Each science uses certain research methods, they are divided into general methods that are characteristic of most sciences, and specific, which are used by individual sciences. The classification of psychological research methods is designed to structure and systematize the variety of methods used to conduct psychological research. General scientific methods are used in almost all sciences. To them O.V. Klimenko and others include:
1) analysis - the dismemberment of a phenomenon into individual properties or relationships;
2) synthesis - a combination of various elements, sides, properties of an object into a single whole;
3) induction - a form of logical inference in the direction, for example, from particulars to general conclusions, from individual facts to generalizations;
4) deduction - a logical conclusion from the general to the particular, from general judgments to particular conclusions;
5) modeling - replacing a real object of study with a substitute object (model), which contains features, relationships, relationships of the studied object;
6) a hypothetical method - an extension based on the deduction of a scientific hypothesis to explain a specific phenomenon;
7) systemic method - associated with the construction of a system of interconnections of the elements that make up the object;
8) reconstruction - semantic and structural restructuring of the phenomenon;
9) theoretical general scientific methods.
Key psychological research methods include:
a) generalization - a mental transition from an empirical analysis of individual objects to a higher level of abstraction by highlighting the common features that are in the objects under consideration;
b) formalization - a method of reflecting the results of thinking in exact terms expressed in formulas or a symbolic form, etc .;
c) abstraction - a method of scientific knowledge based on the formation of the image of a real object with the help of the mental selection of a sign that interests the researcher.
Specific methods of social psychological research can be divided into 4 groups:
Organizational methods. Empirical (research). Methods of statistical processing. Explanatory methods (interpretation methods). Classification of psychological research methods, which include organizational methods, includes:
a) comparative (cross-sectional method) consists in the fact that when organizing the study, different groups of subjects are taken according to various criteria (by age, learning and upbringing conditions), and then studies are carried out and the data are compared in groups selected according to one criterion;
b) longitudinal method - longitudinal study, long-term study of the same category of subjects;
c) an integrated method. Empirical (research) methods are among the methods of obtaining scientific data.
Empirical methods of social psychological research include the collection of information during observation, experiment, testing. Observation is a focused and organized perception of a mental phenomenon and requires the researcher:
1) statement of goals;
2) drawing up a plan - observation sequence;
3) compilation of a monitoring program;
4) the need to develop a surveillance system;
5) recording observation data;
6) statistical processing, analysis and explanation of the observation results . Surveillance can be included and not included, external and internal, hidden and open.
So, for example, using observation, you can study the amount of attention, some aspects of memorization, temperament. The experiment differs from the observation method in that the experimenter takes an active position in comparison with the observer researcher. The experimenter creates conditions that will cause the phenomenon that interests him. An experiment differs from testing in that it studies the dependence of data on its subject of study, depending on the variability of its conditions.
An experiment can be laboratory and natural, formative and ascertaining. The classification of psychological research methods is also applied to additional research methods, which include: conversation, analysis of activity products, interviews, questionnaires, an expert assessment method, a method of summarizing independent characteristics, a biographical technique, sociometry, and referentometry.
The classification of psychological research methods in relation to explanatory methods (interpretation methods) allows us to distinguish:
a) genetic method - considers phenomena on the path of its occurrence and development in the process of ontogenesis;
b) structural method.
Such a generally accepted classification system allows you to effectively choose one or another method of psychological research, relevant at the moment.