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Summary
Summary
Understanding psychological research by finding a problem, discovering the clues, and evaluating the evidence.
The Psychologist as Detectives introduces students to the research process. The authors treat psychological research as a detective case in which a problem is presented, clues are discovered, evidence is evaluated, and a report is prepared for consideration by peers. Learning Goals Upon completing this book, readers will be able to: Think critically about research and research methods Analyze research as a problem solving procedure Develop research skills by looking at examples of research studies Evaluate evidence from a research study and prepare a report or summary of the caseAuthor Notes
Randolph A. (Randy) Smith is Professor and Chair of Psychology at Lamar University. Randy completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Houston and PhD at Texas Tech University in experimental psychology (specialties in human learning/memory and statistics). Randy taught at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkansas for 26 years, chaired Kennesaw State University's Psychology Department for four years, and became Chair of Lamar University's Psychology Department in 2007. His professional work centers on the scholarship of teaching and learning. Randy served for 12 years as Editor of the Society for the Teaching of Psychology's journal Teaching of Psychology and subsequently served as Editor of the Psi Chi Journal of Undergraduate Research.
He has written several book chapters and articles and made numerous presentations dealing with varied aspects of teaching, applying social psychology to teaching, and assessment of teaching. He has worked with high school teachers grading AP exams since the test's inception and has served as Faculty Advisor for TOPSS (Teachers of Psychology in Secondary Schools). He is a member of the American Psychological Association (a Fellow of Divisions 1 and 2--General Psychology and Teaching) and a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science. In 2006, Randy received the American Psychological Foundation's Charles L. Brewer Distinguished Teaching of Psychology Award and the University System of Georgia Regents' Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Award.
Stephen F. Davis is Roe R. Cross Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Emporia State University in Emporia, Kansas. Currently he is Visiting Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Texas Wesleyan University and Distinguished Guest Professor at Morningside College. In 2002-2003 he was the Knapp Distinguished Professor of Arts and Sciences at the University of San Diego. He received his bachelor's and master's degrees in psychology from Southern Methodist University and his PhD in experimental psychology from Texas Christian University. In 2007 he was awarded the honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree by Morningside College. His research, which always includes student assistants, has investigated such diverse topics as academic dishonesty, learning versus grade orientation of students, Type A personality, the Impostor Phenomenon, and the behavioral effects of ingesting toxic metals. He is the author of more than 300 journal articles, 31 books, and more than 900 convention presentations.
Steve's teaching abilities have drawn acclaim on the national level. He has received the National Distinguished Teaching of Psychology Award from the American Psychological Foundation and the Teaching Excellence Award from Division Two (Society for the Teaching of Psychology) of the American Psychological Association. His professional accomplishments also include serving as president of the Southwestern Psychological Association, the Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology, and Division Two of the American Psychological Association. He also served as the National President of Psi Chi (The National Honor Society in Psychology). He has been elected as a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, the American Psychological Society, and the American Association of Applied and Preventive Psychology.
