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Book Details
Abstract
Comprehensive, clear, and practical, Introduction to Research Methods in Psychology, fifth edition is the essential student guide to understanding and undertaking quantitative and qualitative research in psychology.
In this popular text for psychology students, the research process is broken down into manageable steps to equip students with the skills to ask intelligent research questions, carry out a literature review, choose an appropriate research design, carry out data collection and write up their findings. Throughout the book, research examples are discussed which offer an insight into how research advances our understanding in areas such as forensic, social, educational, and abnormal psychology.
Revised throughout, this new edition includes a new chapter on ‘Data Analysis Issues and Scientific Progress' which explores complexities in research, discussing issues such as questionable research practices and replication studies. A further new chapter, ‘Improving a Qualitative Write Up’ provides advice and guidance on how to write-up a qualitative study with a detailed illustrative example of this.
This is the ideal guide for students just beginning and those moving on to more advanced research methods projects in psychology.
Table of Contents
| Section Title | Page | Action | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cover\r | Cover | ||
| Brief Contents\r | v | ||
| Contents\r | vii | ||
| Guide tour \r | xvii | ||
| Introduction\r | xix | ||
| Acknowledgements\r | xxi | ||
| Part 1 Basics of research | 1 | ||
| 1 Role of research in psychology | 3 | ||
| Overview | 3 | ||
| 1.1 Introduction | 4 | ||
| 1.2 Reading | 5 | ||
| 1.3 Evaluating the evidence | 7 | ||
| 1.4 Inferring causality | 8 | ||
| 1.5 Types of research and the assessment of causality | 11 | ||
| 1.6 Practice | 22 | ||
| 1.7 Conclusion | 25 | ||
| Key points | 25 | ||
| Activities | 26 | ||
| 2 Aims and hypotheses in research | 27 | ||
| Overview | 27 | ||
| 2.1 Introduction | 28 | ||
| 2.2 Types of study | 29 | ||
| 2.3 Aims of research | 31 | ||
| 2.4 Research hypotheses | 32 | ||
| 2.5 Four types of hypothesis | 34 | ||
| 2.6 Difficulties in formulating aims and hypotheses | 38 | ||
| 2.7 Conclusion | 43 | ||
| Key points | 43 | ||
| Activities | 44 | ||
| 3 Variables, concepts and measures | 45 | ||
| Overview | 45 | ||
| 3.1 Introduction | 46 | ||
| 3.2 History of the variable in psychology | 47 | ||
| 3.3 Types of variable | 48 | ||
| 3.4 Independent and dependent variables | 50 | ||
| 3.5 Measurement characteristics of variables | 50 | ||
| 3.6 Stevens’ theory of scales of measurement | 53 | ||
| 3.7 Operationalising concepts and variables | 58 | ||
| 3.8 Conclusion | 61 | ||
| Key points | 62 | ||
| Activities | 62 | ||
| 4 Problems of generalisation and decision-making in research: Chance findings and sample size | 63 | ||
| Overview | 63 | ||
| 4.1 Introduction | 64 | ||
| 4.2 Universalism | 66 | ||
| 4.3 Sampling and generalisation | 66 | ||
| 4.4 Statistics and generalisation | 71 | ||
| 4.5 Directional and non-directional hypotheses again | 73 | ||
| 4.6 More on the similarity between measures of effect (difference) and association | 75 | ||
| 4.7 Sample size and size of association | 78 | ||
| 4.8 Conclusion | 83 | ||
| Key points | 84 | ||
| Activities | 84 | ||
| 5 Research reports: The total picture | 85 | ||
| Overview | 85 | ||
| 5.1 Introduction | 86 | ||
| 5.2 Overall strategy of report writing | 88 | ||
| 5.3 Sections of the research report in detail | 93 | ||
| 5.4 Conclusion | 111 | ||
| Key points | 114 | ||
| Activities | 114 | ||
| 6 Improving a quantitative write-up | 115 | ||
| Overview | 115 | ||
| 6.1 Introduction | 116 | ||
| 6.2 Poorly written quantitative report | 117 | ||
| 6.3 Analysis of the report | 121 | ||
