Research In Psychology: Methods and Design 6E

626 Pages·2008·3.88 MB·English

by  C. James Goodwin

Research in Psychology
Methods and Design
Sixth Edition
C. James Goodwin
Western Carolina University
To Susan
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Goodwin,C.James.
Researchinpsychologymethodsanddesign/C.JamesGoodwin.—6thed.
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Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-0-470-52278-3(cloth)
1.Psychology—Research—Textbooks.2.Psychology—Research—Methodology—Textbooks.
3.Psychology,Experimental—Textbooks.I.Title.
BF76.5.G642010
150.72—dc22
2009014320
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
10987654321
Preface
..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
The Philosophy of the Text
In the process of preparing six editions of this text, I have been guided by
several strong beliefs. First, I would like students to develop a clear sense of how
experimental psychologists think and how they do their work. Thus, the student
using this book will encounter thorough discussions of the nature of psychological
science and how it differs from pseudoscience, the logic of scientific thinking, and
the manner in which experimental psychologists (a) develop ideas and hypotheses
for research, (b) design their studies, (c) carry them out, (d) analyze them, and (e)
draw reasoned conclusions from them. Second, I want students to understand that
psychologistsuseavarietyofmethodsintheirattemptstounderstandpsychological
phenomena.Althoughthebook’smainfocusisontheexperimentalmethod,there
isthoroughtreatmentofnumerousotherresearchstrategies.Third,becauseIbelieve
that researchers must always be aware of the ethical dimensions of their research,
I have placed the ethics chapter early in the book (Chapter 2) and have included
someadditionaldiscussionofethics(EthicsBoxes)ineverychapterinthebookafter
Chapter 2. Fourth, because I have a love for psychology’s history and believe that
nobody can understand psychology’s present without knowing something of its
past, I have incorporated some of the history of experimental psychology into the
text.Recognizingthatmytextisforamethodscourseandnotforahistorycourse,
however, I have only included historical information that illuminates important
methodological concepts. Fifth, and perhaps most important, although I believe
that doing psychological science is a joyful activity, it has been my experience that
somestudentsenterthecoursewithasenseofdread.Theybelieveitwillbeboring,
difficult, and not especially relevant for them. To counter this, I have taken pains
to write a student-friendly book that is appealing (lots of interesting descriptions of
real research), understandable (clear writing in an interactive, conversational style),
and valuable (sharpening important critical thinking skills).
iii
iv Preface
The Organization of the Text
The book includes twelve chapters, an epilogue, and several useful appendices.
By thoroughly explaining the scientific way of thinking and contrasting it with
nonscientific and pseudoscientific thinking, the opening chapter lays the ground-
work for all that follows. Chapter 2 is devoted to research ethics and concerns
howtheAmericanPsychologicalAssociation’smostrecentcodeofethicsisapplied
to research with both human participants and animal subjects. The problem of
scientific fraud is also discussed. Chapter 3 examines the question of how ideas
for research originate and explains the continually evolving relationship between
theoryandresearch.Italsohelpsstudentslearntousepsychology’smostimportant
electronicdatabase(PsycINFO)andprovidessometipsabouthowtodoaliterature
review. Issues related to measurement and data analysis are the focus of Chapter 4,
which leads up to four consecutive chapters on the experimental method, psy-
chology’s most important method because of the kind of conclusion (causal) that
can be drawn from it. There is a basic introduction to the experimental method
(Chapter5),adiscussionofcontrolproblemsinexperimental research(Chapter6),
and two chapters devoted to experimental design (Chapter 7 on single-factor
designs and Chapter 8 on factorial designs). Descriptions of other methodologi-
cal strategies follow in subsequent chapters. These include correlational research
(Chapter 9); quasi-experimental designs, applied research, and program evaluation
(Chapter 10); research using ‘‘small N’’ designs (Chapter 11); and two varieties of
descriptive research, observational research and surveys (Chapter 12). The appen-
dices describe how to prepare the (in)famous APA-style research report, reprint
the APA ethics codes for human research, and provide feedback for the some of
the end-of-chapter applications exercises. Note the word ‘‘some.’’ So that you as
instructorscanusesomeofthesematerialsforhomeworkassignments,Ihavegiven
students feedback on approximately half of the exercises, in Appendix C. Answers
to the remaining exercises can be found in the electronic Instructor’s Resources
(www.wiley.com/college/goodwin).
At various points in the text, there are boxed sections of three general types.
