Research Design Explained

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RESEARCH DESIGN EXPLAINED, International Edition provides students with an appreciation of science's excitement and relevance to psychology, by explaining concepts clearly and using real-life analogies and examples. Focusing on important, fundamental concepts and demonstrating the logic behind research design, authors Mitchell and Jolley help students to develop a true understanding of research design, rather than simply memorize terms. Key Feature Each chapter is a self-contained module, allowing professors flexibility in creating a syllabus. Because each chapter covers ethics, construct validity, external validity, and internal validity, it is easy to skip chapters or cover them in different orders. The text is consistent with the most recent APA style, the most recent APA ethical code, and the most recent reports from APA's Task Force on Statistical Inference. Appendix F contains information on statistics. Every chapter opens with a detailed outline, followed by a brief overview. End-of -chapter material includes a numbered summary, list of key terms with page references, exercises, and web resources. Answers to the in-text exercises are located in the Instructor's Manual. Chapters and appendixes focus on why certain goals are important and how to achieve those goals. For example, Chapter 1 focuses on the need for both students and psychologists to think scientifically, Chapter 5 shows how to establish that a measure is valid, Chapter 9 is a lesson on how not to be fooled by false cause-effect statements, and Chapter 12 is a lesson in perhaps the most important concept in psychology: interactions. "Putting it All Together: Writing Research Proposals and Reports" shows students how to write research proposals and reports. New to this Edition The text is fine-tuned throughout with clearer explanations, new examples and practical tips, and updates regarding technological changes (e.g. cell phones and web surveys in the chapter on survey research). Changes include an emphasis on the distinction between the scientific method and other ways of knowing in Chapter 1, more help in developing experimental hypotheses and a discussion of the distinction between mediating and moderating variables in Chapter 3, and a revised discussion to help students better understand how to refine and select measures in Chapter 6. Chapter 2, "Validity and Ethics," includes a clearer explanation of the connection between validity and ethics. It has also been expanded to help students understand more about obstacles to establishing internal validity and how randomized experiments can help overcome those obstacles. Chapter 4, "Reading, Reviewing, and Replicating Research," has been revised to make it a self-standing module. Material that students might not have had the background to understand prior to reading the rest of the book has been either rewritten or moved to Appendix C: A Checklist for Critically Reading Articles. Chapter 7, "Introduction to Descriptive Methods and Correlational Research," includes interesting new examples from current research (e.g., from "Psychological Science" on happiness and the autism-vaccine link). Chapter 13, "Matched Pairs, Within-Subjects, and Mixed Designs," has been edited to accommodate instructors who assign this chapter early in the term, included new examples to make the material easier to understand. Table of Contents 1. Psychology, Science, and You. 2. Ethics and Validity: Can We Know, Should We Know, and Can We Afford Not to Know? 3. Generating and Refining Research Hypotheses. 4. Reading, Reviewing, and Replicating Research. 5. Measuring and Manipulating Variables: Reliability and Validity. 6. Beyond Reliability and Validity: The Best Measure for Your Study. 7. Introduction to Descriptive Methods and Correlational Research 8. Survey Research. 9. Internal Validity. 10. The Simple Experiment. 11. Expanding the Simple Experiment: The Multiple-Group Experiment. 12. Expanding the Experiment: Factorial Designs. 13. Matched Pairs, Within-Subjects, and Mixed Designs. 14. Single–n Designs and Quasi-Experiments. 15. Putting It All Together: Writing Research Proposals and Reports. Appendix A. APA Format Checklist. Appendix B. Sample APA-Style Paper. Appendix C. Checklist for Evaluating a Study's Validity Appendix D. Statistics and Random Numbers Table Web Appendix: Online Practical Tips for Conducting an Ethical and Valid Study Web Appendix: Online Introduction to Statistics Glossary. References. Index.