| 6.4 Improved version of the report | 128 | ||
| 6.5 Conclusion | 134 | ||
| Key points | 135 | ||
| Activities | 135 | ||
| 7 Literature search | 136 | ||
| Overview | 136 | ||
| 7.1 Introduction | 137 | ||
| 7.2 Library classification systems | 143 | ||
| 7.3 Electronic databases | 146 | ||
| 7.4 Obtaining articles not in your library | 154 | ||
| 7.5 Personal bibliographic database software | 157 | ||
| 7.6 Conclusion | 160 | ||
| Key points | 161 | ||
| Activities | 161 | ||
| 8 Ethics and data management in research | 162 | ||
| Overview | 162 | ||
| 8.1 Introduction | 163 | ||
| 8.2 Ethics: general principles | 165 | ||
| 8.3 Research ethics | 167 | ||
| 8.4 Ethics and publication | 174 | ||
| 8.5 Obtaining the participant’s consent | 175 | ||
| 8.6 Data management | 177 | ||
| 8.7 Conclusion | 179 | ||
| Key points | 180 | ||
| Activities | 181 | ||
| Part 2 Quantitative research methods | 183 | ||
| 9 Basic laboratory experiments | 185 | ||
| Overview | 185 | ||
| 9.1 Introduction | 186 | ||
| 9.2 Characteristics of the true or randomised experiment | 189 | ||
| 9.3 More advanced research designs | 197 | ||
| 9.4 Conclusion | 211 | ||
| Key points | 212 | ||
| Activity | 212 | ||
| 10 Advanced experimental designs | 213 | ||
| Overview | 213 | ||
| 10.1 Introduction | 214 | ||
| 10.2 Multiple levels of the independent variable | 215 | ||
| 10.3 Multiple dependent variables | 220 | ||
| 10.4 Factorial designs | 220 | ||
| 10.5 Psychology and social psychology of the laboratory experiment | 225 | ||
| 10.6 Conclusion | 232 | ||
| Key points | 232 | ||
| Activities | 233 | ||
| 11 Cross-sectional or correlational research: Non-manipulation studies | 234 | ||
| Overview | 234 | ||
| 11.1 Introduction | 235 | ||
| 11.2 Cross-sectional designs | 237 | ||
| 11.3 Case for non-manipulation studies | 238 | ||
| 11.4 Key concepts in the analysis of cross-sectional studies | 240 | ||
| 11.5 Conclusion | 248 | ||
| Key points | 249 | ||
| Activities | 249 | ||
| 12 Longitudinal studies | 250 | ||
| Overview | 250 | ||
| 12.1 Introduction | 251 | ||
| 12.2 Panel designs | 253 | ||
| 12.3 Different types of third variable | 255 | ||
| 12.4 Analysis of non-experimental designs | 258 | ||
| 12.5 Conclusion | 264 | ||
| Key points | 264 | ||
| Activities | 264 | ||
| 13 Sampling and population surveys | 265 | ||
| Overview | 265 | ||
| 13.1 Introduction | 266 | ||
| 13.2 Types of probability sampling | 266 | ||
| 13.3 Non-probability sampling | 269 | ||
| 13.4 National surveys | 272 | ||
| 13.5 Socio-demographic characteristics of samples | 275 | ||
| 13.6 Sample size and population surveys | 276 | ||
| 13.7 Conclusion | 282 | ||
| Key points | 282 | ||
| Activities | 282 | ||
| 14 Data analysis issues and scientific progress | 283 | ||
| Overview | 283 | ||
| 14.1 Introduction | 284 | ||
| 14.2 Confidence intervals | 287 | ||
| 14.3 Effect sizes | 290 | ||
| 14.4 Power | 291 | ||
| 14.5 Replication | 296 | ||
| 14.6 Questionable research practices and truth inflation | 298 | ||
| 14.7 Conclusion | 302 | ||
| Key points | 305 | ||
| Activities | 305 | ||
| Part 3 Fundamentals of testing and measurement | 307 | ||
| 15 Psychological tests: Their use and construction | 309 | ||
| Overview | 309 | ||
| 15.1 Introduction | 310 | ||
| 15.2 Concept of a scale | 311 | ||
| 15.3 Scale construction | 313 | ||
| 15.4 Item analysis or factor analysis? | 323 | ||
| 15.5 Other considerations in test construction | 325 | ||
| 15.6 Conclusion | 327 | ||
| Key points | 328 | ||
| Activities | 328 | ||
| 16 Reliability and validity: Evaluating the value of tests and measures | 329 | ||
| Overview | 329 | ||
| 16.1 Introduction | 330 | ||
| 16.2 Reliability of measures | 332 | ||
| 16.3 Validity | 335 | ||
| 16.4 Types of validity | 336 | ||
| 16.5 Conclusion | 344 | ||
| Key points | 345 | ||
| Activity | 345 | ||
| 17 Coding data | 346 | ||
