Psychologists use many types of correlation methods of research. These methods are able to help psychologists understand relationships between people and their actions or ways of thinking. Descriptive methods have the purpose of observing and recording behavior and include observation, surveys and interviews, standardized tests, and case studies. Naturalistic observation means observing behaviors in real-world settings. However, much psychological research is conducted in a laboratory, a controlled setting that removes many complex real world factors. Laboratory research has some drawbacks: participants are likely to know they are being studied; the laboratory setting is unnatural; and participants in university laboratory research are unlikely to represent diverse cultural backgrounds. In an interview, a person is asked face-to-face questions about experiences and attitudes. A shortcoming of interviews occurs where participants are not willing to disclose socially unfavorable information about them. In a survey, the respondents read the questions and mark their answers on paper. Tests used to measure an aspect of a person’s psychology and compare the individual’s score with the scores of others are referred to as standardized tests. An in-depth look at a single individual is called a case study.
The goal of correlation research is to describe how strongly two or more events or characteristics are related. Just because two events may be correlated, it does not prove that one event causes the other. The number in the correlation coefficient indicates the strength of the relationship between the two factors, and the sign indicates the direction of the relationship. A positive sign in the correlation coefficient indicates that the two factors vary in the same direction, and a negative sign indicates that the factors vary in opposite directions. A technique that does