Psychological Inquiry and Research Methods
Psychological inquiry and research methods tests whether you can evaluate how psychological evidence is generated. Expect questions that ask you to choose or critique a design, identify threats to inference, and explain what a result does and does not license. The exam favours precise methodological reasoning over named-design recall.
Core rules
- Begin with the research question and the claim it is meant to support. Define variables operationally: specify how stress, aggression, or wellbeing is measured and coded.
- Separate reliability from validity. A measure can be consistent but invalid; a design can be internally valid but poorly generalisable.
- Internal validity concerns causal inference: confounding, selection, maturation, attrition, testing effects, regression to the mean, and demand characteristics.
- Construct validity asks whether the measure actually captures the intended construct; external validity asks to whom and where findings generalise.
- Sampling matters. Probability sampling supports generalisation; convenience sampling limits it. Report sample characteristics and non-response.
- Qualitative inquiry uses purposive sampling, reflexivity, triangulation, and transparent thematic analysis. It does not aim for statistical generalisation.
Worked example
A school compares two intact classes: one receives a six-week mindfulness programme, the other continues usual classes. Stress is measured by a single self-report Likert item. The design is quasi-experimental because classes are not randomly assigned. Selection differences and maturation threaten internal validity; a single item threatens construct validity; demand characteristics may inflate reports. A stronger design randomly assigns students within year level, uses a validated pre-post measure, adds an active control, and reports effect size and attrition.
Traps
Do not call a quasi-experiment a true experiment. Do not treat statistical significance as practical importance. Avoid saying a correlation “proves” causation. Do not ignore cultural validity or assume a measure travels unchanged across groups. Do not overgeneralise from a convenience sample.