Research methods are the building blocks of psychological science.
As the psychologist endeavors to understand, explain, predict, and in some cases, control various aspects of behavior and mental processes, a clear understanding of the fundamentals of research methodology are essential to successfully meeting these objectives. Various methodologies will be presented. The student will master the defining characteristics of each method and gain cooperative experience in using each method to answer psychological questions. The relative strengths and shortcomings of each method will be discussed in light of different varieties of psychological research, and the student will learn to evaluate the methodological and theoretical contributions of scientific work. In sum, the he student is expected to become actively involved in the design and implementation of studies that test psychological theory.