| Overview | 346 | ||
| 17.1 Introduction | 347 | ||
| 17.2 Types of coding | 348 | ||
| 17.3 Reliability and validity | 353 | ||
| 17.4 Qualitative coding | 354 | ||
| 17.5 Conclusion | 357 | ||
| Key points | 358 | ||
| Activities | 358 | ||
| Part 4 Qualitative research methods | 359 | ||
| 18 Why qualitative research? | 361 | ||
| Overview | 361 | ||
| 18.1 Introduction | 362 | ||
| 18.2 What is qualitative research? | 363 | ||
| 18.3 History of the qualitative/quantitative divide in psychology | 366 | ||
| 18.4 Quantification–qualitative methods continuum | 369 | ||
| 18.5 Evaluation of qualitative versus quantitative methods | 371 | ||
| 18.6 Conclusion | 373 | ||
| Key points | 373 | ||
| Activity | 373 | ||
| 19 Qualitative data collection | 374 | ||
| Overview | 374 | ||
| 19.1 Introduction | 375 | ||
| 19.2 Major qualitative data collection approaches | 376 | ||
| 19.3 Conclusion | 385 | ||
| Key points | 386 | ||
| Activities | 386 | ||
| 20 Transcribing language data: Jefferson system | 387 | ||
| Overview | 387 | ||
| 20.1 Introduction | 388 | ||
| 20.2 Jefferson transcription | 389 | ||
| 20.3 Advice for transcribers | 394 | ||
| 20.4 Conclusion | 395 | ||
| Key points | 395 | ||
| Activities | 395 | ||
| 21 Thematic analysis | 396 | ||
| Overview | 396 | ||
| 21.1 Introduction | 397 | ||
| 21.2 What is thematic analysis? | 399 | ||
| 21.3 Basic approach to thematic analysis | 400 | ||
| 21.4 More sophisticated version of thematic analysis | 403 | ||
| 21.5 Conclusion | 410 | ||
| Key points | 410 | ||
| Activity | 410 | ||
| 22 Grounded theory | 411 | ||
| Overview | 411 | ||
| 22.1 Introduction | 412 | ||
| 22.2 Development of grounded theory | 414 | ||
| 22.3 Data in grounded theory | 415 | ||
| 22.4 How to do grounded theory analysis | 416 | ||
| 22.5 Computer grounded theory analysis | 420 | ||
| 22.6 Evaluation of grounded theory | 424 | ||
| 22.7 Conclusion | 426 | ||
| Key points | 427 | ||
| Activity | 427 | ||
| 23 Discourse analysis | 428 | ||
| Overview | 428 | ||
| 23.1 Introduction | 429 | ||
| 23.2 Important characteristics of discourse | 431 | ||
| 23.3 The agenda of discourse analysis | 433 | ||
| 23.4 Doing discourse analysis | 435 | ||
| 23.5 Conclusion | 439 | ||
| Key points | 440 | ||
| Activities | 440 | ||
| 24 Conversation analysis | 441 | ||
| Overview | 441 | ||
| 24.1 Introduction | 442 | ||
| 24.2 Precepts of conversation analysis | 445 | ||
| 24.3 Stages in conversation analysis | 446 | ||
| 24.4 Conclusion | 451 | ||
| Key points | 452 | ||
| Activities | 452 | ||
| 25 Interpretative phenomenological analysis | 453 | ||
| Overview | 453 | ||
| 25.1 Introduction | 454 | ||
| 25.2 Philosophical foundations of interpretative phenomenological analysis | 455 | ||
| 25.3 Stages in interpretative phenomenological analysis | 462 | ||
| 25.4 Conclusion | 469 | ||
| Key points | 469 | ||
| Activities | 470 | ||
| 26 Evaluating qualitative research | 471 | ||
| Overview | 471 | ||
| 26.1 Introduction | 472 | ||
| 26.2 Evaluating qualitative research | 474 | ||
| 26.3 Validity | 476 | ||
| 26.4 Criteria for novices | 479 | ||
| 26.5 Conclusion | 480 | ||
| Key points | 481 | ||
| Activities | 481 | ||
| 27 Improving a qualitative write-up | 482 | ||
| Overview | 482 | ||
| 27.1 Introduction | 483 | ||
| 27.2 Poorly written qualitative report | 488 | ||
| 27.3 Critical evaluation | 494 | ||
| Key points | 499 | ||
| Activities | 500 | ||
| Part 5 Research for projects, dissertations and theses | 501 | ||
| 28 Developing ideas for research | 503 | ||
| Overview | 503 | ||
| 28.1 Introduction | 504 | ||
| 28.2 Why not a replication study? | 506 | ||
| 28.3 Choosing a research topic | 511 | ||
| 28.4 Sources of research ideas | 512 | ||
| 28.5 Conclusion | 520 | ||
| Key points | 521 | ||
| Activity | 522 | ||
| Glossary | 523 | ||
| References | 530 | ||
| Index | 541 |