1. How are scientific methods useful to study human behavior?
Scientific methods are useful as the psychologists systematically and objectively explain the cause of variations in human behavior. Psychologists study and analyze human behavior by providing different levels of explanations, which ranges from biological level to social level to cultural level.

2. What is meant by scientific method?
Psychologists, like other scientists, utilize the scientific method when conducting an experiment. The scientific method is a set of procedures and principles that guide how scientists develop research questions, collect data and come to conclusions. The four basic steps of the process are: 1. Forming a Hypothesis, 2. Designing a Study and Collecting Data, 3. Analyzing the Data and Reaching Conclusions, 4. Sharing the Findings.

3. What is field study?
A field study refers to research that is undertaken in the real world, where a laboratory setting is abandoned in favor of a natural setting. The direct manipulation of the environment is generally prohibited by the researcher. However, sometimes, independent and dependent variables already exist within the social structure under study, and inferences can then be drawn about behaviors, social attitudes, values, and beliefs. Overall, field studies belong to the category of nonexperimental designs where the researcher uses what already exists in the environment

4. What is the case or clinical study/case history method?
This method is used when an intensive investigation about a certain case is needed. It is an in-depth analysis of the thoughts, feelings, beliefs, experiences, behaviors, or problems of a single individual, group, community. In this method, the researcher researches all records about the subject including medical, educational, family background and all other necessary data. Advantages:
• A large amount of detailed information can be obtained which allows greater understanding of a particular person’s life.
Disadvantages:
• Difficulty in generalizing results.
• Time consuming
• Can be applied only to the study of certain problems, behaviors etc.

5. What is observational method?
the observational method involves recording, analyzing and interpreting others’ behaviors through careful observation of the same. This method has been used to explore behavioral patterns of individuals or groups. Certain principles that should be followed are – the observer must choose a suitable number of people for observation. The time limit of observation must also be fixed. The observer must have the proper skills, aptitude and ability to report accurately.

6. What is naturalistic observation?
Naturalistic observations are unstructured observations that are usually applied to the natural setting where an individual’s or group of people’s behaviors is observed in real life situation. It helps to study the spontaneous behavior of people as it occurs under natural conditions. Strengths: 1.this method can be used for any age group. 2.it is flexible as observations can be made in any situation from our day-to-day life. 3.it has high ecological validity as it helps to record the natural or spontaneous flow of behavior. Disadvantages: 1.the observer has to wait in for the particular behavior that they are studying to occur in the natural setting. 2.it fails to stablish a proper cause and effect relationship between a person’s behavior and his/her surroundings. 3.results are less reliable as various factors cannot be controlled.

7. What is scientific observation?
Scientific observations are observations in which certain factor are controlled or manipulated and the effect of these factors on behavior is observed. It is also called field study. It starts from a clearly defined problem as well as a properly built hypothesis, so the data can be analyzed and processed in order to find out the way to solve the problem. In this the investigator tries to examine the effect that has been caused due to certain factors. For example, how price hike of certain food items affects the purchasing behavior.
Strengths:
1.it is more controlled and planned than any other method.
2.it is less time consuming and economical Disadvantages: 1.it needs meticulous planning
2.a proper cause and effect relationship between the factor and the resultant behavior might not be found.

8. What is a longitudinal study?
Longitudinal research is a type of correlational research that involves looking at variables over an extended period of time. It can take place over a period of weeks, months, years or sometimes even decades. For example, if a researcher is interested in studying how exercise during middle age might impact cognitive health as people age. The researchers obtain a group of participants who are in their mid-40s to early 50s. They collect data related to how physically fit the participants are, how often they work out and how well they do on cognitive performance tests. Periodically over the course of the study, the researchers collect the same date from the participants to track activity levels and mental performance.
A few key things to remember about longitudinal studies:
• They are observational in nature
• They are a type of correlational research
• Longitudinal research involves collecting data over an extended period, often years or even decades
The Benefits of Longitudinal Research:
• The benefits are that it allows researchers to look at changes over time. Therefore, longitudinal methods are particularly useful when studying development and lifespan issues.
The Drawbacks of Longitudinal Research:
• They can be expensive
• They require enormous amounts of time
• They usually have small group of subjects because of cost making it difficult to apply the results to a larger population.
• Participants might drop out of the study thereby, decreasing the amount of data collected.

