Basic and Applied Research

Basic and Applied Research
Scientists work in a variety of areas to identify phenomena and develop valid explanations
for them. The goals established by scientists working within a given field of
research may vary according to the nature of the research problem being considered.
For example, the goal of some scientists is to discover general laws that explain particular
classes of behaviors. In the course of developing those laws, psychologists
study behavior in specific situations and attempt to isolate the variables affecting
behavior. Other scientists within the field are more interested in tackling practical
problems than in finding general laws. For example, they might be interested in determining
which of several therapy techniques is best for treating severe phobias.
An important distinction has been made between basic research and applied
research along the lines just presented.
Basic Research Basic research is conducted to investigate issues relevant to the
confirmation or disconfirmation of theoretical or empirical positions. The major goal of basic research is to acquire general information about a phenomenon, with little
emphasis placed on applications to real-world examples of the phenomenon Applied Research The focus of applied research is somewhat different from that of
basic research. Although you may still work from a theory when formulating your
hypotheses, your primary goal is to generate information that can be applied directly
to a real-world problem. A study by Jodi Quas and her colleagues (2007) provides a
nice example of an applied study. In a number of criminal and civil trials, children may
be called to testify about something (such as abuse) that may have happened to them.
One concern is that children’s memories may not be as accurate as adult memories or
that it may be easier to implant memories into children than adults. Quas et al. investigated
a number of factors that can affect the accuracy of children’s memory. They
found that children who were interviewed multiple times about an event that never
occurred showed greater memory accuracy and less susceptibility to suggestion than
children interviewed once. Results such as these can help law enforcement officers
design interviews for children that will maximize memory accuracy. Further examples
of applied research can be found in the areas of clinical, environmental, and industrial
psychology (among others). Overlap Between Basic and Applied Research The distinction between applied and
basic research is not always clear. Some research areas have both basic and applied
aspects. The Quas et al. study provides a good example of research that has both
applied and basic implications. Their results can inform law enforcement personnel
and others who may have to interview young children how to best approach the interview
process. In addition to these applied implications, this research has basic implications
as well because the results tell us something about developmental changes in how
memory works and the factors that affect memory accuracy.
Even applied research is not independent of theories and other research in psychology.
The defining quality of applied research is that the researcher attempts to conduct a
study the results of which can be applied directly to a real-world event. To accomplish
this task, you must choose a research strategy that maximizes the applicability of
findings. If we do give more thought to our explanations, we often base our thinking on
hearsay, conjecture, anecdotal evidence, or unverified sources of information. These
revised explanations, even though they reduce transient curiosity, remain untested and
are thus of questionable validity. In the Christopher Cepeda case, you might come to
the conclusion that texting while walking distracts a person from important environmental
cues that signal danger. Although this explanation seems plausible (and may
even be correct!), without careful testing it remains mere speculation. To make matters
worse, we have a tendency to look for information that will confirm our prior beliefs
and assumptions and to ignore or downplay information that does not conform to those
beliefs and assumptions. So, if you believe that texting on cell phones causes pedestrian
accidents, you might seek out newspaper articles that report on such accidents
and fail to investigate the extent to which texting while walking does not lead to an
accident. At the same time, you may ignore information that conflicts with your
beliefs. The human tendency to seek out information that confirms what is already
believed is known as confirmation bias.