Drawing on examples from Chapter 1, 6 and 7 of Investigating Psychology, examine and assess the role of different research methods in advancing psychological knowledge.

Psychology is a discipline rooted in the understanding of human behaviour and the need to gain knowledge of why people behave in the way that they do.  Many research methods have been devised by psychologists which have advanced this knowledge with varying successes.  This essay will focus on examining and assessing 3 methods of research.  First the essay will look at the research methods used by Adorno et al.  in their study of authoritarianism which used scales and questionnaires.  Secondly it will go on to examine William Corsaro  and his ethnographic research into childhood friendship, and lastly the focus will turn to research carried out in order to study language and the brain and how this research is enabling psychologists to better understand its function.

In the aftermath of the Second World War, psychologists developed an increasing desire to understand and explain the roo…(short extract)