The tendency for some participants to be more likely to drop out of a study is known as selective attrition. For example, participants might fall sick or move neighborhoods.

Validity refers to whether or not a test or experiment accurately measures what it claims to measure. If the final group of participants is not a representative sample, it is difficult to generalize the results to the rest of the population.

Types of Longitudinal Research:
• Panel Study: Involves sampling a cross-section of individuals.
• Cohort Study: Involves selecting a group based on a specific event such as birth, geographic location or historical experience.
• Retrospective Study: Involves looking to the past by looking at historical information such as medical records.

10. What is the difference between cross-sectional and longitudinal study?

Cross-sectional study	Longitudinal study
Looks at a particular variable	Looks at multiple variables over a long time
Over a short period of time	Over a long period of time
Less expensive	More expensive
Require less resources	Requires a lot of resources
Likeness of people dropping out before the study is over is less	More likely that people might drop out before the study is completed.

11. What is the experimental method?
The experimental method involves manipulating one variable to determine if changes in one variable cause changes in another variable. This method relies on controlled methods, random assignment and the manipulation of variables to test a hypothesis. This method is generally done in a laboratory setting involving many controlled variables. This is a method for identifying cause-and-effect relationships by following a set of rules and guidelines that minimize the possibility of error, bias, and chance occurrences. It enables a researcher to focus on the possible effects of one or more factors by (1) manipulating some factors of interest called variables and (2) controlling other factors which is called the constant.
Variables are properties or characteristics of some event, object, or person that can take on different values or amounts which do not vary. There are three types of variables that are independent, dependent and extraneous. The independent variable is manipulated by the experimenter and its effects on the dependent variable are measured.
An experiment has at least two different groups: an experimental group and a comparison or control group. Subjects may be randomly assigned to both groups to equate them in terms of age, gender etc.

Advantages:
• It has the greatest potential for identifying cause-and-effect relationships.
• Replication: If an experiment has been conducted in a carefully controlled way, the findings can be replicated or repeated. This helps to establish internal validity.
Disadvantages:
• The information obtained in one experimental situation or laboratory setting may not apply to other situations.

12. What are variables?
Variables are properties or characteristics of some event, object, or person that can take on different values or amounts which do not vary.
• Independent variable: The variable which is manipulated by an experimenter in order to understand whether there is some change in the other variable. If a researcher was investigating how sleep influences test scores, the amount of sleep an individual gets would be the independent variable.
• Dependent variable: The variable which changes based on the manipulation of the independent variable.
• Confounding or extraneous variable: The variables that are not controlled may become confounding variables. Extraneous variables may be personal (personality traits, personal history etc.), Environmental (physical setting of the experiment etc.) or systemic (length of the experiment, fatigue etc.)

13. What are the steps involved in an experimental method?
These are the steps to be followed in order to ensure the integrity of the process.

1. Select a topic – This involves simply identifying an area of interest or general subject.
2. Identify the research problem – the researcher must now identify specific problems or questions that relate to the subject. If the researcher is new to the topic, it may be helpful to examine literature and previous studies. The problem selected should be important to the field.
3. Conduct a literature search – a literature search should be conducted before proceeding to design the experiment. It is helpful to know what studies have been performed, the designs, the instruments used, the procedures and the findings. This information will guide the researcher and help them create a project that extends or compliments existing research.
4. Define variables – Variables are anything that might impact the outcome of your study. An operational definition describes exactly what the variables are and how they are measured within the context of your study. For example, if you were doing a study on the impact of sleep deprivation on driving performance, you would need to operationally define what you mean by sleep deprivation and driving performance. In this example you might define sleep deprivation as getting less than seven hours of sleep at night and define driving performance as how well a participant does on a driving test.
5. Construct a hypothesis – In this step, the researcher states the research question as a testable hypothesis. This provides the basis for all other decisions in the process and therefore, it is a critical step. A hypothesis is a precise, testable statement of what the researchers predict will be the outcome of the study. This usually involves proposing a possible relationship between two variables: the independent variable (what the researcher changes) and the dependent variable (what the research measures).
6. Determine the design of the research – The researcher should review the hypothesis and verify that an experimental design is the appropriate research design needed to answer the question. There are three basic types of designs that are pre-experimental design, quasi experimental design and true experimental designs.
7. Determine the research methods – In this step, the researcher will identify and plan the details necessary to conduct the research. This includes identifying the test subjects, materials, data collection instruments and methods, and the procedures for the conducting the experiment. When choosing subjects, there are a number of different techniques you can use like a simple random sampling and a stratified random sampling.
8. Conduct the research and test the hypothesis – The experimental procedures will be carried out in this phase. Although before doing any testing you need to be sure that your testing procedures are ethical. Then you will need to present informed consent forms to each of your participants. This form offers information on the study, the data that will be gathered, and how the results will be used. The form also gives participants the option to withdraw from the study at any point in time. Once this step has been completed, you can begin administering your testing procedures and collecting the data.
9. Analyze the data – Experimental research data lends itself to a variety of potential statistical analyses. The appropriate analysis is determined by the research question and the type of data.
10. Formulate conclusions and Share results – Review the data and determine if it confirms or disproves the hypothesis. Then share the results. One of the most common ways to share research results is to publish the study in a peer-reviewed professional journal. Other methods include sharing results at conferences, in book chapters, or in academic presentations.

