In this assignment, you will follow up on the Week 1 assignment by devising a specific research question and hypothesis statement for your topic(Depression in Teens). For this assignment, use the Week 2 Assignment Template provided.
Using the Week 2 Assignment Template, complete the following:
• Devise a specific research question on an aspect of the topic(Depression in Teens) selected in Week 1.
• Formulate a testable research hypothesis.
• Identify the research design category you believe is suitable for investigating your research question.
• Explain why this research design category is an appropriate choice.
Support your choices and explanation with citations from the textbook and at least one scholarly/peer-reviewed source. You can find suitable journal articles about specific research designs and methods in the Research Methodsresearch guide.
The Research Question, Hypothesis, and Approach paper
• Must use the provided Week 2 Assignment Template.
• Must use at least 1 scholarly/peer-reviewed source in addition to the course text.

TEXTBOOK RESOURCE PDF PROVIDED IN ATTACHMENTS! (Newman, 2016)
• Newman, M. (2016). Research methods in psychology (2nd ed.). San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.
WEEK 2 ASSIGNMENT TEMPLATE IN ATTACHMENTS!

Week 1 assignment provided in attachments for review.PSY326 WEEK 2 ASSIGNMENT: RESEARCH QUESTION, HYPOTHESIS, AND APPROACH 1
Name: Date:
Instructor:

1. State the focus topic you selected in Week 1.
Answer:

2. Devise a specific research question on an aspect of the topic.
Answer:

3. Formulate a testable research hypothesis.
Answer:

4. Identify the research design category you believe is suitable for investigating your research question.
Answer:

5. Explain why this research design category is an appropriate choice. Use citations in this area.
Answer:

6. List the authors, title, and year of any sources you cited above.
Answer:7/30/20, 2(00 PMPrint

Page 1 of 27https://content.ashford.edu/print/Newman.2681.16.1?sections=navpo…t&clientToken=063d00d3-8e54-2701-8da2-e1f12b397148&np=navpoint-8

1.2 The Research Process
With a broad understanding of the major research areas in psychology, we now turn our attention to the
research process. How do psychologists conduct research? What are their goals? This section will answer
these questions. This section will also compare quantitative and qualitative research, two different approaches
to scientific inquiry.

The Scientific Method

What does it mean to draw conclusions based on science? Scientists across all quantitative disciplines use the
same process of forming and testing their ideas. The overall goal of this research process—also known as the
scientific method—is to draw conclusions based on empirical observations. In this section, we cover the four
steps of the research process—hypothesize, operationalize, measure, and explain, abbreviated with the
acronym HOME.

StepStep 1—Hypothesize 1—Hypothesize
The first step in the research process turns an initial research question into a testable prediction, or hypothesis.
A hypothesis is a specific statement about the relationship between two or more variables. For example, if we
start with a question about the link between smoking and cancer, our hypothesis might be that smoking causes
lung cancer. Or, if we want to know whether a new drug will be helpful in treating depression, we might
hypothesize that drug X will lead to a reduction in depression symptoms. The next section of this chapter will
cover hypotheses in more detail, but for now it is important to understand that the way a hypothesis is framed
guides every other step of the research process.

StepStep 2—Operationalize 2—Operationalize
Once a researcher develops a hypothesis, the next step is to decide how to test it. The process of
operationalization involves choosing measurable variables to represent the elements of the hypothesis. In the
depression-drug example, we need to decide how to measure both cause and effect; in this case we define the
cause as the drug and the effect as reduced symptoms of depression. That is, what doses of the drug should we
investigate? How many different doses should we compare? And, how will we measure depression
symptoms? Will it work to have people complete a questionnaire? Or do we need to have a clinician interview
participants before and after they take the drug?

