About the Book
Using substantive research stories to illustrate the presentation of research methods in each chapter, this textbook presents systematically the entire research process and its major variants within a unifying conceptual framework. It is written in a style that is clear and appealing to students while also maintaining the highest expectations about what they should learn.
Key features:
- with the scientific method at its core, students learn how to both design and critique research
- includes a full chapter on ethics alongside end-of-chapter 'Ethics in Action' exercises throughout the book
- each chapter has an interesting overarching thematic issue or topic, illustrated by real data, which teaches students the concepts and methods in an applied fashion
- 'Research in the News'. Each section summarizes a science story that attests to the relevance of research methods
- an extensive ancillary package with interactive exercises tied to research articles, video clips, and learning activities is included on the companion study site
- experiential, hands-on, roll-up-the-sleeves approach to learning: Elegant but simple experiments are presented that can be customised for both in-class exercises and research projects
- helps students learn the difference between peer-reviewed scientific articles and journalistic pieces
- cultural and developmental perspectives, illuminating how culture shapes our thinking and our thinking shapes culture, are included throughout
- statistical reasoning elements introduced in each chapter, culminating in Chapter 10, which is exclusively devoted to data analyses.
Table of Contents:
Preface
Acknowledgments
1. Uncommon Sense: Scientific Method and Human Reasoning
2. The Foundations of Psychological Research
3. Ethics in Behavioral Research
4. Conceptualization and Measurement
5. Sampling and Survey Research
6. True Experiments I: Single-Factorial Designs
7. True Experiments II: Multifactorial Designs
8. Quasiexperimental and Nonexperimental Designs
9. Small-N and Single-Subject Designs
10. Quantitative Data Analysis
11. Qualitative Methods
12. Essentials of APA Report Writing
Appendix A. Statistical Tests
Appendix B. Questions to Ask About a Research Article
Appendix C. How to Read a Research Article
Appendix D. Proportions of Area Under Standard Normal Curve
Appendix E. Critical Values for t Distribution
Appendix F. Critical Values of F
Appendix G. Critical Values of Chi-Square
Appendix H. Critical Values of the Correlation Coefficient
Glossary
References
Index
About the Authors
About the Author :
Paul G. Nestor, PhD, is professor of psychology at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, and assistant professor in psychology in the department of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. A summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Boston University, he earned his MA and PhD in clinical psychology from The Catholic University of America, and was a postdoctoral fellow in the National Institute of Mental Health Clinical Research Training Program at Harvard Medical School. His peer-reviewed publications cover a variety of areas in behavioral science, including neuropsychology, structural and functional neuroimaging, attention, memory, personality, forensic psychology, and schizophrenia. He has authored or co-authored over one-hundred peer-reviewed articles in some of the most prominent journals. His research has been federally supported by competitive grants from both the National Institute of Mental Health and the Department of Veterans Affairs. He is a past recipient of a Veterans Administration Merit Review Award, “Cognitive Neuroscience Studies of Schizophrenia.” He is also the past recipient of the University of Massachusetts, Boston Chancellor’s Award for Distinguished Scholarship for his research in psychology. His teaching has been recognized by the University of Massachusetts, Boston College of Arts and Sciences’ Outstanding Faculty Achievement Award. Nestor also has experience in media presentation for both television and radio, including having his research featured on the Discovery Channel and on WUMB. He is a licensed psychologist in Massachusetts, specializing in clinical psychology, neuropsychology, and forensic psychology.
Russell K. Schutt, PhD, is Professor of Sociology at the University of Massachusetts Boston; Clinical Research Scientist I at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center; and Lecturer (part-time) in the Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School. He completed his BA, MA, and PhD degrees at the University of Illinois at Chicago and his postdoctoral fellowship in the Sociology of Social Control Training Program at Yale University. In addition to co-authoring The Practice of Research in Criminology and Criminal Justice and Fundamentals of Research in Criminology and Criminal Justice (with Ronet Bachman), he is the author of Investigating the Social World: The Process and Practice of Research and Understanding the Social World: Research Methods for the 21st Century, and co-author of Making Sense of the Social World (with Dan Chambliss), Research Methods in Psychology (with Paul G. Nestor), The Practice of Research in Social Work and Fundamentals of Social Work Research (with Ray Engel), and Research Methods in Education (with Joseph Check), all with SAGE Publications, as well as author of Homelessness, Housing, and Mental Illness and Organization in a Changing Environment, coeditor of Social Neuroscience: Brain, Mind, and Society and of The Organizational Response to Social Problems, and coauthor of Responding to the Homeless: Policy and Practice. He has authored and coauthored more than 65 peer-reviewed journal articles as well as many book chapters and research reports on homelessness, mental health, service preferences and satisfaction, organizations, and the sociology of law. His current and most recent research includes a $200,000 National Science Foundation-funded study of the social impact of the pandemic in Boston, with collaborators at the Center for Survey Research (UMass Boston) and Northeastern University, a $3.8 million randomized comparative effectiveness trial of two socially-oriented interventions to improve community functioning among persons diagnosed with serious mental illness, funded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center with collaborators at the Harvard Medical School, and a $1 million Veterans Health Administration-funded study of peer support with colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and the VA. His past research has been funded by the National Cancer Institute, the Veterans Health Administration, the National Institute of Mental Health, the Fetzer Institute, and state agencies. Details are available at https://blogs.umb.edu/russellkschutt/.
Review :
"In general, I view this as a very good text for junior and senior level students and it is likely that I would seriously consider the text for future use. This text is well written and easy to follow. It provides relevant and up to date references and most importantly, provides a discussion of statistics in the relevant chapters. I give this text an “A”."
"I would be very likely to adopt this text for my HD FS 312W course. I would want to see the final produce and ancillary materials, but from what I have seen of the manuscript I think that this text would work very well with my students. I am most impressed with the style of writing (which I believe my students will respond to) as well as the up to date references and examples."
I enjoyed reading the chapters and believe my students would actually enjoy reading this textbook. I would seriously consider adopting this text for my Research Methods course. I would recommend this text to my colleagues.
"If my methods class met once a week I would be very likely to adopt this textbook. I think the examples in the beginning of each chapter will draw the students’ attention and will help them connect the concepts to actual research. This textbook is unique in that sense. Also, I think the book is clearly written and does a good job of covering the major research concepts."
"I would be very likely to seriously consider adopting this text for my courses. The readability tone is excellent for undergraduate students studying research methods. The only thing keeping me from indicating that I am “extremely likely” is not having seen the Instructor Resources. If the Instructor Resources are of the same quality of the manuscript I reviewed, I would seriously consider adopting this text."
