In the spotlight-Graduate student

There are many research methods available to psychologists in their efforts to understand, describe, and explain behavior and the cognitive and biological processes that underlie it.

The population standard deviation is rarely known in many day-to-day examples of statistics. When the sample sizes are large, it is easy to estimate the population standard deviation using a confidence interval, which provides results close enough to the original value. However, statisticians ran into problems when the sample size was small. A small sample size caused inaccuracies in the confidence interval.
The Student t distribution was developed by William S. Goset (1876–1937) of the...

Often, psychologists develop surveys as a means of gathering data. Surveys are lists of questions to be answered by research participants, and can be delivered as paper-and-pencil questionnaires, administered electronically, or conducted verbally. Generally, the survey itself can be completed in a short time, and the ease of administering a survey makes it easy to collect data from a large number of people.

Jeffrey Arnett's concept of emerging adulthood offers a framework to understand the unique developmental stage between adolescence and full-fledged adulthood, generally from ages 18 to 25. This period is marked by extensive exploration and shifts in identity, relationships, and career choices, a process known in psychology as role experimentation. Emerging adulthood reflects the evolving cultural expectations surrounding adulthood and the dynamic process of personal transformation during...