What Role Does Research Play In This Field
Basic research in psychology seeks to explain the underlying workings of the human mind. This type of research is essential in furthering our understanding of how people think, feel, and behave. Without basic research, we would not have many of the advances in psychological knowledge that we enjoy today.
Fields Of Research Used
Many fields of research can be of value in the development and implementation of health policy. These range from basic science to translational and clinical research to the newer fields of health services research , comparative effectiveness research , implementation and dissemination sciences, and knowledge transfer.
Basic Research
Basic research creates new understandings and technologies that form the basis for fundamental understanding of the mechanisms and manifestations of health and disease. Basic research has driven policymaking on issues ranging from stem cell research and cloning to ownership of genetic sequences. Scientific breakthroughs engendered by basic research provide the foundation for development of new diagnostics and therapeutics, and thus raise key questions about the appropriate application of these new discoveries.
Translational and Clinical Research
Translational research has a variety of definitions, but commonly is considered research that translates new information or knowledge that is created in one area to another application. There are generally two categories of translational research: T1 and T2 however T1, T2, and T3 are often used to represent transitions between to patient-oriented, patient oriented to population-based, and basic to population-based research , respectively a third usage has five categories, which include T0 , T1 , T2 , T3 , and T4 .
Health Services Research
Comparative Effectiveness Research
Implementation Research
Applied Research Vs Basic Research
Both applied and basic research are important to the scientific process. It is a mistake to pit them against each other. In conclusion, I will leave you with the words of Keith Stanovich:
t is probably a mistake to view the basic-versus-applied distinction solely in terms of whether a study has practical applications, because this difference often simply boils down to a matter of time. Applied findings are of use immediately. However, there is nothing so practical as a general and accurate theory.
Last medically reviewed on May 12, 2011
2 sourcescollapsed
- Stanovich, K. . How to Think Straight About Psychology: 8th Edition. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
- , available under a Creative Commons attribution license.
Recommended Reading: How Do You Say Biology In Spanish
How It’s Used In The Real
What are some examples of how applied research is used to solve real-world problems?
- A hospital might conduct applied research on how to prepare patients for certain types of surgical procedures.
- A business might hire an applied psychologist to assess how to design a workplace console to maximize efficiency and productivity while minimizing worker fatigue and error.
- An organization might hire an applied researcher to determine how to select employees that are best suited for certain positions within the company.
What Is Pure Or Basic Research +
Sometimes, research may be aimed at expanding a field of knowledge or improving the understanding of a natural phenomenon. This type of research is known as a basic, pure or fundamental research, and it is a major means of generating new ideas, principles and theories.
In many cases, basic research fuels scientific innovations and development because it is driven by the need to unravel the unknown. In this article, we will define what basic research is, its data collection methods and how it differs from other approaches to research.
Also Check: What Is Ionic Bond In Chemistry
Expand Existing Knowledge Vs Find New Knowledge
Since curiosity motivates researchers to conduct basic research, they look to fill any existing gaps in information. This type of research seeks to develop knowledge and make predictions. Applied research focuses on discovering new information. The two often overlap when basic research provides a foundational understanding to help with applied research.
Related:Research Skills: Definition and Examples
Basic Research: What It Is With Examples
In building knowledge, there are many stages and methodologies to generate insights that contribute to its understanding and advancement basic research and applied research are usually the most effective on this path.
Understanding research allows us to understand all the properties of a specific science or phenomenon at a fundamental level. Some examples are branches such as sociology, humanities, and other scientific fields below, we will tell you everything you need to know about this type of research and its possible applications.
Also Check: Linear Algebra Gilbert Strang Notes
The Effect Of Time In Psychology Research
There are two types of time dimensions that can be used in designing a research study:
Clinical Psychology And Counseling Psychology
At its core, clinical psychology promotes positive change, such as treating depression or aiding in public policy. Clinical psychology is incredibly broad and can focus on various mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders. The research aims to prevent, assess, diagnose, or treat problems with these disorders in mind.
Some clinical psychologists specialize in specific issues, such as marriage issues or addiction. Others can focus on particular groups of people, as opposed to problems. These groups can be anything from children, certain racial and ethnic groups, families, or LGBTQ+ people. Regardless of what a clinical psychologist focuses on, their work can be applied anywhere and to anything regarding mental health.
Clinical psychology can help make diagnoses for mental health disorders, especially for patients who have symptoms of multiple disorders. Social anxiety and generalized anxiety may be hard to differentiate, but that’s what clinical psychologists are for.
