Research Methods in Psychology

Note: Each chapter begins with Getting Started and concludes with a Chapter Summary, Key Terms, Review Questions, Application Questions, and Discussion Questions. I. Introduction to Psychological Research 1. Introduction to the Scientific Method The Scientific Method The Goals of Psychological Research Scientific Hypotheses The Flaws in Scientific Research 2. An Overview of Creating and Testing Hypotheses Beginning the Design: Asking the Question The Research Literature Identifying the Population and Sample Defining the Terminology in the Hypothesis Testing a Hypothesis by Discovering a Relationship Interpreting a Relationship Summary of the Flow of a Study Experimental Research Methods Descriptive Research Methods Putting It All Together 3. Evaluating a Study: Is It Reliable and Valid? Identifying Potential Flaws When Designing a Study Critically Evaluating a Study Understanding Reliability Understanding Validity Dealing with Validity and Reliability When Designing a Study Issues of Validity and Reliability in Descriptive Studies Issues of Validity and Reliability in Experiments Selecting a Design Putting It All Together 4. Creating a Relaibale and Valid Experiment Selecting the Independent Variable Selecting the Conditions of the Independent Variable Selecting the Dependent Variable Designing the Dependent Variable Controlling Extraneous Variables Putting It All Together 5. Risk, Deception, and the Ethics of Research Demand Characteristics Research Ethics Research Involving Animals Scientific Fraud Putting It All Together 6. Controlling Participant Variables Using Between-Subjects and Within-Subjects Designs Participant Variables and Individual Differences How Participant Variables Influence External Validity How Participant Variables Influence a Relationship Controlling Participant Variables in a Between-Subjects Design Controlling Participant Variables in a Within-Subjects Design Controlling Order Effects in a Repeated Measures Design Choosing a Design Putting It All Together II. The Statistical Analysis of Experiments 7. Applying Descriptive and Inferential Statistics to Simple Experiments Selecting the Statistical Procedures Applying Descriptive Statistics to Experiments Applying Inferential Statistical Procedures Interpreting Significant Results Interpreting Nonsignificant Results Comparing Type I and Type II Errors Statistical Power and Research Design Putting It All Together 8. Designing and Analyzing Multifactor Experiments The Reason for Multifactor Studies The Two-Way Between-Subjects ANOVA Using Counterbalanced Variables to Produce Two-Way Designs The Two-Way Within-Subjects ANOVA The Two-Way Mixed ANOVA The Three-Way Design The Two-Way Chi Square Describing Effect Size A Word about Multivariate Statistics and Meta-Analysis Putting It All Together III. Beyond the Typical Laboratory Experiment 9. Correlational Research and Questionnaire Construction The Difference Between True Experiments and Correlational Studies Analyzing Data with Correlational Statistics Additional Uses of Correlation Conducting Research Using Interviews and Questionnaires A Word about Advanced Correlational Procedures Putting It All Together 10. Field Experiments and Single-Subject Designs Field Experiments Small N Research and the Single-Subject Design Putting It All Together 11. Quasi-Experiments and Descriptive Designs Understanding Quasi-Experiments Quasi-Independent Variables Involving Participant Variables Quasi-Independent Variables Involving Environmental Events The Time-Series Design The Quasi-Independent Variable of the Passage of Time Descriptive Research A Word about Program Evaluation Putting It All Together IV. Putting It All Together 12. A Review: Examples of Designing and Evaluating Research Sumary of the Issues When Designing Research Topic 1: An Experiment on Attribution of Arousal Topic 2: An Experiment on Time Perception Topic 3: A Descriptive Study of Fear of Success in Females Topic 4: An Experimental and Correlational Study of Creativity Additional Research Topics Putting It All Together Appendix A: Reporting Research Using APA Format An Example Study The Research Literature Overview of a Research Article The Components of an APA-Style Research Article Putting It All Together Appendix B: Sample APA-Style Research Report Appendix C: Statistical Procedures C.1. Measures of Central Tendency C.2. Measures of Variability C.3. The Two-Sample t-Test C.4. The One-Way Analysis of Variance C.5. Tukey HSD Post Hoc Comparisons C.6. Measures of Effect Size in t-Tests and ANOVA C.7. Confidence Intervals C.8. Pearson Correlation Coefficient, Linear Regression, and Standard Error of the Estimate C.9. Spearman Correlation Coefficient C.10. Chi Square Procedures C.11. Mann-Whitney U and Wilcoxon T Tests C.12. Kruskal-Wallis H and Friedman X2 Tests Appendix D: Statistical Tables