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.
For the academic journal, see Psychological Research.History[edit]
Wilhelm Wundt is credited as one of the founders of psychology. He created the first laboratory for psychological research.[1]
Criticisms of Research in Psychology[edit]
There are several factors that need to be considered when conducting and evaluating psychological research. One of these considerations is in how political values influence the publication and application of psychological research. For example, a study was published about child sexual abuse and how it might relate to psychopathology in college students.[34] Though the findings claimed nothing extreme, both the political right and political left put so much pressure on the APA that eventually, the APA formally apologized for the study publicly stating that they had failed. Nothing in the methodology could be blamed, simply the implications of the findings in the study.[34]
Another part of psychological research that must be considered is that though we yearn for clarity in the psychological world, results are not often clean-cut. Other words, results found in one psychological study are usually not enough to establish a relationship between two factors.[35] In order to support a hypothesis further, replication studies should be conducted. Alternate hypotheses should also be explored and considered.[36] However, incentives to conduct replication studies are extremely low, so they do not happen often. When they do happen, they are usually not accepted by publishers.[35]
The current culture around publishing psychological research promotes almost solely new and appealing research. Replications, negative results, and further research into novel findings are rarely published.[37] Consequently, to many researchers, it seems that gaining more funds along with a reputation for exciting research has become more important than seeking out the truth.
The peer review process is another aspect of psychological research that has been criticized. Though there are some positive aspects to the peer review process, it is not designed well enough to detect fraud. There are many studies that have passed through several peer reviews that have later been found to be fraudulent.[36]