The Use of Scientific Method - Research Paper Example

A question must be drawn to show that there is a psychological question that must be researched. The question could be whether there are environmental settings that enable criminal behaviors to come forth in the psyche of individuals. Once the question is written, some basic background research must be performed. It is necessary to view previous studies and results that have taken place by professionals in the field as well as any other hypotheses that may have been posted in academic journals by peers within the community.

This allows the researcher to re-examine the original question to better develop a hypothesis. The third step in the Scientific Method is to construct a hypothesis that is in-depth and accurate enough to deliver the results that help answer the original question. For example, it could be hypothesized that a one-parent home in an impoverished neighborhood could lead to criminal behavior by members of that society. Once the psychological hypothesis is developed, it is important to test the hypothesis.

This would be done in our example by delivering questionnaires or in-home analysis of young children in their original environments as opposed to those young children that are not in those exact environments but have shown pre-disposed criminal-like behavior. Once the hypothesis is tested, it is finally and most importantly the purpose of the research to analyze the findings and draw any appropriate conclusions. This can call for asking additional questions for further researchers, or show that the hypothesis was correct or incorrect.