14. What are the three types of experimental designs?

• Pre-Experimental Designs: This type of experimental design does not include a control group. A single group of participants is studied, and there is no comparison between a treatment group and a control group. Examples of pre-experimental designs include case studies (one group is given a treatment and the results are measured) and pre-test/post-test studies (one group is tested, given a treatment and then retested).
• Quasi-Experimental Designs: This type of experimental design does include a control group, but the design does not include randomization.
• True Experimental Designs: A true experimental design include both of the elements that the pre-experimental designs and quasi-experimental designs lack on their own – control groups and random assignment to groups.)

15. What are the self-report techniques?
Self-report techniques include surveys, questionnaires and inventories.

1.Surveys
It is a technique in which the researcher attempts to study the entire population with respect to some psychological or sociological variable. A survey may yield information about different individuals’ personal opinion or it may help to obtain the opinion of a group of people. They are standardized to ensure their reliability and validity.
Advantages:
• They enable to obtain a large amount of information
• They yield more accurate results if proper sampling is done
Disadvantages:
• It fails to make deeper explorations of the topic
• It is a time consuming and expensive method.

2.Questionnaire
This is a technique for obtaining information by asking subjects to read a list of written questions and check off specific answers.
Objectives:
• questions constructed must be lucid so that they can be easily understood
• the language must not be ambiguous
• it must be short and crisp in line with the research objective.

3. inventory
   It is an information gathering tool. It yields information about personal interest, values, psycho-pathological symptoms, different personality traits, etc. an example is the California Personality Inventory.
   Advantages of questionnaire and inventory:
   • it is easy to respond to
   • It is less time consuming
   • It is cost effective
   Disadvantages of questionnaire and inventory:
   • It is not free of subjectivity
   • The respondent may not be honest, affecting the data collected
   • It is only applicable to educated individuals

16. What is interview method?
Interview is an old and effective process involving face to face interaction between two persons. The person asking verbal questions is called the interviewer and the person responding is called the interviewee. It helps to collect personal info, opinions, attitudes and thought so the interviewee. It is used for selection of persons for jobs, professional courses and in legal interrogations.

Advantages:
• It is flexible as questions can be modified.
• It is a simple method and can be administered easily.
Disadvantages:
• Communication gap can be there due to language
• It is expensive, lengthy and exhaustive.

17. What is sampling?
Sampling is the process of selecting a representative group from the population under study. A sample is the group of people who take part in the investigation. The people who take part are referred to as “participants”. Sampling error is an error that occurs when the sample used in the study is not representative of the whole population.

18. What are the types of sampling?
1.A random sample:
It is a sample in which each member of the population has an equal chance of being selected to represent the whole. For example, the names of 25 employees being chosen out of a hat from a company of 250 employees. Random samples require a way of naming or numbering the target population and then using some type of raffle method to choose those to make up the sample. Random samples are the best method of selecting your sample from the population of interest. There is a sampling error in this type of sample which can be cured by a mathematical theory.