Counseling psychology will often work hand-in-hand with clinical psychology. Counselors aim to help people improve happiness and work through problems. Sometimes, these problems can be diagnosable disorders and treated by clinical psychologists. However, clinical psychologists have their eyes on more severe and long-lasting conditions, whereas counseling psychologists look at the overall well-being of a person.
Recommended Reading: Find Geometry In Your Name
Sport And Performance Psychology
You might think being good at sports is a purely physical thing. You need strong legs to do well in a race, right? You need a strong mind as well. Several things can impact an athlete’s performance. If they got injured in a previous competition, they might be more anxious and less confident in their skills. These nerves might worsen for more high-stakes competitions. Communication between teammates and instructions between coach and team can also be a problem that will make them perform worse.
Sport and performance psychologists take knowledge of human behavior and apply it to people to get better physical prowess and get the best human performance possible. Athletes aren’t the only clients, however! Surgeons, first responders, and anyone with a physically tasking job can turn to sports and performance psychologists!
How Do You Determine When To Use Basic Research Vs Applied Research
Both basic research and applied research can be helpful tools for obtaining the information you don’t know, but they each work best in different settings. Basic research can help you when you’re looking for answers to universal, theoretical questions. Typically, you conduct this kind of research when you’re hoping to expand existing knowledge and create predictions.
Applied research tends to be more beneficial when you’re trying to come up with a solution. Here, you can use your finding to develop new technologies and improve existing systems. This research works best if you have a specific question you are looking to answer. When choosing what type of research to use, consider whether you are looking to expand existing knowledge or hoping to find completely new knowledge to solve a problem.
Related:What Is User Research?
Read Also: Geometry Algebra Review Answer Key
Causal Or Experimental Research
When most people think of scientific experimentation, research on cause and effect is most often brought to mind. Experiments on causal relationships investigate the effect of one or more variables on one or more outcome variables. This type of research also determines if one variable causes another variable to occur or change. An example of this type of research would be changing the amount of a specific treatment and measuring the effect on study participants.
Practical Implications Of Basic Research
When cell phones were first introduced, cognitive scientists began to worry about whether their use while driving could lead to increased numbers of automobile accidents. The worry was not because drivers would take one hand off the wheel when using the phone, but because of the attention requirements of talking on the phone. These predictions were derived from basic theories on limited attention capacities.
Classical and operant condition principles were developed mostly from experimenting on non-human subjects. Since the discovery of these principles, they have been applied to a wide array of human problems, such as teaching declarative knowledge, treating autistic children, treating overweight individuals, and treating phobias, just to name a few.
Other examples of basic research with practical implications include:
- Discovery of x-rays which led to studying bone fractures
- Discovery of chlorpromazine, a drug used in the treatment of schizophrenia
- Discovery of dark adaptation which helped establish a theory of basic visual processes that led to applications in treating night blindness and reading x-rays
- Psychological studies of decision making that led to important finding in the fields of education, medicine, and economics
- Findings from psychology applied in various contexts within the legal system: evidence evaluation, eyewitness testimony, validity of recovered memories, and so on
There are many more examples of basic theories leading to practical applications.
Also Check: Who Is Generally Recognized As The Founder Of American Psychology
Research Needs A Solid Foundation
The division between basic and applied research is not as clear as we would perhaps like it to be. Applied research may deliver practical applications, but it is only able to do so by calling on the foundational data contributed by broader basic research studies. In addition, if all research data contributes to the broader body of knowledge, it may be argued that applied research feeds into basic research, and vice versa.
In the long run, if those broader basic research studies are underfunded as a lower priority to high-profile applied research projects, the quality of foundational data will inevitably suffer. Slicing up the same foundational data into smaller projects in the pursuit of practical applications without refreshing the data with new basic research projects can only lead to homogeneity.
Making a long-term commitment to quality foundational data can be challenging when corporate paymasters want a faster ROI, but without it, basic research projects are in danger of being relegated to token projects for the institutions that have enough funding to support them.
Applied Vs Basic Research
Psychological research can be divided into two broad categories: Applied and Basic Research. Basic research is generally conducted in very controlled settings, and is concerned with the fundamental actions and thoughts of individuals. Applied research generally focuses on gaining knowledge that has real-world implications. Much applied research involves evaluating the outcomes of varied interventions. Both basic and applied research studies are important to our society, and function as both a product of previous research and a foundation for future directions.
Read Also: How Can Geography Lead To Reproductive Isolation
Forensic And Public Service Psychology
From the crime scene to the courtroom, forensic psychologists play important roles in judicial systems and public safety. The work a forensic psychologist can do is vast. Some may evaluate victims of an abuse case, whereas others can provide insight into a defendant’s sanity.
Forensic psychologists can work to validate a person’s plea of insanity, where they claim that mental distress was the cause for criminal actions.