Origins boxes supply interesting information about the historical roots of exper-
imental psychology and show how various research concepts and methods (e.g.,
the questionnaire) were created and have evolved over the years. Classic Studies
boxes describe well-known experiments (e.g., Bandura’s Bobo studies) that illus-
trateparticularresearchdesignsand/ormethodologicalissues.Finally,thepreviously
mentionedEthicsboxesreflectmybeliefthataconsiderationofresearchethicsshould
occur in more than just a single chapter. The ethics boxes consider such topics as
informed consent, the operation of subject pools, and the proper use of surveys.
Itisnotuncommonfor methodstexts tobeginwith simple descriptive methods
(observation, survey, etc.), move through correlational and quasi-experimental
methods, and eventually reach the experimental method. There is certainly some
logic to this organizational scheme, but it is not the scheme I have chosen to use.
Rather,whenteachingthecoursesomeyearsago,Iwasalwaysdisturbedbyhowlate
in the semester students were encountering such things as factorial designs—who
wantstobefiguringoutinteractionswhiletheyarestilldigestingtheThanksgiving
turkey? I wanted to get to experiments sooner in the semester because I wanted to
be able to spend time on them if students ran into trouble. Also, because most of
Preface v
my labs used experimental designs, I wanted students to have some understanding
of the studies they were running during the semester. So my chapter organization
reflectsthewayIteachthecourse—Iliketogettoexperimentsassoonaspossible.
Reviewers of the text have been divided onthe issue, with mostliking the current
organization, but some preferring to start with descriptive methods. I have been
pleasedtolearn, however, thatanumber ofreviewer/colleagueswholike tobegin
the course with descriptive methods have been using my text anyway, and simply
changing the chapter sequence to suit themselves. Thus, it is worthnoting that the
textistosomedegreemodularandcanbetaughtusingseveraldifferentarrangements
of chapters.
If Your Course Combines Research Methods and Statistics
In recent years, a number of psychology departments have taken their stand-alone
statistics andmethodology coursesand combined them into two sequential courses
that fully integrate statistics and methodology. The rationale for this is the unques-
tioned interdependence of the two. For instructors teaching in this way, the issue
thenbecomeswhattodoforatext—statisticstextsdon’thaveenoughmethodology
and methodology texts don’t have enough statistics. One solution is to use a text
specifically written for the integrated course. A feware beginning toappear onthe
market, but the choices are limited at this point. Another strategy is to adopt both
a stat text and a methods text, telling students that they will be using both books
both semesters, so the cost won’t be any greater than taking a traditional statistics
coursefollowedbyamethodscourse.Theproblemwiththissecondstrategyisthat
statistics texts and methodology texts often use inconsistent language and slightly
different statistical symbol systems. Students can easily be confused about the t
test for dependent groups in their methodology text and the t test for correlated
samples in their statistics text, failing to realize that the two are identical. To solve
this problem, I have coordinated the rewriting of this book with Robert and John
Witte, who write a successful statistics text for Wiley (Statistics), now in its ninth
edition.Thatis,Ihavechangedsomeofmystatistical languageandsymbolssothat
they match theirs exactly, and I have included occasional references to their fine
book.Thus,ifyouareteachingacombinedcourseandwishtouseseparatestatistics
andmethodstexts,adoptingmybookalongwiththeWittetextwillguaranteeyou
consistency both in the language and the statistical symbols.
Pedagogical Features of the Text
For the student, this text has several features designed to facilitate learning. These
include:
• Atthestartofeachchapter,abriefpreviewofwhatistobefoundinthechapter
and a set of specific learning objectives for the chapter.
• Throughout each chapter, periodic Self Tests, set off in small boxes, enabling
the student to test comprehension for a portion of a chapter just completed.
• At the end of each chapter, a comprehensive summary of important points, a
set of Review Questions, a set of Applications Exercises, and answers to the
vi Preface
Self Tests. The review questions are short essay questions for discussion and
reflection. These review questions are not just definitional; they ask students to
apply some of the concepts learned in the chapter and to think critically about
them. The applications exercises include thought questions and problems to
solve that require using the concepts learned in the chapter. There is feedback
to about half of these exercises in Appendix C. The online Instructor’s Manual
includesfeedbackfortheremainingexercises,whichenablesinstructorstoassign
some of the end-of-chapter exercise as graded homework.
