Back to Basics: The Importance of Conceptual Clarification in Psychological Science

被引:101
作者
Bringmann, Laura F. [1 ,2 ]
Elmer, Timon [1 ]
Eronen, Markus, I [3 ]
机构
[1] Univ Groningen, Fac Social & Behav Sci, Dept Psychometr & Stat, Groningen, Netherlands
[2] Univ Groningen, Univ Med Ctr Groningen, Interdisciplinary Ctr Psychopathol & Emot Regulat, Dept Psychiat, Groningen, Netherlands
[3] Univ Groningen, Dept Theoret Philosophy, Groningen, Netherlands
基金
瑞士国家科学基金会;
关键词
concept; phenomena; measurement; qualitative and quantitative methods; philosophy of science; PSYCHOPATHOLOGY; FRAMEWORK; FRIEND;
D O I
10.1177/09637214221096485
中图分类号
B84 [心理学];
学科分类号
04 ; 0402 ;
摘要
Although the lack of conceptual clarity has been observed to be a widespread and fundamental problem in psychology, conceptual clarification plays a mostly marginal role in psychological research. In this article, we argue that better conceptualization of psychological phenomena is needed to move psychology forward as a science. We first show how conceptual unclarity seeps through all aspects of psychological research, from everyday concepts to statistical measures. We then turn to recommendations on how to improve conceptual clarity in psychology, emphasizing the importance of seeing research as an iterative process in which it is necessary to revisit the phenomena that are the foundations of theories and models, as well as how they are conceptualized and measured.
引用
收藏
页码:340 / 346
页数:7
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