Research Design Fall 2007

From PsychWiki - A Collaborative Psychology Wiki

Course Information

• Basic Information: I am assuming no preexisting knowledge about Research Design, so we will be using the textbook as the way to impart the “basic” information you need to know to get you up-to-speed on Research Design.
• Essential Information: During class I will then be providing more detailed information culled from the larger body of knowledge about Research Design so that you will be able to confidently conduct your own independent research after the course is over. See the previous section of Class Materials for the handouts and class powerpoints.
• Advanced Information: For each topic I will also be providing where to find the premier in-depth sources of information about that topic in case you want more advanced knowledge about a particular aspect of Research Design after the course is over.
  1. Generating Research Ideas
     • (McGuire, W. J. 1997). Creative hypothesis generating in psychology: Some useful heuristics. Annual Review of Psychology, 48, 1-30. This is the premier source for learning how to generate research ideas because it covers a comprehensive range of established and novel ways to identify/discover research ideas.
     • Special Issue of "Personality and Social Psychology Review" on Theory Construction, 2004, Vol8, No.2. The entire issue is devoted to experienced researchers imparting their wisdom about the best/worst ways to develop theories and generate research ideas from theories.
  2. Reading and Evaluating Research
     • How to Read a Journal Article in Social Psychology, authored by Christian H. Jordan and Mark P. Zanna. This link is a Word document reproducing an article first published in R. F. Baumeister (Ed.), The Self in Social Psychology (pp. 461-470). Philadelphia: Psychology Press. You can also find the text of the article online here
     • Reviewing Scientific Works in Psychology, Edited by Sternberg. This book is a masterful example of experienced researchers passing-on their hard-won knowledge about the review process for journals, books, grants, etc., and at the same time providing concrete suggestions about to be a reviewer and evaluate other's works. I can't recommend enough this book to anyone who either evaluates researcher, or is a reviewer for journals/grants.
  3. Measuring Variables - Creating your own measures
     • Scale Development: Theory and applications, Edited by DeVellis, Sage Publications, 1991. (Volume 26 of the Applied Social Research Methods Series). The book details how to create measures and how to statistically analyze the reliability and validity of the new measure.
  4. Content Coding
     • The Handbook of Research Methods in Social and Personality Psychology, Edited by Reis and Judd. The entire book is an excellent resource but see Chapter 12 for specific information about content analysis and narrative analysis, and see Chapter 8 about Observational coding.
  5. Validity and Reliability
     • For just information about Validity: See Albright, L., & Malloy, T. E. (2000). Experimental validity: Brunswik, Campbell, Cronbach, and enduring issues. Review of General Psychology, 4, 337-353.
     • For just information about Reliability: See the Spring “Statistics” class
     • For information about Validity and Reliability for Qualitative Research: see Reliability and Validity in Qualitative Research, by Kirk & Miller, Sage publications (part of the Qualitative Research Methods Series)
     • For information about Validity and Reliability for Quantitative Research: see Reliability and Validity Assessment, by Carmines & Zeller, Sage Publications (part of the Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences Series)
  6. Qualitative Methodology
     • Qualitative Methods in Psychology, by Banister et al, from McGraw-Hill, 1997. This is an excellent practical resource about conducting all types of qualitatitve research.
  7. Literature Reviews
     • Synthesizing Research: A Guide for Literature Reviews, by Cooper, Sage publications, 1998. This concise book outlines all the steps involved in the literature review.
     • The Handbook of Research Synthesis, by Cooper and Hedges, Russell Sage publications, 1994. This thick book have chapters devoted to all the different aspects of conducting literature reviews. The book also covers meta-analyses.
  8. Subjects and sampling
     • Practical Sampling, by Henry, Sage Publications, 1990 (part of the Applied Social Research Methods Series). This is a good overview of how to sample and the different types of sampling. Since sampling is central to almost every type of methodological design, this book is a practical way to get up-to-date on how to find and sample subjects.
  9. Observational Research
     • Participant Observation: A Methodology for Human Studies, by Jorgensen, Sage Publications. This book covers both the qualitative and quantitative aspects of observational research. Note that observational research is a complex methodological design, so if you want to get in-depth explanation of the process, you want a book that covers both qualitative and quantitative aspects because using both aspects simultaneously ("mixed-design") is the best way to utilize this methodological approach.
  10. Survey Research
      • Chapter 9 of The Handbook of Research Methods in Social and Personality Psychology, Edited by Reis and Judd. Chapter 9 covers "survey methodology" including sampling issues relevant to surveys, how to craft survey questions, and design issues.
  11. Archival Research.
      • Archival Strategies and Techniques, by Hill. While this book is written mainly for sociologists, it also provides useful information for psychological archival research.
  12. Meta-analysis
      • Practical Meta-analysis, by Lipsey and Wilson. This book explains each step of the process in-depth. For summary information, see the PsychWiki Meta-analysis page where I describe the basic steps involved in a meta-analyses, and the books/articles to read to understand each step in the process. I divide those books/articles according to (1) how to learn what is a meta-analysis and how to evaluate one, and (2) how to conduct a meta-analyses and each step in the process.
  13. Experimental and Quasi-experimental
      • Experimental And Quasi-experimental Designs For Research, by Campbell. This is a seminal 1963 book by Campbell that is still useful and relevant today.
      • Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs for Generalized Causal Inference, by Shadish, Cook and Campbell. This is a 2002 book that provides an excellent coverage of both Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs. Note - this 2002 is an updated version of a 1979 book called "Quasi-Experimentation: Design and Analysis Issues for Field Settings" by Cook/Campbell, and should not be confused with the 1963 book by Campbell discussed in the previous bullet point called "Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs for Generalized Causal Inference".
  14. Collecting Data
      • The day-to-day knowledge about collecting data is housed in the apprenticeship model (graduate-to-graduate student training within Lab Groups), which is why I started the PsychWiki pages so that we can start collectively benefiting from each other's experiences and knowledge:

        Research Tips - http://www.psychwiki.com/wiki/Research_Tips

        Internet Research - http://www.psychwiki.com/wiki/Internet_Research

  15. Analyzing Data
      • See the Spring 2008 Class on Statistics. See also the textbook for that course -- Discovering Statistics Using SPSS, by Andy Field
  16. Writing Process
      • Guide to publishing in Psychology Journals, Edited by Sternberg. The first two parts of the book detail how to write each section of a psychology article, including how to write abstracts and how to use citations and references.
      • The Psychologist's Companion, Written by Sternberg is a guide to scientific writing for students and researchers. The majority of the chapters describe how to write in psychology, including common misconceptions, using APA format, and how to write the different parts of an article.
  17. Peer Review Process
      • Reviewing Scientific Works in Psychology, Edited by Sternberg. This book is a masterful example of experienced researchers passing-on their hard-won knowledge about the review process for journals, books, grants, etc., and at the same time providing concrete suggestions about to be a reviewer and evaluate other's works. I can't recommend enough this book to anyone who either evaluates researcher, or is a reviewer for journals/grants.
      • Guide to publishing in Psychology Journals, Edited by Sternberg. The third part of this book is about "Dealing with Referees" and how to write for referees, how to read response letters, how to revise manuscripts.
      • The Psychologist's Companion, Written by Sternberg is a guide to scientific writing for students and researchers. The last few chapters about how to evaluate a paper, submit to journals, and tips for gaining acceptance are directly relevant to the peer review process.

Overview of Research Process