<p>You may want to have a look at our 40 questions to date that use the <a href="/questions/tagged/statistics" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged &#39;statistics&#39;" rel="tag">statistics</a> tag. These may demonstrate the complexity of our applications in statistics. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_statistics" rel="nofollow">Wikipedia also has an entire psychological statistics page</a> that seems intended to index other pages on specific applications. Psychological experiments commonly test null hypotheses (e.g., $H_0$: the experimental treatment and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placebo-controlled_study" rel="nofollow">placebo control</a> conditions will not differ in measures of an outcome variable), so experimental methods and hypothesis testing methods do not exclude one another. Moreover, concern for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placebo_effect" rel="nofollow">placebo effects</a> implies a study may be at least loosely related to <a href="/questions/tagged/cognitive-psychology" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged &#39;cognitive-psychology&#39;" rel="tag">cognitive-psychology</a> itself, as <a href="/questions/tagged/placebo" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged &#39;placebo&#39;" rel="tag">placebo</a> effects involve <a href="/questions/tagged/cognitive-neuroscience" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged &#39;cognitive-neuroscience&#39;" rel="tag">cognitive-neuroscience</a>, <a href="/questions/tagged/neurobiology" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged &#39;neurobiology&#39;" rel="tag">neurobiology</a>, <a href="/questions/tagged/psychopharmacology" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged &#39;psychopharmacology&#39;" rel="tag">psychopharmacology</a>, and <a href="/questions/tagged/experimental-psychology" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged &#39;experimental-psychology&#39;" rel="tag">experimental-psychology</a>, maybe among others. Plenty to read!</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-02-26T23:17:11.950Z
Ah! Well then, objections withdrawn. :) Others may continue to object for the sake of the site, or your question may be edited or put on hold until someone edits, but if mine is a clear answer, then it seems your question was clear enough to me, and useful enough to you! I for one am inclined to forgive any apparent lack of research effort in such circumstances, but others may disagree.
Nick Stauner
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-02-26T23:12:04.050Z
2014-02-26T23:28:23.053Z
2014-02-26T23:28:23.053Z
Nick Stauner
<p>I'm still not clear on what is your question. You ask whether psychology and medicine differ in some aspect of their methodological approach.</p>

<p><em>Experiments</em> are typically analysed using <em>statistics</em> to test <em>hypotheses</em>. So those things all go together.</p>

<p>Psychology and medicine both perform controlled experiments and observational studies. 
They both perform studies some of which aim to test a particular hypothesis and others which are more exploratory or data driven.</p>

<p>They both heavily rely on the scientific method, quantification, measurement, and statistics to draw inference.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-02-27T08:14:14.463Z
Also you answered me in a perfect way. I was asking if psychology relies on experiments analysed through statistics.
Revious
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-02-27T03:10:44.903Z
2014-02-28T02:43:28.480Z
2014-02-28T02:43:28.480Z
Jeromy Anglim
<p>When I look at medical journal articles on <a href="http://scholar.google.it/" rel="nofollow">Google Scholar</a> I see a lot of stuff based on double blind placebo tests. From this, I've gathered that medicine often performs experiments. </p>

<p>I've been in touch with cognitive behavioral psychological therapy, but not enough to say whether psychology is more "philosophical", in being hypothesis based, or instead bound to strict experiments using statistics.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-02-26T22:56:55.473Z
Please, explain the downote so that I can improve the question or delete it.
Revious
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-02-26T23:03:25.257Z
Forgive my voting before commenting; I am at least bound by [my own words](http://cogsci.stackexchange.com/q/5829/4086) to comment, and have been trying to figure out how to phrase it. So far, you've got two votes (one is mine) to close as unclear what you're asking. If that motion passes, you'll see this text: "Please clarify your specific problem or add additional details to highlight exactly what you need. As it's currently written, it’s hard to tell exactly what you're asking." The lack of clarity is why I downvoted, though if your question is whether we use statistics, more may apply.
Nick Stauner
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-02-26T23:09:16.250Z
@NickStauner: thanks.. also if I can't figure out how I could better clarify the question. Have a look to this link: http://scholar.google.it/scholar?hl=it&q=fullerene&btnG=&lr= medicine make a very strong usage of experiment based stuff. Psychology do the same? Or it's far more hypotheses based?
Revious
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-02-27T00:33:01.140Z
@Sam I think you clarified it much better with the comment above, so I incorporated that into your question.
Chuck Sherrington
<methodology><experimental-psychology><statistics><history-of-psychology>
Is cognitive science hypothesis-based or bound to strict experiments involving statistics?
Revious
# Is cognitive science hypothesis-based or bound to strict experiments involving statistics?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-02-26)