Table of Contents
Preface | p. xii |
Chapter 1 Psychological Research and the Research Methods Course | p. 1 |
How Psychologists Acquire Knowledge | p. 3 |
The Research Process | p. 4 |
Finding a Problem | p. 5 |
Reviewing the Literature | p. 5 |
Theoretical Considerations | p. 5 |
Hypothesis | p. 6 |
Research Plan | p. 6 |
Conducting the Research Project | p. 6 |
Analysis of Research Findings | p. 6 |
Decisions in Terms of Past Research and Theory | p. 7 |
Preparing the Research Report | p. 7 |
Sharing Your Results: Presentation and Publication | p. 7 |
Finding a New Problem | p. 10 |
Why Is the Research Methods Course Important? | p. 11 |
Review Summary | p. 12 |
Check Your Progress | p. 13 |
Key Terms | p. 13 |
Looking Ahead | p. 13 |
Chapter 2 Developing a Good Research Idea and Conducting an Ethical Project | p. 14 |
The Research Idea | p. 14 |
Characteristics of Good Research Ideas | p. 14 |
Sources of Research Ideas | p. 16 |
Developing a Research Question | p. 19 |
Surveying the Psychological Literature | p. 20 |
Review Summary | p. 29 |
Check Your Progress | p. 29 |
The Need for Ethical Principles | p. 30 |
APA Principles in the Conduct of Research With Humans | p. 33 |
Is Deception in Research Necessary? | p. 33 |
Informed Consent | p. 35 |
Participants at Risk and Participants at Minimal Risk | p. 37 |
Vulnerable Populations | p. 38 |
The Debriefing Session | p. 38 |
The Ethical Use of Animals in Psychological Research | p. 40 |
The Institutional Review Board | p. 41 |
The Experimenter's Responsibility | p. 42 |
The Participants' Responsibility | p. 42 |
The Researcher's Ethical Obligations Once the Research Is Completed | p. 44 |
Plagiarism | p. 44 |
Fabrication of Data | p. 45 |
Lying With Statistics | p. 46 |
Citing Your References Correctly | p. 47 |
Review Summary | p. 49 |
Check Your Progress | p. 49 |
Key Terms | p. 50 |
Looking Ahead | p. 50 |
Chapter 3 Qualitative Research Methods | p. 51 |
General Overview | p. 52 |
Characteristics of Qualitative Research | p. 52 |
Data Analysis | p. 53 |
Selected Examples of Qualitative Research Methods | p. 54 |
Naturalistic Observation | p. 54 |
Ethnographic Inquiry | p. 54 |
Focus Groups | p. 56 |
Interview Studies | p. 56 |
Narrative Studies | p. 56 |
Case Studies | p. 56 |
Artifact Analysis | p. 57 |
Historiographies | p. 57 |
Symbolic Interaction | p. 57 |
Grounded Theory | p. 58 |
Participatory Action Research | p. 59 |
Review Summary | p. 60 |
Check Your Progress | p. 61 |
Key Terms | p. 62 |
Looking Ahead | p. 62 |
Chapter 4 Nonexperimental Methods: Descriptive Methods, Correlational Studies, Ex Post Facto Studies, Surveys and Questionnaires, Sampling, and Basic Research Strategies | p. 63 |
Descriptive Methods | p. 63 |
Archival and Previously Recorded Sources of Data | p. 63 |
Naturalistic Observation | p. 65 |
Choosing Behaviors and Recording Techniques | p. 67 |
Correlational Studies | p. 70 |
The Nature of Correlations | p. 70 |
Correlational Research | p. 71 |
Review Summary | p. 72 |
Check Your Progress | p. 73 |
Ex Post Facto Studies | p. 73 |
Surveys, Questionnaires, Tests, and Inventories | p. 74 |
Surveys and Questionnaires | p. 74 |
Tests and Inventories | p. 81 |
Sampling Considerations and Basic Research Strategies | p. 83 |
Sampling | p. 84 |
Basic Research Strategies | p. 86 |
Review Summary | p. 87 |
Check Your Progress | p. 88 |
Key Terms | p. 89 |
Looking Ahead | p. 89 |
Chapter 5 Using the Scientific Method in Psychology | p. 90 |
Components of the Scientific Method | p. 90 |
Objectivity | p. 90 |
Confirmation of Findings | p. 91 |
Self-Correction | p. 91 |
Control | p. 91 |
The Psychological Experiment | p. 92 |
Independent Variable | p. 92 |
Dependent Variable | p. 93 |
Extraneous Variables | p. 93 |
Establishing Cause-and-Effect Relations | p. 93 |
Formulating the Research Hypothesis | p. 95 |
Characteristics of the Research Hypothesis | p. 96 |
Types of Statements | p. 96 |
