1 Introducing: Research Methods
1.1 Overview of this course
Via this course, I’m giving you a beginner’s toolbox for you to do research. Like any beginner toolbox, it doesn’t include everything you’ll ever need, but it’s enough to get you going.
It can take years to master research methods. In fact, you could spend a lifetime learning about research methods. Some experts dedicate their entire careers to creating new research methods (e.g., new statistical methods). One semester isn’t enough for you to master all of the typical research methods that are used by industrial-, work-, and organizational-psychologists (IWO Psychologists). However, in this course, I will give you a tour of the research methods landscape.
Instead of asking you to read a research-methods book that contains many sections that are irrelevant for IWO Psychologists, or outdated, or poorly-explained, I will give you lecture notes (you are reading a lecture notes file right now). You can download a PDF version of each lecture notes file. Also, I will give you supplemental reference materials that you can use during your career whenever the need arises. I recommend you keep all of these resources handy (e.g., in your cloud storage, or your computer, and/or your Zotero library).
1.2 What are research methods?
The online Oxford Dictionary of English (2025) defines research as:
the systematic investigation into and study of materials and sources in order to establish facts and reach new conclusions.
In a nutshell, research is investigation, also known as inquiry. Anyone who does research is typically trying to arrive at a conclusion, such as making a decision or solving a problem.
In your personal life, you’ve already done a lot of research. For example, when you needed to buy something and you compare the features of different options, you were doing research.
Obviously, some research methods are useful for some specified purpose, whereas other research methods aren’t so useful. This course focuses on the scientific research methods that IWO Psychologists typically use. In a subsequent lecture, I will explain what makes a research method scientific.
For now, let’s just say a research method is scientific if it is systematic, logical, and tied to observable reality.
1.3 What do IWO Psychologists use research methods for?
IWO Psychologists use scientific research methods to understand things and to have a real impact on real workers. The emphasis on scientific research methods is what typically distinguishes IWO Psychology versus Human Resources (HR). Most HR degree programs haven’t focused on training their students to acquire scientific research methods, but that’s starting to change as HR personnel are becoming more aware about the usefulness of scientific research methods.
IWO Psychologists can use scientific research methods for many purposes. To give you an idea, here are some examples:
- To understand the people in this specific team and/or company/organization.
- e.g., their attitudes, beliefs, abilities, habits, etc.
- To understand any people in teams/organizations in general.
- To evaluate the validity of a hiring procedure (e.g., is our hiring procedure effective?).
- To evaluate the impact that a training & development system will likely have, or the impact it already had on some workers.
- To evaluate the effectiveness of a leadership-development program.
- To help design new systems and interventions that will be very likely to achieve their intended purposes (e.g., increase worker wellbeing, performance, company revenue).
I could go on and on, but you get the point.
1.4 The design of this course
This course was designed in collaboration with several professors—especially I–O Psychology professors—with several important considerations.
First, we consulted SIOP’s Guidelines for Education and Training in Industrial-Organizational Psychology (2016, available in our Zotero Group Library). Those Guidelines describe the topics that IWO psychologists generally consider important to include in any educational sequence for students who are studying to work in IWO psychology.
SIOP is the acronym of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, which is Division 14 of the APA (American Psychological Association). SIOP is the primary professional association for IWO psychology in the USA.
Next, we (the professors) pooled all of our collective knowledge, together with several popular textbooks about research methods, and we designed a curriculum (i.e., a sequence of topics) for this course. This course’s curriculum is fairly standard for any first-semester graduate student studying any behavioral science (including psychology), with a few important distinctions:
- The latter part of this course includes methods about causal inference (i.e., inferences about how one thing causes another thing), particularly some methods that haven’t yet permeated across the landscape of IWO psychology. Such methods were developed by many scholars—especially from the mid-1990s to the present day—but it’s fair to say Judea Pearl was and still is a primer driver. When you ask your colleagues about such methods, don’t be surprised if they have no clue what you’re talking about.
Judea Pearl is a professor of computer science at the University of California, Los Angeles.
The early parts of this course will explicitly identify several habits and assumptions that are prevalent among researchers in IWO psychology. By labeling those assumptions and tendencies, we seek to give you an awareness and self-awareness that should result in better research.
Lastly, this course includes a brief introduction to qualitative research methods, which are often completely absent from research methods courses. Such methods are becoming increasingly recognized for their usefulness in the scientific endeavor.
For now, let’s just say qualitative research methods are contrasted against quantative research methods. The latter focus on numbers, whereas the former focuses on other qualities that aren’t numeric.
Aside from that, the remainder of this course is very typical. Here is a birds-eye view of the curriculum:
Introduction to the fundamental concepts about scientific research methods in general, and how they relate to IWO psychology.
Ethics in psychological research. Many research methods courses insert this near the end of the course, but we’re putting it front-and-center near the beginning, because of its fundamental importance to all research.
Overview of qualitative and quantitative research methods.
Literature-review methods. This is how you figure out what has already been researched and concluded in relation to your topic(s) of interest.
Building a theory, model, and hypotheses. This is very typical in IWO psychology, which is why this course will emphasize these topics.
Sampling, measurement, and psychometrics. This degree program includes a required course on psychometrics, so we will just introduce you to the main topics in this course.
A brief introduction to statistical methods. This degree program includes a required course on statistical methods, so we will just give you a brief introduction in this course.
Classic and cutting-edge methods for causal inference.
How to disseminate the results of research.
1.5 Conclusion
Now that you’ve finished reading this page, you should go back to Canvas to see what the next steps are in this course.