When I look at medical journal articles on [Google Scholar](http://scholar.google.it/) I see a lot of stuff based on double blind placebo tests. From this, I've gathered that medicine often performs experiments.

I've been in touch with cognitive behavioral psychological therapy, but not enough to say whether psychology is more "philosophical", in being hypothesis based, or instead bound to strict experiments using statistics.

**Tags:** methodology, experimental-psychology, statistics, history-of-psychology

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Please, explain the downote so that I can improve the question or delete it.  
> **username_1**: Forgive my voting before commenting; I am at least bound by [my own words](http://cogsci.stackexchange.com/q/5829/4086) to comment, and have been trying to figure out how to phrase it. So far, you've got two votes (one is mine) to close as unclear what you're asking. If that motion passes, you'll see this text: "Please clarify your specific problem or add additional details to highlight exactly what you need. As it's currently written, it’s hard to tell exactly what you're asking." The lack of clarity is why I downvoted, though if your question is whether we use statistics, more may apply.  
> **username_0**: @NickStauner: thanks.. also if I can't figure out how I could better clarify the question. Have a look to this link: http://scholar.google.it/scholar?hl=it&q=fullerene&btnG=&lr= medicine make a very strong usage of experiment based stuff. Psychology do the same? Or it's far more hypotheses based?  
> **username_2**: @Sam I think you clarified it much better with the comment above, so I incorporated that into your question.  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2014-02-26. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

You may want to have a look at our 40 questions to date that use the [statistics](/questions/tagged/statistics "show questions tagged 'statistics'") tag. These may demonstrate the complexity of our applications in statistics. [Wikipedia also has an entire psychological statistics page](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_statistics) that seems intended to index other pages on specific applications. Psychological experiments commonly test null hypotheses (e.g., $H\_0$: the experimental treatment and [placebo control](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placebo-controlled_study) conditions will not differ in measures of an outcome variable), so experimental methods and hypothesis testing methods do not exclude one another. Moreover, concern for [placebo effects](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placebo_effect) implies a study may be at least loosely related to [cognitive-psychology](/questions/tagged/cognitive-psychology "show questions tagged 'cognitive-psychology'") itself, as [placebo](/questions/tagged/placebo "show questions tagged 'placebo'") effects involve [cognitive-neuroscience](/questions/tagged/cognitive-neuroscience "show questions tagged 'cognitive-neuroscience'"), [neurobiology](/questions/tagged/neurobiology "show questions tagged 'neurobiology'"), [psychopharmacology](/questions/tagged/psychopharmacology "show questions tagged 'psychopharmacology'"), and [experimental-psychology](/questions/tagged/experimental-psychology "show questions tagged 'experimental-psychology'"), maybe among others. Plenty to read!

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Ah! Well then, objections withdrawn. :) Others may continue to object for the sake of the site, or your question may be edited or put on hold until someone edits, but if mine is a clear answer, then it seems your question was clear enough to me, and useful enough to you! I for one am inclined to forgive any apparent lack of research effort in such circumstances, but others may disagree.  

---

### Answer by username_3 on 2014-02-27. Score: 3

I'm still not clear on what is your question. You ask whether psychology and medicine differ in some aspect of their methodological approach.

*Experiments* are typically analysed using *statistics* to test *hypotheses*. So those things all go together.

Psychology and medicine both perform controlled experiments and observational studies.
They both perform studies some of which aim to test a particular hypothesis and others which are more exploratory or data driven.

They both heavily rely on the scientific method, quantification, measurement, and statistics to draw inference.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Also you answered me in a perfect way. I was asking if psychology relies on experiments analysed through statistics.  

---

