Research Methods

Intended for upper-level psychology courses in research design and methods, with statistics as a pre-requisite, this text introduces students to the "how" and "why" of behavioural science research, beginning with selection of a topic and ending with the writing of a report. The book teaches students how to apply major research designs and methods, walking students through the research process. In keeping with the move to broader coverage in research methods courses, the book reviews the literature, as well as archival, survey and field research, and includes a chapter on research ethics. A review of statistics combines statistical concepts and procedures with appropriate research methods.

• Part One: The Nature of Research
1. Introduction
• Overview
• Introduction
• Goals of Research
• Exploration
• Description
• Prediction
• Explanation
• Action
• Evaluation of Research
• The Who: Researchers, Participants, and Consumers of Research
• Box 1.1: The Golden Fleece Awards
• The What: Research Topics and Worldviews Behind Them
• The Where: Research Settings
• The When: The Time Frame of Research
• The Why: Additional Reasons for Research
• The How: Research Methods
• Summary
2. The Scientific Approach
• Overview
• Introduction
• A Philosophy of Science
• When Is Something True?
• How Can We Tell Which Theory Is Better?
• How Can We Put What We Know Into Practice?
• Why Do We Do It the Way We Do?
• Science and Nonscience Compared
• Observation
• Logical Analysis
• Research Reports
• Definitive Studies
• Determinism
• Conducting Research
• Box 2.1: Science Is … Science Is Not
• Choosing a Topic
• Operationalization
• Summary
3. Research Ethics
• Overview
• Introduction
• A Question of Balance
• Learning From Experience
• Ethical Issues Before the project
• Voluntary Participation
• Informed Consent
• Box 3.1: Informed Consent Form: Jury Decision Making
• Deception
• Physical Harm
• Psychological Harm
• Self-Determination
• Ethical Issues During the Project
• Researcher's Identity
• Behavior Changes in Participants
• Considerate Treatment of Participants
• Retraction of Consent
• Debriefing of Participants
• Alleviating Harmful Aftereffects
• Ethical Issues After the Project
• Anonymity of Participants
• Confidentiality
• Recompensing Control Groups
• Data Analysis
• Reporting Research Results
• Formal Ethical Guidelines
• Legislation
• Box 3.2: The Nuremburg Code
• Code of Ethics
• Summary
• Box 3.3: American Psychological Association Research with Participants
4. Literature Review
• Overview
• Introduction
• Goals of a Literature Review
• Deciding Which Information Is Relevant to Your Project
• Information Concerning Theory
• Information Concerning Methods
• Information Concerning Data Analysis
• Finding Sources of Information
• Published Sources
• Key Topics
• Key Authors
• Key Studies
• Unpublished Studies
• Box 4.1: A Summary of Citation Indexes
• Organizing the Literature: Parting the Sea of References
• Writing a Literature Review
• Summary
• Part Two: Design
5. Experimental research
• Overview
• Introduction
• Casual Analysis in Experimental Research
• Demonstration versus Demography
• Alternative Explanations of Research Results
• History Effects
• Maturation Effects
• Testing Effects
• Instrumentation Effects
• Statistical Regression Effects
• Selection Effects
• Mortality Effects
• Participant Bias
• Experimental Bias
• Experimental Design
• The Basic Design
• The Basic Pretest Design
• The Solomon Four-Group Design
• Factorial Design
• Repeated Measures Design
• Participants Characteristics
• Ethical Considerations in Experiments
• Random Assignment of Participants
• Manipulating Variables
• Blind Procedures
• Demonstration Versus Demography Again
• Summary
6. Quasi-Experimental Research
• Overview
• Introduction
• Time-Series Design
• Interrupted Time-Series Design
• Multiple Time-Series Design
• Regression-Discontinuity Design
• Nonequivalent Groups Basic Pretest Design
• Self-Selection
• Single-Participant Design
• Summary
7. Survey Research
• Overview
• Introduction
• Survey Content
• Survey Instruments
• Survey Topics
• Survey Instructions
• Survey Formats
• Arrangements of Survey Items
• Pretesting Survey Infrastructure
• Administering Surveys
• Face-to-Face Interviews
• Telephone Interviews
• Mail Surveys
• Comparisons Among Administrative Methods
• Mixed-Method Surveys
• Box 7.1: Face-to-Face. Telephone, and Mail Surveys Compared
• Box 7.2: Checkpoints for Preparing a Survey Instrument
• Data Analysis in Survey Research
• Description
• Association
• Elaboration
• Summary
8. Field Research
• Overview
• Introduction
• Validity of Field Research
• Internal Validity
• External Validity
• Intrusion in Field Research
• Intrusion into Observations of Behviors
• Intrusiveness of Settings
• Intrusiveness of Treatments
• Systematic Observation in Field Research
• Selecting Events
• Recording Events
• Coding Events
• Interpreting Events
• Sources of Error
• Validity
• Participant Observation
• Levels of Participation
• Selecting Settings
• Recording Observations
• Coding Observations
• Interpreting Observations
• Numerical Data Analyses
• Description
• Correlation
• Report Writing
• Summary
9. Archival Research
• Overview
• Introduction
• Content Analysis
• "Who": The Sources of Messages
• "Says What": The Content of Messages
• "To Whom": The Audience of Messages
• "How": Communication Techniques in Messages