An additional complication for psychology studies is that many of research questions deal with abstract
concepts. Turning these concepts into measurable variables requires some art. For example, the abstract
concept of happiness could be defined in countless different ways—being “happy” likely means something
different to one individual than it does to his neighbors. To include happiness in a research study, we need to
translate it into a more concrete concept, measured by a person’s score on a happiness scale or by theRunning Head: DEPRESSION IN YOUTHS AND TEENS 1

Focus Topic and References: Depression in Youths and Teens

Miranda Smith

PSY326: Research Methods

Professor Sharon Barger

07/30/2020

2
DEPRESSION IN YOUTHS AND TEENS

Focus Topic and References: Depression in Youth and Teens

In the current world, there has been a surge in cases of depression occurring. Depression

refers to a mood condition that negates how an individual thinks and feels. Depression comes

with vast effects on an individual’s life. The most recognized effects include sadness and the

unproductiveness of a given individual, isolation of an individual from others, change in sleep

patterns, feeling unworthy, fatigue, and suicide. Certain factors can trigger the condition in a

given time. The most common elements include drug abuse, bipolar disorder (Other mental

conditions), Parental verbal discipline, negative factors associated with age, and many others.

Depression is typically associated with specific periods triggered by particular factors stated

above. The primary age affected by depression includes the teens and children and less

commonly in adults. The upsurge in this condition has sparkled interest in researching the critical

aspects of entailed depression. The paper gives a literature review of various scholars who

studied depression and came up with specific findings concerning the same.

Wileys(2013) research primarily talks about the link between parental verbal discipline

and teen depression. Verbal discipline refers to the use of psychological force to inflict pain to an

individual for going against some specific code of behavior(Wileys, 2013)). According to this

research, Wileys found out that, majority of children who experience harsh verbal discipline end

up experiencing depression at their teenage ages approximately age 14. Researchers say that

previous researchers linked severe verbal punishment to behavioral and psychological

adjustments of the children, which is not the case. The researchers say that no place identifies

harsh verbal discipline as a disciplinary tactic. Verbal discipline may include humiliating the

child using harsh words and shouting at the children.

3
DEPRESSION IN YOUTHS AND TEENS

Sampling was done in two phases for the specific target groups, which helped determine

the particular findings. The first wave involved a collection of around 976 samples, while the

second wave included the use of 873 samples of adolescents. Their results found out that 45% of

fathers and mothers used harsh verbal discipline while 45% off mothers and 43% of fathers use

cruel verbal punishment at age 14. These findings clearly show that depression of adolescents

kicks off between the ages of 13 and 14. However, they found out that harsh verbal discipline is

still practiced up to this day. The mothers are more linked to the use of this disciplinary tactic

than fathers. However, they fo

In this assignment, you will follow up on the Week 1 assignment by devising a specific research question and hypothesis statement for your topic(Depression in Teens). For this assignment, use the Week 2 Assignment Template provided.
Using the Week 2 Assignment Template, complete the following:
• Devise a specific research question on an aspect of the topic(Depression in Teens) selected in Week 1.
• Formulate a testable research hypothesis.
• Identify the research design category you believe is suitable for investigating your research question.
• Explain why this research design category is an appropriate choice.
Support your choices and explanation with citations from the textbook and at least one scholarly/peer-reviewed source. You can find suitable journal articles about specific research designs and methods in the Research Methodsresearch guide.
The Research Question, Hypothesis, and Approach paper
• Must use the provided Week 2 Assignment Template.
• Must use at least 1 scholarly/peer-reviewed source in addition to the course text.

TEXTBOOK RESOURCE PDF PROVIDED IN ATTACHMENTS! (Newman, 2016)
• Newman, M. (2016). Research methods in psychology (2nd ed.). San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.
WEEK 2 ASSIGNMENT TEMPLATE IN ATTACHMENTS!

Week 1 assignment provided in attachments for review.PSY326 WEEK 2 ASSIGNMENT: RESEARCH QUESTION, HYPOTHESIS, AND APPROACH 1
Name: Date:
Instructor:

1. State the focus topic you selected in Week 1.
Answer:

2. Devise a specific research question on an aspect of the topic.
Answer:

3. Formulate a testable research hypothesis.
Answer:

4. Identify the research design category you believe is suitable for investigating your research question.
Answer:

5. Explain why this research design category is an appropriate choice. Use citations in this area.
Answer:

6. List the authors, title, and year of any sources you cited above.
Answer:7/30/20, 2(00 PMPrint

Page 1 of 27https://content.ashford.edu/print/Newman.2681.16.1?sections=navpo…t&clientToken=063d00d3-8e54-2701-8da2-e1f12b397148&np=navpoint-8

1.2 The Research Process
With a broad understanding of the major research areas in psychology, we now turn our attention to the
research process. How do psychologists conduct research? What are their goals? This section will answer
these questions. This section will also compare quantitative and qualitative research, two different approaches
to scientific inquiry.

