Reporting the results. Results can be disseminated through publication in scientific journals, presentations at professional meetings, or personal communication with other researchers in the field. Correlational research provides information on the direction and strength of the relationship between variables. Research designed to examine the nature of the relationship between two or more naturally occurring variables. Vulnerable to third-variable and reverse causality problems in interpretation.
Experimental research can determine cause-effect relationships.
Realism of the setting allows for greater generalizability, but control may be sacrificed. High degree of control is possible, but external validity may be sacrificed. A statistical technique used to combine information from many empirical studies on a single topic to objectively estimate the reliability and overall size of the effect. All proposed social psychological studies must submit to ethical evaluation. In the 1960s and 1970s concern was raised over whether the significance of research topics justified exposing participants to potentially harmful psychological consequences.