What’s on the Research Methods poster
A 8-row table: Method · Establishes · Trade-off.
Method against what it supports.
- Lab experiment — Causation — Low ecological validity
- Field experiment — Causation — Less control
- Natural experiment — Causation, weakly — IV not manipulated
- Quasi-experiment — Comparison — No random allocation
- Correlation — Association only — No causal claim
- Observation — Description — Observer bias
- Case study — Rich detail — No generalisation
- Interview / survey — Self-report — Social desirability
In a natural experiment the IV varies naturally; in a quasi-experiment it is a pre-existing participant characteristic.
Questions about the Research Methods poster
- What’s on the Research Methods poster?
- A 8-row table: Method · Establishes · Trade-off. Method against what it supports. Lab experiment — Causation — Low ecological validity; Field experiment — Causation — Less control; Natural experiment — Causation, weakly — IV not manipulated; Quasi-experiment — Comparison — No random allocation; Correlation — Association only — No causal claim; Observation — Description — Observer bias; Case study — Rich detail — No generalisation; Interview / survey — Self-report — Social desirability. In a natural experiment the IV varies naturally; in a quasi-experiment it is a pre-existing participant characteristic.
- Who is the Research Methods poster for?
- Research Methods belongs to the Psychology section rather than to a school year, because life science is not something one grade owns. Anyone learning methods & statistics can pin it up — a beginner, a student mid-course, or someone revising years later.
- When should you use the Research Methods poster?
- Only an experiment can establish cause. Everything else describes or correlates. A wall chart earns its place by being glanceable from where the work is happening, so Research Methods belongs on the wall where that life science work actually happens, within glancing distance, rather than filed away.
- What other posters go with Research Methods?
- Choosing a Test, Descriptive Statistics and Research Ethics sit alongside Research Methods in the Psychology section. Printed together they make a wall rather than a single sheet, which is how a reference set actually gets used.Choosing a TestDescriptive StatisticsResearch Ethics
- Is the Research Methods poster free to download and print?
- Yes. Research Methods downloads as a free PDF with no account, no email and no watermark, like everything else in the Psychology section. Print as many copies as you like for a home, a classroom, a library or a tutoring group; reselling the file is the only thing the licence rules out.Read the licence
- What size does the Research Methods poster print at?
- Research Methods is a vector PDF laid out for US Letter, and prints on A4 with Fit to page — the same file, no separate download. Because every mark on it is drawn rather than photographed, it stays sharp enlarged to A3, A2 or A1 at a copy shop. Colour carries emphasis only, so a greyscale print of Research Methods loses nothing.Printing guide
Related posters
Charts that sit alongside Research Methods on the same wall.
Browse every Psychology poster, or start from the full catalogue.