Experimental Methods in Health Psychology in Australia: Implications for Applied Research

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to explore the importance of laboratory‐based experimental research within health psychology in Australia in bridging the gap between correlational research and large‐scale population interventions. While correlational research is useful in the early stages of investigation design, it does not necessarily provide clear information on the causal mechanisms of behaviour change. On the other hand, conducting population interventions with insufficient experimental and pilot testing can lead to ineffective interventions or a lack of understanding of why the intervention was effective. We argue that a systematic multi‐method approach that incorporates laboratory‐based experimental methods can lead to more effective and resource‐efficient interventions through the identification of key behaviour change mechanisms and causal relationships. A systematic multi‐method approach also has the advantage of overcoming the limitations of single‐method approaches within applied fields of research. We discuss recent experimental work conducted in Australia to illustrate the virtues of experimental research.

Key words:

• Australia
• behaviour change
• experimental research
• health psychology
• laboratory research
• methodology

Notes

1. There is a body of research that argues for the value of observational and correlational studies in providing causal information. However, many of the studies conducted in this area do not make use of methodological and analytic procedures that could maximise the causal inferences drawn, and thus can only provide very limited causal information. For further information on causality in observational studies, see Winship and Morgan (1999).