Cover......Page 1
Brief Contents......Page 6
Contents......Page 8
Guide tour ......Page 18
Introduction......Page 20
Acknowledgements......Page 22
Part 1 Basics of research......Page 26
Overview......Page 28
1.1 Introduction......Page 29
1.2 Reading......Page 30
1.3 Evaluating the evidence......Page 32
1.4 Inferring causality......Page 33
1.5 Types of research and the assessment of causality......Page 36
1.6 Practice......Page 47
Key points......Page 50
Activities......Page 51
Overview......Page 52
2.1 Introduction......Page 53
2.2 Types of study......Page 54
2.3 Aims of research......Page 56
2.4 Research hypotheses......Page 57
2.5 Four types of hypothesis......Page 59
2.6 Difficulties in formulating aims and hypotheses......Page 63
Key points......Page 68
Activities......Page 69
Overview......Page 70
3.1 Introduction......Page 71
3.2 History of the variable in psychology......Page 72
3.3 Types of variable......Page 73
3.5 Measurement characteristics of variables......Page 75
3.6 Stevensβ theory of scales of measurement......Page 78
3.7 Operationalising concepts and variables......Page 83
3.8 Conclusion......Page 86
Activities......Page 87
Overview......Page 88
4.1 Introduction......Page 89
4.3 Sampling and generalisation......Page 91
4.4 Statistics and generalisation......Page 96
4.5 Directional and non-directional hypotheses again......Page 98
4.6 More on the similarity between measures of effect (difference) and association......Page 100
4.7 Sample size and size of association......Page 103
4.8 Conclusion......Page 108
Activities......Page 109
Overview......Page 110
5.1 Introduction......Page 111
5.2 Overall strategy of report writing......Page 113
5.3 Sections of the research report in detail......Page 118
5.4 Conclusion......Page 136
Activities......Page 139
Overview......Page 140
6.1 Introduction......Page 141
6.2 Poorly written quantitative report......Page 142
6.3 Analysis of the report......Page 146
6.4 Improved version of the report......Page 153
6.5 Conclusion......Page 159
Activities......Page 160
Overview......Page 161
7.1 Introduction......Page 162
7.2 Library classification systems......Page 168
7.3 Electronic databases......Page 171
7.4 Obtaining articles not in your library......Page 179
7.5 Personal bibliographic database software......Page 182
7.6 Conclusion......Page 185
Activities......Page 186
Overview......Page 187
8.1 Introduction......Page 188
8.2 Ethics: general principles......Page 190
8.3 Research ethics......Page 192
8.4 Ethics and publication......Page 199
8.5 Obtaining the participantβs consent......Page 200
8.6 Data management......Page 202
8.7 Conclusion......Page 204
Key points......Page 205
Activities......Page 206
Part 2 Quantitative research methods......Page 208
Overview......Page 210
9.1 Introduction......Page 211
9.2 Characteristics of the true or randomised experiment......Page 214
9.3 More advanced research designs......Page 222
9.4 Conclusion......Page 236
Activity......Page 237
Overview......Page 238
10.1 Introduction......Page 239
10.2 Multiple levels of the independent variable......Page 240
10.4 Factorial designs......Page 245
10.5 Psychology and social psychology of the laboratory experiment......Page 250
Key points......Page 257
Activities......Page 258
Overview......Page 259
11.1 Introduction......Page 260
11.2 Cross-sectional designs......Page 262
11.3 Case for non-manipulation studies......Page 263
11.4 Key concepts in the analysis of cross-sectional studies......Page 265
11.5 Conclusion......Page 273
Activities......Page 274
Overview......Page 275
12.1 Introduction......Page 276
12.2 Panel designs......Page 278
12.3 Different types of third variable......Page 280
12.4 Analysis of non-experimental designs......Page 283
Activities......Page 289
Overview......Page 290
13.2 Types of probability sampling......Page 291
13.3 Non-probability sampling......Page 294
13.4 National surveys......Page 297
13.5 Socio-demographic characteristics of samples......Page 300
13.6 Sample size and population surveys......Page 301
