The Importance of Converging Operations
In the Study of Biopsychology
Introduction
After all, it is only by comparing that we can judge,
for our knowledge rests entirely on the relations
that things have with others that are similar or different,
and we should realize that if there were no animals,
the nature of man would be even more incomprehensible.
- G. L. Buffon, Historie Naturelle
Already 30 years ago behaviorist Zing-Yang Kuo argued that because human development is such a complex process, that no single branch of psychology or biology can study it adequately on its own (1970). To deal with this problem an approach is needed that would involve cooperation of multiple branches of a discipline in solving a single problem. Converging operations - the use of several research methods to solve a single problem so that the strengths of one method balance out the weaknesses of the others (Pinel, 2002) - is exactly the technique fitting these requirements.
Converging operations create study results using multiple levels of analysis, multiple species, comparing among the analyses and the species - it is an irreplaceable technique. And even though the knowledge of biopsychology has also been advanced through single method studies, success of biopsychology as a scientific discipline lies in its effective use of converging operations.
In this essay we will examine the reasons for importance of convergent operations in the field of biopsychology, will look at how this method balances out the weaknesses of the converging approaches, how it provides strong inference, and at some examples of the studies involving converging evidence. We will also consider certain challenges in using the converging operations approach.