Introduction
Modern people often say that movement is life because the latter exists due to the presence of change. Following this logic, it is possible to say that studying the chain of events in the process of physical, social, cognitive, or emotional development helps the humanity to take a step closer to solving the mystery of life. Developmental research is widely used in the field of psychology, and its practical significance cannot be overstated due to the data on development arrest that it provides. The given paper aims at reviewing the principles of modern developmental research by describing its methods.
Main body
Studies in developmental research should summarize the general principles of development in different domains that would be manifested in all people. With that in mind, conducting cross-cultural studies presents a popular research method since it helps single out trends in development that are culture-based. According to Miller (2018), the above method of research has numerous benefits and helps prove or reject the universality of popular development models. Using the research method under analysis, it is pivotal to design an appropriate sampling strategy. To ensure the correctness of comparison between different cultures, modern researchers use a range of means, including standard back-translation procedures (Markovitch, Luyckx, Klimstra, Abramson, & Knafo-Noam, 2017). Despite numerous methodological challenges associated with it, the research method helps study general trends in development and reduce the impact of cultural bias on results.
Knowledge gaps in developmental research can also be filled with the help of naturalistic observation, the method that does not involve any specific manipulations with research participants. The above-mentioned method has a range of advantages; for instance, it allows producing credible research results due to the absence of participant expectations. The method of naturalistic observation is widely used to study the stages of communicative development and the features of ASD and other disorders (Parladé & Iverson, 2015).
Nowadays, more and more researchers start using this method to expand the knowledge of human development. According to Dahl (2017), naturalistic methods are, to some extent, opposite to experimental ones because the former focus on studying real-life events, whereas the latter describe the degree to which one variable impacts another. Continuing on the topic of naturalistic observation in developmental research, it needs to be said that the results obtained with the help of this method are often regarded as obvious (Abels, Papaligoura, Lamm, & Yovsi, 2017). This feature negatively impacts the perceived effectiveness of the method and makes many researchers think that findings obtained with its help do not possess academic novelty.
In spite of that, the results of naturalistic observations are often credible because research participants are not encouraged to change their everyday habits to meet the expectations of researchers.
Another important feature that the method of naturalistic observation possesses is the ability to provide recommendations for future researchers in the field. By observing everyday interactions between research participants or people and objects, modern researchers not only study different aspects of human behavior but also notice something that has been neglected earlier. Even though they do not focus on underlying causes of certain tendencies, the results of naturalistic observations effectively identify poorly studied topics and, therefore, contribute to revealing the secret of human behavior.
Conclusion
To sum it up, cross-cultural studies and naturalistic observations are among the methods widely used to conduct developmental research. The use of each method is associated with methodological issues that can be detrimental to the quality of findings (language barriers, ethnic bias, etc.). However, both approaches to conducting studies (especially in the field of psychology) propel the knowledge about human development to the next level.
References
Abels, M., Papaligoura, Z., Lamm, B., & Yovsi, R. D. (2017). How usual is “play as you usually would”? A comparison of naturalistic mother-infant interactions with videorecorded play sessions in three cultural communities. Child Development Research, 2017. Web.
Dahl, A. (2017). Ecological commitments: Why developmental science needs naturalistic methods. Child Development Perspectives, 11(2), 79-84.
Markovitch, N., Luyckx, K., Klimstra, T., Abramson, L., & Knafo-Noam, A. (2017). Identity exploration and commitment in early adolescence: Genetic and environmental contributions. Developmental Psychology, 53(11), 2092-2102.
Miller, S. A. (2018). Developmental research methods (5th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Parladé, M. V., & Iverson, J. M. (2015). The development of coordinated communication in infants at heightened risk for autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 45(7), 2218-2234.