Contributions to I/O Psychology:

Throughout the years there have been many studies to try and understand behavior in the workforce. To understand and find meaning to those behaviors’ psychologists created Industrial/Organizational Psychology. From the sidelines of factory workers to our new modern- day employment companies; I/O psychology has allowed companies to apply research to help identify solutions and problems in the workforce. I/O is involved not only in the internal dynamics of the workforce such as behavior, job advancements and, employee performance. It also takes part in the study and management of Human Resources. The study is involved in events such as employee selection, training, raises, and how a job plays a role in the organization. In this paper, we will go over I/O’s founding fathers and contrast the dual roles of scientists and practitioners. I/O also deals with ethics on a research basis and why it helps in the evolution of psychology.

Comparing Dual Roles of Scientist and Practitioner:

I/O goes back to when psychology first emerged. It is a branch of psychology that has been adopted and employed throughout the working industries all over the world. Experimental psychology was used first in the development of I/O psychology by the founding fathers who influenced these methods. “Research Psychologist Hugo Munsterberg and Walter Dill Scott were the founders and creators of I/O Psychology” (Spector, 2012). Both experimental psychologists saw how industrial companies needed psychology for their organizational issues within their companies. Frederick Taylor, the developer of Scientific Management; addressed issues with workers concerning production in factories. Taylor’s main goal was to increase productivity by selected methods when hiring for job descriptions. Lastly, we have the married couple Frank and Lillian Gilbreth. Together they combined their expertise and help discover the method of studying efficient ways to improve task performance with a decrease in the amount of time to complete the task.

Ethics when conducting research:

Spector, (2012), discussed six moral principles when involving research. It is important that when gaining trust in your research that your theories must be respected. If the scientist is not certain or confident in his or her work, the integrity of the work will be compromised.

Spector, (2012) also states that professional and scientific responsibility must show top-level standards for individuals and dignity and rights. That includes their privacy and confidentiality during and after research to protect data from bias and prevent results from being compromised. Finally, social responsibility is part of the ethical codes where psychologist’s knowledge and skills should be used only for the benefits of society. They design their practices around the basis of these ethics to ensure solidarity and moral compass.

Research and the Advancements in Psychology:

Research is imperative for psychologists so that they can navigate and understand this complex world we live in today. Without research, we would have to rely on our intuitions and gut feelings. History has proven that what we think is not always what is accurate and that we need evidence to support our claims. We prove our claims by performing scientific research.

Psychologists focus on understanding behavior, mental cognition, and physiological processes that cause certain behaviors. The research contributes to the intellectual insights of practitioners and uses this to help others understand their organizations along with their fields of study.

Management is a great example of why it’s important to involve research in psychology. In management, people of superior abilities should use those abilities for purposes greater than themselves. This also helps in achieving social status and job security and use these research methods to focus on achieving those goals.

Statistical Methods:

Statistical methods can be used depending on the situation required for testing. The two methods we will go over are Inferential statistic testing and Meta-Analysis. “Inferential statistics allow us to draw conclusions that generalize from the subjects we have studied to all the people of interest by allowing us to make inferences based on probabilities” (Spector, (2012). These small group studies are then applied to larger groups to test theories based on probabilities. Meta- Analysis is a quantitative way of combining results of studies, much like our statistics summarize the results across individual subjects (Spector, 2012). I/O psychology has four concepts they use for the research design. These four concepts are hypothesis, research design, measurement, statistics followed by the deduction of the results. A hypothesis is a basic predictive statement that allows the researcher to ask what or why in the relationship of two or more variables. A research design will tell us what type of research needs to be conducted to find the answer the researcher is asking. Measurement of statistics is how they will categorize the variables to help understand the information you have gathered. Finally, the deduction of results tells us the results of the data they have collected.

The best part about scientific design is the variation of the predictor variables and the observation of the response variable. Applying I/O psychology can help determine if issues can be resolved in the workplace.

Conclusion: