Among them, the principle of objectivity means that the study of psychological phenomena must be investigated according to its original characteristics, must be studied in educational and teaching activities, and must be realistic; The principle of education is to have a positive influence on the subjects in the process of research and experiment, and to avoid harm to the physical and mental development of the subjects.
The principle of integrating theory with practice means that in the research of educational psychology, we should pay close attention to the new situation and new problems in educational and teaching practice, pay attention to the research from reality, and give play to the guiding role of theory in practice.
System principle refers to the use of system theory to examine psychological phenomena and to examine human psychology as a whole and dynamic system; The principle of development means that psychological phenomena should be regarded as a process of change and development in the study of educational psychology.
Due to the particularity of its research object, the specific methods of higher education psychology research mainly include the following:
(1) observation observation is a natural observation method, which refers to the method of directly observing the external behaviors (words, behaviors and expressions) of the subjects (students) in the natural life situation or education process, so as to study their psychological activities. It can be divided according to the observer's participation, organization and observation system.
(2) Experimental method The experimental method is to systematically manipulate the change of one variable under controlled conditions to study the influence of the change of this variable on other variables. The variables manipulated by researchers are called independent variables or experimental variables, and a specific response caused by independent variables is called dependent variables or response variables. Experimental methods can not only reveal what the problem is, but also further explore the root of the problem.
(3) The investigation method is a research method that collects information by asking questions under natural conditions and indirectly understands the psychology and behavior of the respondents.
(4) Case law Case law is a research method that conducts in-depth and detailed observation and research on a single subject in order to find out the reasons that affect certain behavior and psychological phenomena. The information usually needs to be collected includes personal life history, family relationship, living environment, interpersonal relationship, etc.