The Scientific Method

What does it mean to draw conclusions based on science? Scientists across all quantitative disciplines use the
same process of forming and testing their ideas. The overall goal of this research process—also known as the
scientific method—is to draw conclusions based on empirical observations. In this section, we cover the four
steps of the research process—hypothesize, operationalize, measure, and explain, abbreviated with the
acronym HOME.

StepStep 1—Hypothesize 1—Hypothesize
The first step in the research process turns an initial research question into a testable prediction, or hypothesis.
A hypothesis is a specific statement about the relationship between two or more variables. For example, if we
start with a question about the link between smoking and cancer, our hypothesis might be that smoking causes
lung cancer. Or, if we want to know whether a new drug will be helpful in treating depression, we might
hypothesize that drug X will lead to a reduction in depression symptoms. The next section of this chapter will
cover hypotheses in more detail, but for now it is important to understand that the way a hypothesis is framed
guides every other step of the research process.

StepStep 2—Operationalize 2—Operationalize
Once a researcher develops a hypothesis, the next step is to decide how to test it. The process of
operationalization involves choosing measurable variables to represent the elements of the hypothesis. In the
depression-drug example, we need to decide how to measure both cause and effect; in this case we define the
cause as the drug and the effect as reduced symptoms of depression. That is, what doses of the drug should we
investigate? How many different doses should we compare? And, how will we measure depression
symptoms? Will it work to have people complete a questionnaire? Or do we need to have a clinician interview
participants before and after they take the drug?

An additional complication for psychology studies is that many of research questions deal with abstract
concepts. Turning these concepts into measurable variables requires some art. For example, the abstract
concept of happiness could be defined in countless different ways—being “happy” likely means something
different to one individual than it does to his neighbors. To include happiness in a research study, we need to
translate it into a more concrete concept, measured by a person’s score on a happiness scale or by theRunning Head: DEPRESSION IN YOUTHS AND TEENS 1

Focus Topic and References: Depression in Youths and Teens

Miranda Smith

PSY326: Research Methods

Professor Sharon Barger

07/30/2020

2
DEPRESSION IN YOUTHS AND TEENS

Focus Topic and References: Depression in Youth and Teens

In the current world, there has been a surge in cases of depression occurring. Depression

refers to a mood condition that negates how an individual thinks and feels. Depression comes

with vast effects on an individual’s life. The most recognized effects include sadness and the

unproductiveness of a given individual, isolation of an individual from others, change in sleep

patterns, feeling unworthy, fatigue, and suicide. Certain factors can trigger the condition in a

given time. The most common elements include drug abuse, bipolar disorder (Other mental

conditions), Parental verbal discipline, negative factors associated with age, and many others.

Depression is typically associated with specific periods triggered by particular factors stated

above. The primary age affected by depression includes the teens and children and less

commonly in adults. The upsurge in this condition has sparkled interest in researching the critical

aspects of entailed depression. The paper gives a literature review of various scholars who

studied depression and came up with specific findings concerning the same.

Wileys(2013) research primarily talks about the link between parental verbal discipline

and teen depression. Verbal discipline refers to the use of psychological force to inflict pain to an

individual for going against some specific code of behavior(Wileys, 2013)). According to this

research, Wileys found out that, majority of children who experience harsh verbal discipline end

up experiencing depression at their teenage ages approximately age 14. Researchers say that

previous researchers linked severe verbal punishment to behavioral and psychological

adjustments of the children, which is not the case. The researchers say that no place identifies

harsh verbal discipline as a disciplinary tactic. Verbal discipline may include humiliating the

child using harsh words and shouting at the children.

3
DEPRESSION IN YOUTHS AND TEENS

Sampling was done in two phases for the specific target groups, which helped determine

the particular findings. The first wave involved a collection of around 976 samples, while the

second wave included the use of 873 samples of adolescents. Their results found out that 45% of

fathers and mothers used harsh verbal discipline while 45% off mothers and 43% of fathers use

cruel verbal punishment at age 14. These findings clearly show that depression of adolescents

kicks off between the ages of 13 and 14. However, they found out that harsh verbal discipline is

still practiced up to this day. The mothers are more linked to the use of this disciplinary tactic

than fathers. However, they fo