Research Methods: Components, Correlational and Experimental Designs, and Ethical
Guidelines
Student’s name
Components of Research Methods
Correlational research design is a method that the researcher investigates the relationship
between variables without any manipulation or control of any of the variables. Experimental
research is the method of investigation in which alteration of independent variables happens and
is applied to dependent variables to determine their impact on the latter. The components of the
research designs are, firstly, observation & question- Experimenters can obtain and use
background knowledge on the concepts being tried via observations, which helps them better
comprehend and predict the results. The question refers to what the study is trying to solve.
Secondly, hypothesis- Predicting the outcome is known as hypothesizing. Hypotheses are
predictions of what will happen based on previous observations (Thomas, 2021). Thirdly, the
method-this section covers all the processes and materials in specific details used in the
experiment. Lastly, result- Scientists are tasked with interpreting their findings and providing
interpretations for the information they have gathered. They must, above all, make a decision
based on the information they've gathered.
According to the American psychological association, the major ethical guidelines used
in guiding the research include the following. Firstly, you must be conscious of multiple roles-
psychologists should avoid any interactions that might exploit or injure others, according to the
APA's Ethics Code. While this does acknowledge that many types of numerous relationships are
not always unethical, it does so only if those impacts are not fairly predicted. Secondly,