A clear, concise guide to the tools and techniques of behavioral research, this updated second edition stresses a hands-on, multimethod approach to undergraduates in many fields of study. It covers both laboratory and field experimentation, and addresses questions that often confront beginners, such as how to conduct an interview, how to design a questionnaire, and how to make systematic observations of behavior. The book will give students a solid grounding in methods of observation, in experiment and survey design, and in techniques of sampling, statistics, and analysis.
A practical, concrete road map to running research studies with human subjects. Covering both conceptual and practical issues critical to implementing a study with human participants, this book is organized to follow the standard process in experiment-based research, covering such issues as potential ethical problems, risks to validity, experimental setup, running a study, and concluding a study. The detailed guidance on each step of a study is ideal for anyone who has had little or no previous practical training in research methodology. The book's examples and sample forms are drawn from areas such as cognitive psychology, human factors, human-computer interaction, and human-robotic interaction. Key Features A coherent view of how to implement the experimental process, including detailed discussions of the setup and running of behavioral studies, gives you a practical guide for implementing your own experiments. Concrete examples speak to the diverse needs of the HCl, human factors, cognitive science, and related communities. Practical coverage of risks and problems that can be anticipated and avoided helps you recognize the ethical challenges you might encounter during the course of designing, running, or concluding a study. Three running example scenarios drawn from industrial and academic settings help you understand the major themes of each chapter. Example forms provide you with models you can use as you create your own experimental documents (such as IRB applications, experimental scripts, consent forms, and room layouts) to meet your particular research needs. Practical advice and examples of challenges associated with experimental setup and execution (such as how to set up experimental rooms, manage late or missing participants, and devise an effective experimental script) humanize key points in a memorable way, helping you recall the major points of the book. Built-in learning aids include further readings, an appendix on running studies online, questions at the end of each chapter, and publication paths and types that encourage you to take ownership of the research process and engage in research in a directed and methodical way. Book jacket.
Providing both a theoretical understanding of research issues and a nuts-and-bolts guide, this book presents the critical issues in psychological research in a clear and easy-to-read manner. Presented within the critical context of validity and reliability the author addresses all the steps of the research process: from formulating a hypothesis, to specifying variables, to creating a research design, to collecting and analyzing data, to drawing conclusions, to reporting the results. A companion website (www.sagepub.com//cherulnik) for professors and students contains additional supporting materials.
This book offers beginning researchers in psychology and education with limited statistics backgrounds a practical, hands-on guide to the preparation, assessment, and development of quantitative research instruments. With the explicit goal in mind of making the text accessible to readers with only a beginning level of statistical expertise, the authors include numerous examples and figures to illustrate necessary concepts and procedures, while minimizing jargon. The book includes an appendix with directions for the required statistical analyses for readers with access to SPSS. The organization of the book into two sections, theoretical and practical, with complementary chapters in each section, results in a practical and versatile resource to have in a variety of contexts. Because of its versatility, the book may be used either as a textbook for courses on test construction and instrument design or quantitative research methods in psychology and education, as a reference for researchers using and constructing quantitative instruments, or as background reading for professionals in related fields.
This book is the most practical clinical guide on Acceptance and Commit ment Therapy (ACT said as one word, not as initials) yet available. It is designed to show how the ACT model and techniques apply to various disorders, settings, and delivery options. The authors of these chapters are experts in applying ACT in these various areas, and it is intriguing how the same core principles of ACT are given a nip here and a tuck there to fit it to so many issues. The purpose of this book, in part, is to emboldened researchers and clinicians to begin to apply ACT wherever it seems to fit. The chapters in the book demonstrate that ACT may be a useful treat ment approach for a very wide range of clinical problems. Already there are controlled data in many of these areas, and soon that database will be much larger. The theory underlying ACT (Relational Frame Theory or "RFT"-and yes, here you say the initials) makes a powerful claim: psy chopathology is, to a significant degree, built into human language. Fur ther, it suggests ways to diminish destructive language-based functions and ways of augmenting helpful ones. To the extent that this model is cor rect, ACT should apply to a very wide variety of behavioral issues because of the centrality of language and cognition in human functioning.
Contrasts are statistical procedures for asking focused questions of data. Compared to diffuse or omnibus questions, focused questions are characterized by greater conceptual clarity and greater statistical power when examining those focused questions. If an effect truly exists, we are more likely to discover it and to believe it to be real when asking focused questions rather than omnibus ones. Researchers, teachers of research methods and graduate students will be familiar with the principles and procedures of contrast analysis, but will also be introduced to a series of newly developed concepts, measures, and indices that permit a wider and more useful application of contrast analysis. This volume takes on this new approach by introducing a family of correlational effect size estimates.
A comprehensive introduction to research methods and best practices for designing,conducting, interpreting, and reporting findings This text is designed to develop in students a passion for conducting research and an understanding of the practical value of systematic information- gathering and decision-making. It features step-by-step coverage of the research process including research design, statistical considerations, and guidance on writing up and presenting results. Recognized leaders in the field—authors Bart Weathington, Christopher Cunningham, and David Pittenger—present: Introductions to multiple research designs—including single-participant, multi-group, longitudinal, correlational, and experimental designs—accompanied by examples Bibliographic research and methods for appropriate sampling Identifying, developing, and evaluating reliable and valid approaches to measurement The issues and steps common to all single-factor and multifactor studies, as well as single-subject and nonexperimental methods How to summarize research in writing that conforms to the editorial guidelines of the American Psychological Association A comprehensive review of research methods and the statistical concepts that support them, Research Methods for the Behavioral and Social Sciences offers the best techniques for studying behavior and social phenomena.
The Handbook of Mixed Methods in Social & Behavioral Research contains a gold mine of articles by leading scholars on what has come to be known as the third methodological movement in social research. Aimed at surveying the differing viewpoints and disciplinary approaches of mixed methods, this breakthrough book examines mixed methods from the research enterprise to paradigmatic issues to application. The book also discusses the strengths and weaknesses of mixed methods designs, and provides an array of specific examples in a variety of disciplines, from psychology to nursing. The book closes with a brief section on how to teach and perform collaborative research using a mixed methods research design. Written so that it can be used either as a pedagogical tool or as a reference for researchers, the book is rich in examples and includes a glossary, easy-to-follow diagrams, and tables to help readers become more familiar with the language and controversies in this evolving area.