• Key terms and concepts appear in boldface print throughout the book and
theyarecollectedinaGlossaryattheendofthebook.Tomakeiteasiertofind
where the descriptions of the Glossary terms are in the text, I have structured
the Subject Index so that the text page where a glossary term is first defined is
boldfaced.
• Throughout the text, there are numerous concrete examples of real research,
usedtoillustratevariousmethodologicalpointsandtoenhancecriticalthinking.
These include forty detailed descriptions (called ‘‘Research Examples’’) and
dozens of other, briefer descriptions.
Electronic Resources
There are several electronic resources available for students and instructors. They
can be found here:
www.wiley.com/college/goodwin
Simply go to the site, find my textbook and click on Student or Instructor
Resources. Students can get to the materials directly; instructors must register with
Wileybecausesomeofthematerials(e.g.,testbank)arepassword-protected.Here’s
what can be found.
For the Instructor:
• An Instructor’s Manual, organized by chapter, which provides numerous ideas
for in-class exercises, lecture elaborations, homework, and so on (many taken
frompsychology’sbestjournalforteachers,TeachingofPsychology).Italsoincludes
the answersfor those end-of-chapter Applications Exercises thatstudents won’t
find in Appendix C.
• A Test Bank for each chapter that includes both objective (multiple choice and
fill-in-the-blank) items and written questions (short essays and comprehensive,
integrative essays).
• A set of PowerPoint slides to accompany the chapters.
• A Laboratory Manual—a set of materials and instructions that will enable you
to collect data in 20 different experiments.
• Everything that is to be found in the Student materials.
Preface vii
For the Student:
• Accompanying this text and available from the Wiley website is an electronic
Study Guide. The Study Guide includes concept questions for students to
answer as they work their way through chapters, sample objective test items
(fill-ins,matching,andmultiplechoice)withdetailedfeedback,andapplications
exercises similar to the ones found at the ends of chapters in the main text.
• The Study Guide also includes two important aids for statistical analysis:
Detailed descriptions about how to calculate various statistical analyses by
■
hand (e.g., t tests, ANOVA); this has been coordinated carefully with the
Witte’s statistics text and replaces the Appendix C that appeared in earlier
editions of this text.
Because many departments rely on SPSS for statistical analysis, I have
■
included a detailed step-by-step SPSS Guide that my students have found
useful over the years.
Acknowledgments
This project would not have been started, much less completed and evolved
into a sixth edition, without the encouragement and support of many people,
most notably my dear wife of forty-plus years (Susan, retired now, but a former
corporate auditor good at keeping me on task, yet willing to let me sneak out for
an occasional semi-guilt-free 18 holes of mountain golf) and my children (Kerri,
a university professor and cognitive psychologist, and Charles, a full-time project
geologist for an environmental consulting firm and part-time graduate student).
The hundreds of students who have passed through my research methods course
have been my principal source of inspiration in writing the book—during the
years before I started writing the first edition, many of them told me to stop
complainingaboutthetextbookbeingusedatthetimeandwritemyown.Iwould
especially like to acknowledge Aimee Faso Wright, who was the leader of a group
ofstudentsinterestedincognitivemappingandwastheseniorauthorofthesample
study on that topic in Appendix A. I’m delighted that she has earned a Ph.D. in
pharmacology,andonlymildlydisappointedthatexperimentalpsychologylosther.
To Darryl Bruce, my dissertation director, I owe a great debt. He first showed
me just how exciting research in psychology could be during my grad school days
in Tallahassee. Today, he is happily retired in beautiful Nova Scotia, which gives
Susanandmeanexcuse tovisit aplace with(relatively)cheaplobster.Iwouldalso
like to thank two of my colleagues in the Society for the Teaching of Psychology
(APA’s Division 2), Wayne Weiten and Steve Davis. At the very beginning of
the project, both were instrumental in convincing me that I actually could write a
book, and both continue to provide support, encouragement, and friendship.
viii Preface
Thanksalsogotothestalwartandthoughtfulreviewersforthetext.Sixthedition
reviewers included:
Chad Galuska, College of Charleston
Michael Marcell, Collegeof Charleston
Christine Selby, Husson College
Stephen D. O’Rourke, TheCollege of New Rochelle
Finally,theeditors,productionteam,andmarketingstaffatWileyhavecontinued
to be first rate, making the entire process a breeze (or at least much less onerous
thanIhadanyreasontoexpect).Iamespeciallygratefulfortheeditorialsupportof
ChrisJohnsonand EileenMcKeever, andfor the skillful production workofMark
Sehestedt and his team at Laserwords Maine.