Types of Reasoning | p. 98 |
Directional Versus Nondirectional Research Hypotheses | p. 100 |
An Alternate View of Hypothesis Testing | p. 101 |
Review Summary | p. 102 |
Check Your Progress | p. 102 |
Key Terms | p. 103 |
Chapter 6 Conducting a Good Experiment I: Variables and Control | p. 104 |
The Nature of Variables | p. 104 |
Operationally Defining Variables | p. 105 |
Independent Variables | p. 106 |
Types of IVs | p. 106 |
Extraneous Variables (Confounders) | p. 107 |
Dependent Variables | p. 109 |
Selecting the DV | p. 109 |
Recording or Measuring the DV | p. 110 |
Recording More Than One DV | p. 111 |
Characteristics of a Good DV | p. 112 |
Nuisance Variables | p. 113 |
Review Summary | p. 115 |
Check Your Progress | p. 116 |
Controlling Extraneous Variables | p. 116 |
Basic Control Techniques | p. 117 |
Review Summary | p. 127 |
Check Your Progress | p. 127 |
Key Terms | p. 128 |
Looking Ahead | p. 128 |
Chapter 7 Conducting a Good Experiment II: Final Considerations, Unanticipated Influences, and Cross-Cultural Issues | p. 129 |
Participants | p. 129 |
Types of Participants | p. 129 |
Number of Participants | p. 131 |
Apparatus | p. 132 |
IV Presentation | p. 133 |
DV Recording | p. 134 |
Review Summary | p. 134 |
Check Your Progress | p. 135 |
The Experimenter as an Extraneous Variable | p. 135 |
Experimenter Characteristics | p. 136 |
Experimenter Expectancies | p. 136 |
Controlling Experimenter Effects | p. 137 |
Participant Perceptions as Extraneous Variables | p. 138 |
Demand Characteristics and Good Participants | p. 138 |
Response Bias | p. 140 |
Controlling Participant Effects | p. 141 |
Review Summary | p. 143 |
Check Your Progress | p. 143 |
The Interface Between Research and Culture | p. 144 |
Culture, Knowledge, and Truth | p. 145 |
The Effect of Culture on Research | p. 146 |
Methodology and Analysis Issues | p. 147 |
Review Summary | p. 149 |
Check Your Progress | p. 149 |
Key Terms | p. 150 |
Looking Ahead | p. 150 |
Chapter 8 Internal and External Validity | p. 151 |
Internal Validity: Evaluating Your Experiment From the Inside | p. 151 |
Threats to Internal Validity | p. 151 |
Protecting Internal Validity | p. 159 |
Review Summary | p. 159 |
Check Your Progress | p. 160 |
External Validity: Generalizing Your Experiment to the Outside | p. 161 |
Threats to External Validity (Based on Methods) | p. 163 |
Threats to External Validity (Based on Our Participants) | p. 166 |
The Devil's Advocate: Is External Validity Always Necessary? | p. 170 |
Review Summary | p. 173 |
Check Your Progress | p. 173 |
Key Terms | p. 174 |
Looking Ahead | p. 174 |
Chapter 9 Using Statistics to Answer Questions | p. 175 |
Descriptive Statistics | p. 175 |
Scales of Measurement | p. 176 |
Measures of Central Tendency | p. 177 |
Graphing Your Results | p. 180 |
Calculating and Computing Statistics | p. 185 |
Measures of Variability | p. 186 |
Review Summary | p. 191 |
Check Your Progress | p. 191 |
Correlation | p. 192 |
The Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient | p. 195 |
Inferential Statistics | p. 196 |
What Is Significant? | p. 196 |
The t Test | p. 197 |
One-Tail Versus Two-Tail Tests of Significance | p. 200 |
The Logic of Significance Testing | p. 200 |
When Statistics Go Astray: Type I and Type II Errors | p. 203 |
Effect Size | p. 204 |
Review Summary | p. 205 |
Check Your Progress | p. 205 |
Key Terms | p. 206 |
Looking Ahead | p. 206 |
Chapter 10 Designing, Conducting, Analyzing, and Interpreting Experiments with Two Groups | p. 207 |
Experimental Design: The Basic Building Blocks | p. 207 |
The Two-Group Design | p. 208 |
Review Summary | p. 217 |
Check Your Progress | p. 217 |
Comparing Two-Group Designs | p. 218 |
Variations on the Two-Group Design | p. 222 |
Review Summary | p. 224 |
Check Your Progress | p. 224 |
Statistical Analysis: What do Your Data Show? | p. 224 |
The Relation Between Experimental Design and Statistics | p. 224 |
Analyzing Two-Group Designs | p. 225 |
Calculating Your Statistics | p. 225 |
Interpretation: Making Sense of Your Statistics | p. 226 |