Public service psychologists can spend time in the courtroom but may work more outside of it. These specialists can often be seen helping veterans adjust to civilian life after returning from war or training first responders.
Forensic psychologists can help detectives connect the dots in a case. Pexels.com
Examples Of Basic Psychology Theories
Weâve briefly mentioned a range of psychological theories letâs now take a more detailed look at the example theory in basic psychology. In his famous experiment on obedience, Milgram found that most participants administered dangerous and potentially lethal electric shocks to another person when ordered to do so by an authority. Milgramâs Agency Theoryexplains how situational factors can lead to people following orders from an authority figure, even when the action is against their conscience.
Milgram identified two states in which we perform actions: the autonomous and the agentic state. In the autonomous state, we decide to act independently of external influence. Therefore, we feel personally responsible for what we do.
However, when we are given orders from an authority, who can punish us if we disobey, we switch to the agentic state. We no longer feel personally responsible for our actions after all, the decision to act was made by someone else. This way, we can commit an immoral act that we otherwise wouldn’t.
Read Also: What Is Hydrostatic Pressure Biology
How To Do Basic Research
This process follows the same steps as a standard research methodology. The most crucial point is to define a thesis or theory that involves a perfectly defined case study this can be a phenomenon or a problem observed in a particular place.
There are many types of research, such as longitudinal studies, observational research, and exploratory studies. So the first thing you should do is determine if you can obtain the desired result with research or if it is better to opt for another type of research.
Once you have determined your research methodology, the data collection process begins, also depending on your type of study sometimes, you can collect the data passively through observation or experimentation. On other occasions, intervene directly and collect quantitative information with tools such as surveys.
Platforms like QuestionPro will help you have a wide range of functions and tools to carry out your research its survey software has helped students and professionals obtain all the information necessary to generate high-value insights.
In addition, it has a data analysis suite with which you can analyze all this information using all kinds of reports for a more straightforward interpretation of the final results.
QuestionPro is much more than survey software we have a solution for each specific problem and industry. We also offer data management platforms such as our research repository called Insights Hub.
Are There Similarities Between Applied And Basic Research
- Data Gathering Methods
basic and applied research adopt similar data collection processes in order to gather relevant data and arrive at the most objective research outcomes. They typically make use of qualitative and quantitative data gathering methods such as interviews, questionnaires, surveys, and focus groups to gather information and arrive at research outcomes.
- Intersectionality
The research outcomes of basic research often serve as the bedrock for applied research.
- Inductive and Deductive Reasoning
Basic and applied research methods make use of both inductive and deductive reasoning to support the research hypotheses. In deductive reasoning, the researcher moves from the idea to observation, while in inductive reasoning, the researcher transits from observation to the idea.
Recommended Reading: What Does Vi Mean In Physics
Why Basic Research Is Important
The possible applications of basic research might not be obvious right away. During the earliest phases of basic research, scientists might not even be able to see how the information gleaned from theoretical research might ever apply to real-world problems. However, this foundational knowledge is essential. By learning as much as possible about a topic, researchers are able to gather what they need to know about an issue to fully understand the impact it may have.
“For example, early neuroscientists conducted basic research studies to understand how neurons function. The applications of this knowledge were not clear until much later when neuroscientists better understood how this neural functioning affected behavior,” explained author Dawn M. McBride in her text The Process of Research in Psychology.”The understanding of the basic knowledge of neural functioning became useful in helping individuals with disorders long after this research had been completed.”
What Are Some Applications Of Psychology
Psychology is critical to understanding human behavior, which is why it has applications in so many different areas. For example, psychologists can work in clinical settings to help people with mental health issues. They can also work in schools to help children with learning and behavior problems. Additionally, psychologists conduct research to learn more about the human mind and behavior, which can be applied in a variety of ways.
You May Like: What Is Average In Math
Theoretical Vs Practical Nature
Information found through basic research can help develop theories, whereas information found through applied research can help solve particular problems. Since applied research helps solve a problem, it’s seen as being a more practical research method. However, basic research can help researchers develop theories and predictions.
Finding A Correlational Study
You will have to skim or read an article to determine whether or not it is a correlational study. Some authors will describe the study using that terminology. A strategy you might want to try is to use the CTRL-F keyboard shortcut to search webpages, most PDFs, and other documents.
If you press CTRL-F on your keyboard, a window will open. Try searching through the article to identify the following words that authors likely would use to describe a correlation between two or more variables.
You can try a similar strategy in a database like PsycINFO. When searching for keywords, add an asterisk * to the end of one of the incomplete words listed above.
Don’t Miss: Infinite Algebra 1 Properties Of Exponents