Martin Dempster - Research Methods in Psychology For Dummies

Research Methods in Psychology For Dummies

Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, www.wiley.com

This edition first published 2015

2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., Chichester, West Sussex.

Registered office

John Wiley & Sons Ltd., The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, United Kingdom

For details of our global editorial offices, for customer services and for information about how to apply for permission to reuse the copyright material in this book, please see our website at www.wiley.com .

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Wiley publishes in a variety of print and electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Some material included with standard print versions of this book may not be included in e-books or in print-on-demand. If this book refers to media such as a CD or DVD that is not included in the version you purchased, you may download this material at http://booksupport.wiley.com . For more information about Wiley products, visit www.wiley.com .

Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks. All brand names and product names used in this book are trade names, service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. The publisher is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.

LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: WHILE THE PUBLISHER AND AUTHOR HAVE USED THEIR BEST EFFORTS IN PREPARING THIS BOOK, THEY MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES WITH THE RESPECT TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS BOOK AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IT IS SOLD ON THE UNDERSTANDING THAT THE PUBLISHER IS NOT ENGAGED IN RENDERING PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AND NEITHER THE PUBLISHER NOR THE AUTHOR SHALL BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES ARISING HEREFROM. IF PROFESSIONAL ADVICE OR OTHER EXPERT ASSISTANCE IS REQUIRED, THE SERVICES OF A COMPETENT PROFESSIONAL SHOULD BE SOUGHT.

For general information on our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at (001) 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002. For technical support, please visit www.wiley.com/techsupport .

For technical support, please visit www.wiley.com/techsupport .

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978-1-119-03508-4 (paperback) ISBN 978-1-119-03510-7 (ebk)

ISBN 978-1-119-03512-1 (ebk)

1. Table of Contents

We know that research methods isnt every psychology students favourite subject. In fact, we know that some students see conducting research as a necessary evil when completing their psychology qualification. Why is this? Well, we think its because people who are interested in studying psychology are interested in examining the thoughts, behaviours and emotions of others, and thats what they want to find out more about thoughts, behaviours and emotions. Theyd rather not spend time thinking about how to design a research project or how to recruit participants. But its important to reflect on how you come to know what you know about psychology: its because of the research that psychologists and others have conducted into these topics. Without research, psychology (like many other disciplines) would be non-existent or, at best, relegated to being a set of opinions with no credibility.

Therefore, research is essential to psychology. Its the lifeblood of psychology! Without robust, rigorous research, we wouldnt know (among many other things) that peoples quality of life can be improved by finding effective ways to facilitate change in their thoughts that result in beneficial emotional and behavioural changes. Research, therefore, is responsible for improving the psychological wellbeing of countless people over the years.

But, note that we highlight the important role of robust and rigorous research. In other words, good quality research. To conduct any other type of research wont advance the discipline of psychology, is probably a waste of everyones time, and may raise some ethical issues. As a result, every student of psychology requires a firm grasp on how to conduct good quality research. And thats what this book aims to deliver.

Weve written this book in a clear and concise manner to help you design and conduct good quality research. We dont assume any previous knowledge of research. We hope that this book will excite you about conducting psychological research (as much as its possible to do so) and that your research will contribute to improving psychology for the benefit of others in the years to come.

The aim of this book is to provide an easily accessible reference guide, written in plain English, that allows students to readily understand, carry out, interpret and report on psychological research. While we have targeted this book at psychology undergraduate students, we hope that it will be useful for all social science and health science students, and that it may also act as a reminder for those of you who havent been students for some time!

You dont need to read the chapters in this book in order, from start to finish. Weve organised the book into different parts, which broadly address the different types of research designs that youre likely to encounter in psychology and the different ways of reporting research. This makes it easy to find the information you need quickly. Each chapter is designed to be self-contained and doesnt necessarily require any previous knowledge.

Youll find that the book covers a wide range of research designs that are seldom found together in a single book. We deal with survey designs, experimental designs, single case designs and qualitative designs. We also provide clear guidance on how to write and develop a research proposal, and how to prepare information for a research paper or a conference presentation. Therefore, this book provides a comprehensive introduction to the main topics in psychological research.

Weve deliberately tried to keep our explanations concise and to the point, but youll still find a lot of information contained in this book. Occasionally, you may see a Technical Stuff icon. This highlights rather technical information that we regard as valuable for understanding the concept under discussion, but not crucial. You can skip these sections and still understand the topic in question. Likewise, you may come across sidebars (grey boxes) where we elaborate on a topic with an interesting aside (well, we think theyre interesting!). If youre in a hurry, you can skip these sections without missing out on any essential information.

For better or worse, we made some assumptions while writing this book. We assumed that: