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The Scientific Method Of Scientific Methods

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The Scientific Method
The scientific method has been used for centuries to create a structured and concrete way to study a question. When looking at it from a psychology stand point, the scientific method allows psychologists to formulate a way to study and make sense of human nature and support their “haunches and plausible sounding theories”(Myers, 2010). Within the scientific method a theory is formed by everyday observations. It predicts behaviors or possible outcomes. Next a hypothesis must be formed. A hypothesis is “a testable prediction often implied by a theory” (Myers, 2010). A hypothesis allows scientists to then research their question and support their theories with plausible data and concrete findings. The research methods that help formulate scientists’ data and results are case studies, surveys, naturalistic observations, experiments and correlations.
Case Studies
According to the Myers text Psychology, case studies are one of the oldest research methods. A case study “examines one individual in depth in hopes of revealing things true of us all” (Myers, 2010). A key advantage of case studies is it allows scientists to look in depth into a particular event or individual. Case studies can be very revealing and provide much information on a particular incident or person. However, this is also a case studies’ disadvantage. With case studies, most of the time scientists are only focusing on one individual or one circumstance in depth. With this being the case,

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