Activities......Page 307
Overview......Page 308
14.1 Introduction......Page 309
14.2 Confidence intervals......Page 312
14.3 Effect sizes......Page 315
14.4 Power......Page 316
14.5 Replication......Page 321
14.6 Questionable research practices and truth inflation......Page 323
14.7 Conclusion......Page 327
Activities......Page 330
Part 3 Fundamentals of testing and measurement......Page 332
Overview......Page 334
15.1 Introduction......Page 335
15.2 Concept of a scale......Page 336
15.3 Scale construction......Page 338
15.4 Item analysis or factor analysis?......Page 348
15.5 Other considerations in test construction......Page 350
15.6 Conclusion......Page 352
Activities......Page 353
Overview......Page 354
16.1 Introduction......Page 355
16.2 Reliability of measures......Page 357
16.3 Validity......Page 360
16.4 Types of validity......Page 361
16.5 Conclusion......Page 369
Activity......Page 370
Overview......Page 371
17.1 Introduction......Page 372
17.2 Types of coding......Page 373
17.3 Reliability and validity......Page 378
17.4 Qualitative coding......Page 379
17.5 Conclusion......Page 382
Activities......Page 383
Part 4 Qualitative research methods......Page 384
Overview......Page 386
18.1 Introduction......Page 387
18.2 What is qualitative research?......Page 388
18.3 History of the qualitative/quantitative divide in psychology......Page 391
18.4 Quantificationβqualitative methods continuum......Page 394
18.5 Evaluation of qualitative versus quantitative methods......Page 396
Activity......Page 398
Overview......Page 399
19.1 Introduction......Page 400
19.2 Major qualitative data collection approaches......Page 401
19.3 Conclusion......Page 410
Activities......Page 411
Overview......Page 412
20.1 Introduction......Page 413
20.2 Jefferson transcription......Page 414
20.3 Advice for transcribers......Page 419
Activities......Page 420
Overview......Page 421
21.1 Introduction......Page 422
21.2 What is thematic analysis?......Page 424
21.3 Basic approach to thematic analysis......Page 425
21.4 More sophisticated version of thematic analysis......Page 428
Activity......Page 435
Overview......Page 436
22.1 Introduction......Page 437
22.2 Development of grounded theory......Page 439
22.3 Data in grounded theory......Page 440
22.4 How to do grounded theory analysis......Page 441
22.5 Computer grounded theory analysis......Page 445
22.6 Evaluation of grounded theory......Page 449
22.7 Conclusion......Page 451
Activity......Page 452
Overview......Page 453
23.1 Introduction......Page 454
23.2 Important characteristics of discourse......Page 456
23.3 The agenda of discourse analysis......Page 458
23.4 Doing discourse analysis......Page 460
23.5 Conclusion......Page 464
Activities......Page 465
Overview......Page 466
24.1 Introduction......Page 467
24.2 Precepts of conversation analysis......Page 470
24.3 Stages in conversation analysis......Page 471
24.4 Conclusion......Page 476
Activities......Page 477
Overview......Page 478
25.1 Introduction......Page 479
25.2 Philosophical foundations of interpretative phenomenological analysis......Page 480
25.3 Stages in interpretative phenomenological analysis......Page 487
Key points......Page 494
Activities......Page 495
Overview......Page 496
26.1 Introduction......Page 497
26.2 Evaluating qualitative research......Page 499
26.3 Validity......Page 501
26.4 Criteria for novices......Page 504
26.5 Conclusion......Page 505
Activities......Page 506
Overview......Page 507
27.1 Introduction......Page 508
27.2 Poorly written qualitative report......Page 513
27.3 Critical evaluation......Page 519
Key points......Page 524
Activities......Page 525
Part 5 Research for projects, dissertations and theses......Page 526
Overview......Page 528
28.1 Introduction......Page 529
28.2 Why not a replication study?......Page 531
28.3 Choosing a research topic......Page 536
28.4 Sources of research ideas......Page 537
28.5 Conclusion......Page 545
Key points......Page 546
Activity......Page 547
Glossary......Page 548
References......Page 555
Index......Page 566