• Question: what part of psychological research is most critical

    Asked by BLM on 21 Jun 2023.
    • Photo: Ashleigh Johnstone

      Ashleigh Johnstone answered on 21 Jun 2023:

      Ooh good question! I think it’s all important and critical – choosing a clear research question, considering ethics carefully, designing a well thought out study, sharing findings. If I had to choose only one bit, I’d probably say that I think sharing the findings of your study openly and transparently is the most critical! By this I mean that it’s really important that we’re open about the strengths and limitations of our research, and that we’re clear about what our research can actually tell us and what it can’t. Sometimes we get really excited about research and want to make big generalisations, but we need to think about the honest interpretations of what our research says.

    • Photo: Chloe Tasker

      Chloe Tasker answered on 21 Jun 2023:

      Applying for ethics is the most critical – you can’t start any data collection before this! You should be thinking about ethics continually whilst designing the research and collecting data.

    • Photo: Steph Acaster

      Steph Acaster answered on 22 Jun 2023:

      I think that coming up with a good research question and method is really critical. You need to be able to design the research so that whatever data you collect is meaningful and can give you some solid evidence towards figuring something out. It also has to fit well with the statistical or analytical methods so that overall the conclusions are valid and logical.

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