Interpreting Computer Statistical Output | p. 226 |
The Continuing Research Problem | p. 232 |
Review Summary | p. 233 |
Check Your Progress | p. 234 |
Key Terms | p. 234 |
Looking Ahead | p. 234 |
Chapter 11 Designing, Conducting, Analyzing, and Interpreting Experiments with More Than Two Groups | p. 235 |
Experimental Design: Adding to the Basic Building Block | p. 235 |
The Multiple-Group Design | p. 236 |
Comparing the Multiple-Group and Two-Group Designs | p. 242 |
Comparing Multiple-Group Designs | p. 244 |
Variations on the Multiple-Group Design | p. 245 |
Review Summary | p. 246 |
Check Your Progress | p. 247 |
Statistical Analysis: What Do Your Data Show? | p. 247 |
Analyzing Multiple-Group Designs | p. 247 |
Planning Your Experiment | p. 248 |
Rationale of ANOVA | p. 249 |
Interpretation: Making Sense of Your Statistics | p. 251 |
Interpreting Computer Statistical Output | p. 252 |
The Continuing Research Problem | p. 260 |
Review Summary | p. 261 |
Check Your Progress | p. 261 |
Key Terms | p. 262 |
Looking Ahead | p. 262 |
Chapter 12 Designing, Conducting, Analyzing, and Interpreting Experiments with Multiple Independent Variables | p. 263 |
Experimental Design: Doubling the Basic Building Block | p. 263 |
The Factorial Design | p. 264 |
Review Summary | p. 276 |
Check Your Progress | p. 277 |
Comparing the Factorial Design to Two-Group and Multiple-Group Designs | p. 277 |
Choosing a Factorial Design | p. 280 |
Variations on Factorial Designs | p. 281 |
Review Summary | p. 285 |
Check Your Progress | p. 286 |
Statistical Analysis: What Do Your Data Show? | p. 286 |
Naming Factorial Designs | p. 287 |
Planning the Statistical Analysis | p. 287 |
Rationale of Factorial ANOVA | p. 288 |
Understanding Interactions | p. 290 |
Interpretation: Making Sense of Your Statistics | p. 291 |
Interpreting Computer Statistical Output | p. 291 |
A Final Note | p. 300 |
The Continuing Research Problem | p. 300 |
Review Summary | p. 301 |
Check Your Progress | p. 302 |
Key Terms | p. 303 |
Looking Ahead | p. 303 |
Chapter 13 Alternative Research Designs | p. 304 |
Protecting Internal Validity Revisited | p. 304 |
Examining Your Experiment From the Inside | p. 304 |
Protecting Internal Validity With Research Designs | p. 307 |
Conclusion | p. 311 |
Review Summary | p. 311 |
Check Your Progress | p. 312 |
Single-Case Experimental Designs | p. 312 |
History of Single-Case Experimental Designs | p. 314 |
Uses of Single-Case Experimental Designs | p. 314 |
General Procedures of Single-Case Experimental Designs | p. 315 |
Statistics and Single-Case Experimental Designs | p. 317 |
Representative Single-Case Experimental Designs | p. 318 |
Review Summary | p. 324 |
Check Your Progress | p. 325 |
Quasi-Experimental Designs | p. 325 |
History of Quasi-Experimental Designs | p. 326 |
Uses of Quasi-Experimental Designs | p. 327 |
Representative Quasi-Experimental Designs | p. 327 |
Review Summary | p. 334 |
Check Your Progress | p. 335 |
Key Terms | p. 336 |
Looking Ahead | p. 336 |
Chapter 14 Writing and Assembling an APA-Format Research Report | p. 337 |
What Is APA Format? | p. 337 |
Sections of the APA-Format Paper | p. 338 |
Title Page | p. 340 |
Author Note | p. 341 |
Abstract | p. 341 |
Introduction | p. 342 |
Method | p. 348 |
Results | p. 352 |
Discussion | p. 357 |
References | p. 361 |
Appendix | p. 367 |
Headings | p. 367 |
Review Summary | p. 373 |
Check Your Progress | p. 374 |
Writing in APA Style | p. 375 |
General Guidelines | p. 375 |
Grammatical Guidelines | p. 377 |
APA Editorial Style | p. 379 |
Preparing Your Manuscript | p. 379 |
Student Views of Professional Activities | p. 384 |
Review Summary | p. 390 |
Check Your Progress | p. 391 |
Key Terms | p. 392 |
Looking Ahead | p. 392 |
Appendix A Statistical Tables | p. 393 |
Appendix B Selected Statistical Formulae | p. 399 |
Appendix C Factorial Design with Three Independent Variables | p. 401 |
Appendix D Check Your Progress Answers | p. 404 |
Glossary | p. 422 |
References | p. 430 |
Name Index | p. 436 |
Subject Index | p. 438 |