Advantages:
• Represents the target population
• Eliminates sampling bias
Disadvantages:
• Very difficult to achieve (i.e., time, effort and money).
• is not a complete representative of the population from which it was drawn

2. Representative sampling:
   It is a type of statistical sampling in which a researcher attempts to select individuals which are representative of a larger population. In statistical sampling, people gather data from a small group and try to simplify the results to make generalizations about a larger group.
   Advantages:
   • extremely valuable
   • allows people to study a population without studying every single individual in that population
   Disadvantages:
   • extremely hard to accomplish
   • great deal of time is required to be spent
   • a lot of funding is required to get the most representative sample possible

3.Biased Sample:
It occurs when the group selected for a statistical study or survey is not random and doesn’t properly represent the larger population. A sample is also biased if certain members are underrepresented or overrepresented relative to others in the population. For example, a survey of high school students to measure teenage use of illegal drugs will be a biased sample because it does not include home-schooled students or dropouts.

19. What is population?
A research population is generally a large collection of individuals or objects that is the main focus of a scientific query. The target population is the total group of individuals from which the sample might be drawn.

20.What are psychological tests?
A Psychological test is a standardized and systematic technique used to measure the characteristics of any behavior, be it cognitive, conative or affective in a quantitative and qualitative way.

Characteristics:

1. Objectivity:
   The test should be free from any subjective judgements regarding the individual’s ability, skill, knowledge or trait.
2. Reliability:
   This refers to whether the obtained results are consistent or reliable. That is if the test is administered on the same sample for more than once with a gap of time it should yield the same scores.
   Common methods to test reliability-
   • Test-Retest Reliability – In this method, the same test is given twice to the same group of people. If the test is reliable, same score should be obtained both times. If NOT, then the test is said to be unreliable.
   • Alternate-Forms Reliability – In this method, two different forms of the same test are given. If the test is reliable then approximately the same scores should be obtained. As it is not practical to give people the same test twice. (For example, people who have just taken an IQ test might look up the answers to items they did not know.)
3. Validity:
   It refers to extent to which the test measures what it intends to measure that is if it fulfills the objective of its development. For example, when an intelligent test is developed to assess the level of intelligence, it should assess the intelligence of the person, not other factors.
   Common methods to assess validity of a test-
   • CONTENT (or FACE) VALIDITY -is determined by reviewing all of the items on the test and evaluating if it measures what it claims to measure. For example, if you are reviewing a vocabulary test and you find out that it contains mainly math problems, you should question the content validity of the test.
   • CRITERION VALIDITY -is determined by comparing scores on the test to some other measure of the thing the test is claiming to measure. For example, if I developed a test that I claimed could accurately predict a student’s grade in Psychology 1501, I could measure its criterion validity by having a group of students take the test, then take Psychology 1501. I would then compare their scores on my prediction test with their end-of-the-term grades in the course. If my test has acceptable criterion validity, students who did well on the predictor test should also do well in the course. Course grades, then, function as the criteria to which scores on the predictor test will be compared.
4. Norms:
   Norms refer to the average performance of a representative sample on a given test. Norm s are the standard scores, developed by the person who develops test. The future users of the test can compare their scores with norms to know the level of their sample.
5. Practicability:
   The test must be practicable in- time required for completion, the length, number of items or questions, scoring, etc. The test should not be too lengthy and difficult to answer as well as scoring.

Types:
On basis of kind of test-
1.Intelligence test- used to measure the Intelligence Quotient (I.Q).
2.Aptitude test- used to determine various aptitudes of an individual.
3.Personality test- used to identify various personality traits of an individual

On basis of nature of test-
1.Individual test- applied on an individual at a time
2.Group test- applied to a group of people at a time

On basis of time taken-
1.Speed test- time bound test.
2.Power test- no time limit but it is arranged in order of their difficulty.

On basis of use of language-
1.Verbal test- requires usage of language in answering questions
2.Non-verbal test- requires usage of pictures and describing them. Used for illiterates, children, etc.
3.Performance test- requires the teste to perform activities like solving a puzzle, picture arrangement, etc.

Uses:

