Like any other science, social psychology uses methods: scientific research, data processing and training. And also inherent exclusively in the psychological sciences - therapeutic and educational methods.
Research Methods in Social Psychology
It is thanks to them that each science is enriched with new data, on the basis of which one can build theories, enrich the theoretical base of science with new facts.
For research, young science uses methods borrowed from sociology and psychology:
- Observation is the very first research method used in psychology to describe behavior and internal feelings. It is still used in practice, but always in combination with other methods.
- The survey is the most common method of conducting sociological research, it allows you to get a lot of information from a large number of people. However, these data are difficult to analyze (display the percentage of respondents with different opinions). And its main drawback is the inability to evaluate the results in terms of reliability. Therefore, the survey is also used in combination with other more reliable methods.
- The experiment is mainly distinguished by the ability to change circumstances (factors) in order to check changes in people's behavior. Since the inception of psychology as a science, experiments have been performed both on humans and on rats (sometimes their behavior is very similar to human behavior, for example, in a pack). But with the advent of ethical standards, experimenters ended up with their hands tied: it’s impossible not to tell a person what quality is measured in an experiment without harming the reliability and purity of the experiment. But resourceful scientists cannot refuse experiments, since this is the most effective method, which sometimes provides the most unique data on human behavior.
- Analysis of the products of human activity brings a lot of interesting data, especially in cases where it is impossible to use other methods (the person is not alive, or he does not make contact). The analysis consists in searching for repeating patterns, for example, in fiction, in documentation compiled by one person. Some of them indicate clearly defined personality traits of the object of study.
- Testing. Serious psychological tests with the truth scale provided by them (test questions to assess the reliability of the test results) allow you to delve into the cognition of the identity of one person or the knowledge of the same quality of people with the same characteristics (for example, age, gender, social status). Tests are a diagnostic tool, they bring valuable data to science. Unfortunately, to date, very few tests meet the requirements for them as a scientific diagnostic method. And not everyone will undertake to develop a new one. Therefore, in social psychology they are resorted to quite rarely.
Methods of social psychology (each of them individually or in combination with others) are used to study an urgent problem or an interesting phenomenon. But in order to make a discovery or introduce new information and facts into science, it is not enough just to choose a method. The same requirements are imposed on socio-psychological research as on other sciences: a clear formulation of the object of study, hypotheses, an analysis of the available facts, confirmation or refutation of the hypothesis by mathematical calculations, and verification of the conclusions are necessary. For these actions, science resorts to the following group of methods.
Social Psychology Methods for Data Processing
As a result of research, psychologists get numbers: the reaction time after the introduction of a certain factor into the experiment, the level of manifestation of psychological quality, and so on. To process this data, mathematical methods are used: determining average values for a group, and factor analysis to confirm or refute a hypothesis. Also use the method of expert assessments. And all this to translate numbers into new meanings for psychology.
Therapeutic methods of social psychology
Another group of methods aimed at the development of personal skills, properties or to treat clients. These include art therapy (treatment with a pattern), color therapy, body techniques and psychodrama.
Methods of psychologists-trainers
The methods used by psychologists-trainers (analysis of a conflict situation, brainstorming and others) are rarely singled out as a separate group. Their services are in demand in companies where the interaction of people, teamwork is important. Psychologists are able, through motivation, to encourage company employees to work effectively with colleagues. For this purpose, practitioners laid the whole meaning of the existence of the science of social psychology. It is in the interaction in groups, in collectives, that we spend most of our lives, both at work and at home, in the family. We are rarely alone. So declares a priority area of science - interactionism in social psychology. And it (science) is called upon to study the processes of interaction with other people, explain them and give people the knowledge to optimize these processes. Therefore, among the methods of science, methods of teaching and developing a group (games and trainings), also performed under the guidance of psychologists and trainers, are also called.
The methods of social psychology make it possible to scientifically substantiate new knowledge; without them, the existence of such an interesting theoretical field would be impossible.