Chapter 2 Exercises
Research is a Process of Inquiry
The following exercises are designed to give you hands-on
practice of the skills learned in this chapter.
- We have a strong tendency to blur the distinction between
facts and our interpretation of facts. Over the next 24 hours,
spend some time people watching. While you watch, ask yourself
what you are seeing. Then go back and ask yourself whether you
are actually seeing something or inferring something and not
making a distinction between these two processses. For example, you might see someone leave a
room suddenly apparently looking like he or she is about to cry.
Chances are you described what you saw as a person upset and
leaving the room, but you cannot see their state of mind; you
are inferring it. You will be surprised how most of your
"observations" are actually "inferences," and you have to learn
to separate observations and inferences in order to do good
scientific psychological research.
- You probably use theories implicitly several times a day
without realizing it. Again, take some time to think about
things that you are observing. If you see someone accelerating
very slowly in a car, you are probably making some
interpretation, such as the driver is careful or timid. Perhaps
the driver is transporting someone or something that would be
hurt or damaged if the acceleration were too fast. Perhaps the
car has mechanical problems that necessitates slow acceleration.
Get in the habit of generating other ideas to explain observed
phenomena. These other ideas are called alternative hypotheses.
- Imagine observing something simple going on around you. Some
possible examples are the operation of a lawn sprinkler, the
behavior of two people who just meet, or how drivers communicate
their intentions to other drivers. Use the phases of research
described in this chapter to take an idea through a study of the
phenomenon of interest and to the point where you communicate
your results. Note how much more systematic your thinking is
when you follow all of these steps.