• "With What Effect": The Effect of Messages
• "Why": The Reasons for Communication
• Methodological  Issues in Content Analysis
• Quantification in Content Analysis
• Existing Data Analysis
• Applications of Existing Data Analysis
• Methodological Issues in Existing Data Analysis
• Summary
10. Data Organization
• Overview
• Introduction
• Data Storage Terminology
• Data Storage Media
• Computer Cards
• Computer Disks
• Magnetic Tapes
• Data Coding
• Numeric Representation
• Codebooks
• Coding Mechanisms
• Data Cleaning
• Single-Field Analyses
• Multiple-Field Analyses
• Data Reduction
• Summary
11. Beyond Hypotheses
• Overview
• Introduction
• Data Transformations
• Outliers
• Skewed Distributions
• Heterogeneous Variances
• Proportions
• Informal Guidelines
• When Surprising Results Are Obtained
• Check Your Analyses for Errors
• Explore Reasons for the Results
• Return to Your Data
• Return to the Literature
• Develop a Curious Mind
• Nonsignificant Versus Insignificant
• Horseshoes and Hand Grenades
• No Study Is Worthless
• Summary
12. Writing a Research Report
• Overview
• Introduction
• Research report Organization
• Writing Style
• Voice and Person
• Tense
• Avoiding Stereotypes
• Clarity
• Introducing the Project
• Getting the Reader's Attention
• Reviewing the Literature
• Describing the Method
• Describing Participants
• Describing Sampling
• Describing Apparatus or Materials
• Describing Procedure
• Describing Manipulations
• Describing Your Results
• Describing Preliminary Results
• Describing Main Results
• Describing the Conclusion
• Writing Other Sections
• Summarizing the Report
• Identifying Your Sources
• Including Appendices
• Having Your Research Report Reviewed
• Summary
• Part Three: Resource Chapters
13. Conceptual Overview of Statistical Analyses
• Overview
• Introduction
• Exploratory Research
• Appropriate Questions for Exploratory Research
• Appropriate Statistics for Exploratory Research
• Descriptive Research
• Appropriate Questions for Descriptive Research
• Appropriate Statistics for Descriptive Research
• Predictive Research
• Appropriate Questions for Predictive Research
• Prerequisites for Predictive Research
• Box 13.1: Exploratory, Descriptive, and Predictive Research Questions
• Statistics for Predictive Research
• Explanatory Research
• Appropriate Questions for Explanatory Research
• Appropriate Statistics for Explanatory Research
• Summary
14. Measurement
• Overview
• Introduction
• Dimensionality
• Measurement Levels
• Nominal Measurement
• Ordinal Measurement
• Interval Measurement
• Ratio Measurement
• Box 14.1: Summary of Measurement Levels
• Reliability
• Interrater Reliability
• Test-Retest Reliability
• Alternate Forms Reliability
• Split-Half Reliability
• Item-Total Reliability
• Box 14.2: Summary of Reliability Procedures
• Validity
• Face Validity
• Concurrent Validity
• Predictive Validity
• Construct Validity
• Epistemic Correlation
• Summary
15. Scaling
• Overview
• Introduction
• Common Aspect of Scales
• Face Validity of Scale Items
• Instructions for Completing Scales
• Item Bias
• Formats for Scale Items
• Thurstone Scales
• Item Generation in Thurstone Scales
• Item Analysis and Selection in Thurstone Scales
• Administration of Thurstone Scales
• Pros and Cons of Thurstone Scales
• Likert Scales
• Item Analysis and Selection in Likert Scales
• Administration of Likert Scales
• Philosophy of Human Nature Scale
• Guttman Scales
• Ideal Responsive Pattern in a Guttman Scale
• Item Generation in Guttman Scales
• Item Analysis in Guttman Scales
• Guttman Scaling to Study Riots and Political Participants
• Disadvantages of Guttman Scales
• Semantic Differential Scales
• Item Generation in Semantic Differential Scales
• Administration of Semantic Differential Scales
• Semantic Differential Scaling to Study Officers of the Court
• Q-sort Scales
• Administration of Q-sort Scales
• Use of Q-sort and Postcards to Examine Self-Concept
• Disadvantages of Q-sort Scales
• Sociometric Scales
• Administration of Sociometric Scales
• Scoring of Sociometric Scales
• Using Scales
• Multiple Scale Administration
• Using Existing Scales
• Summary
16. Sampling
• Overview
• Introduction
• Sampling Distributions
• The Population
• Random Selection
• Standard Error
• Confidence Intervals
• Sample Size
• Probability Sampling
• Simple Random Sampling
• Systematic Random Sampling
• Stratified Random Sampling
• Cluster Sampling
• Nonprobability Sampling
• Accidental Sampling
• Purposive Sampling
• Quota Sampling
• Representative Samples
• Summary
17. Evaluation Research
• Overview
• Introduction
• Summative and Formative Evaluation
• Consumers of Evaluation Research
• The Hartford Project: An Example of Evaluation Research
• Operationalization
• Similarity to Basic Research
• The Problem
• The Program
• The Questions
• The Measures
• Ecosystem Measures
• The Results
• The Controversy Over the Use of Experiments in Evaluation Research
• Difficulties with Experiments in Evaluation Research
• Qualitative Information in Evaluation Research
• Innovation in Evaluation Research
• Ethics in Evaluation Research
• Ethical Considerations in Evaluation Research
• Formulation and Negotiation
• Structure and Design
• Data Collection and Preparation
• Data Analysis and Interpretation
• Communication and Disclosure
• Use of Results
• Summary

A great book about how to conduct research.