Читать книгу Introduction to Abnormal Child and Adolescent Psychology - Robert Weis - Страница 122

Psychological research has four broad goals: (1) description, (2) prediction, (3) explanation, and (4) replication. Psychologists use different methods to accomplish each goal. For example, a psychologist who wants to describe the essential characteristics of ADHD might use a case study or survey, whereas a psychologist interested in explaining how stimulant medication reduces children’s ADHD symptoms would likely conduct an experiment. In this section, we will examine some of the most common research methods used in the field of abnormal child psychology.