1. Detection of specific Behaviour: used to measure and to detect the abilities of a person.
2. Individual Differences: used to measure the individual differences, that is different between abilities of different persons and the performance of the same person at different time.
3. To diagnose by the Psychological Test: The psychological tests are usually used in clinical psychology. In clinical psychology a test’s function is to diagnose mental disorders. So, tests are used in mental hospitals and coaching and guidance centres for the assessment and diagnose of mental disorders. Major tests are MMPI, (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory) RISB, (Rotter Incomplete Sentences Blank) Bender Gestalt Test, and RPM, (Raven Progressive Matrices) etc.
4. Legal Classification: help in classifying a number of people into different categories. For example, normal and abnormal, criminal and innocent, intellectual and mental retarded, able and disable etc.
   Why is statistics used or its importance in psychology?
   Statistics allows psychologists to organize data, describe the data and make inferences about data.
   It helps to organize data as the enormous amount of data obtained by a psychologist can be presented in a way that is easier to comprehend. For example, in ways such as graphs, pie charts, frequency distribution and scatterplots make it possible for researchers to get a better overview of the data and look for patterns easily.
   It helps to describe data in a way that is easier to understand because researchers collect a great deal of information. Foe example, the US Census. Descriptive statistics provide a way to summarize what already exists in a given population, such as how many men and women there are, how many children there are, or how many people are currently employed.
   It helps to make inferences based upon data by using inferential statistics, researchers can infer things about a given sample or population. Psychologists use the data they have collected to test a hypothesis. With this type of statistics researchers can determine the likelihood that a hypothesis should be either accepted or rejected.

21. What are the two types of Statistical methods?
There are two types of Statistical methods that are Descriptive statistics and Inferential statistics. Descriptive Statistics helps to provide a concise summary or description of data in a meaningful way. While summarizing the data using this method, certain patterns may be found that help to draw a needful interpretation and conclusion.
Inferential statistics helps to generalize the results obtained from sample data to larger population. Also helps to estimate the strength of relationships among different variables. It helps to predict or analyze beyond the given data of the sample group.

22. What are the types of descriptive statistics?
The two types of descriptive statistics is measures of central tendency and the measures of variability.
Measures of Central tendency are the methods of determining the central values around which data groups itself. There are three main measures of central tendency used by psychologists. They are the mean, the median, and the mode.
Measures of Variability also called statistics of dispersion helps to identify the scatter or spread of each score which indicates the interval between the highest and the lowest scores as well as the deviation of each score from the central tendency. The measures of variability used by researchers include the range, the variance, and the standard deviation.

23. Explain measures of central tendency.
The measures of central tendency are mean, median and mode.
Mean is the arithmetic average of a set of scores. To calculate the arithmetic, mean of scores, you sum a set of scores and divide that sum by the total number of scores. Mean can be affected by extreme scores. Mean can be very misleading description of a set of scores with a heavily skewed distribution.
The median is the middle score in a set of scores that have been ranked in numerical order. In cases where there are an even number of scores, the median lies between the two middle scores, and is given the value of the midpoint between those scores. There is no formula for quickly calculating the median without doing some initial data analysis. The median is a good measure of central tendency to use when describing a heavily skewed set of scores. Median is a better representation of the scores within a skewed data set than is the mean.
The mode is simply the most frequently occurring score in a data set. If two scores occur equally often within a data set, the set has two modes and is termed bimodal. Any data set that has two or more modes can be referred to as multimodal. Like the median, there is no formula for calculating the mode without conducting at least some initial data analysis. For small data sets the mode may simply be determined by comparing the number of times the most popular scores appear in the set.

24. Explain measure of dispersion or variability.
The measures of variability are range, variance and standard deviation.
The range is simply the difference between the highest and lowest scores in a distribution and is found by subtracting the lowest score from the highest score. This measure of variability gives the researcher only a limited amount of information, as data sets which are skewed towards a low score can have the same range as data sets which are skewed towards a high score, or those which cluster around some central score. For example, a student might find it useful to know whether his or her score was near the best or worst on an exam.
Variance represents the degree to which scores tend to vary from their mean. This tends to be more informative because, unlike the range, the variance considers every score in the data set. Technically variance is the average of the squared deviations from the mean. To calculate the variance for a set of quiz scores:
• Find the mean score.
• Find the deviation of each raw score from the mean. To do this,
• Subtract the mean from each raw score. (Note that deviation scores will be negative for scores that are below the mean.) To check your calculations, sum the deviation scores. This sum should be equal to zero.
• Square the deviation scores. By squaring the scores, negative scores are made positive and extreme scores are given relatively more weight.
• Find the sum of the squared deviation scores.
• Divide the sum by the number of scores. This yields the average of the squared deviations from the mean, or the variance.
Standard deviation is more informative, and it is the square root of the variance. A reason that standard deviation is preferred to variance is that it is in the same units as the raw scores themselves. This is what makes the standard deviation more meaningful. For example, it would make more sense to discuss the variability of a set of IQ scores in IQ points than in squared IQ points.