Psychology is a scientific and evidence-based field. Many of the research questions in psychology focus on understanding, explaining, and predicting behavior. Psychologists apply the scientific method to learn about behavior. It is important to be able to distinguish between information gained from scientific versus non-scientific methods.
For this assignment, you will create an informative PowerPoint presentation about scientific research in psychology. When describing this information, suppose you are presenting to an audience of undergraduate psychology students who have not completed a course in research methods.
In a 10–12 slide PowerPoint presentation incorporating speaker notes (not including the title slide or references), be sure to address the following:
Discuss the goals of psychology.
Explain how research contributes to the aims of psychology.
Discuss the characteristics of scientific explanations.
Distinguish between the scientific method, the method of authority, and the rational method.
Explain the role of theory in relation to understanding and researching behavior.