An example is interview questions for job recruits to different departments in an organization; the interview questions used by the Human Resource Manager will be the same for different departments.

            Interpretive Validity; Interpretive validity is the inference from words or actions by most participants in a situation studied. The sample researched on is evaluated to come up with the most relevant results. It helps in coming up with information from the data collected in research. An example is the short listing of candidates after an interview for a job vacancy.

(Timothy 2003 p.11-35)


Mark T. (2001). Research in Psychology. New Jersey. Netro Publishers.

Timothy G. (2003). Research Terms in Psychology. New York. Wetap Press