Experimental Psychology

by Myers, Anne; Hansen, Christine H.

• ISBN13: 9780534634414
• ISBN10: 0534634419
• Edition: 6th
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-08-04
• Publisher: Cengage Learning

Summary

Focusing on experimental methods, authors Anne Myers and Christine Hansen lead students step by step through the entire research process, from generating testable hypotheses to writing the research report. The major sections of the book parallel the major sections of a research report (Introduction, Method, Results, and Discussion), giving students the skills they'll need to design and conduct an experiment, analyze and interpret the research findings, and report those findings. Although the main focus is on experimentation, alternative approaches are discussed as important complements.

Table of Contents

Part One Introduction	1	(182)
Experimental Psychology and the Scientific Method	2	(28)
The Need for Scientific Methodology	4	(6)
The Characteristics of Modern Science	10	(5)
The Objectives of Psychological Science	15	(2)
The Tools of Psychological Science	17	(4)
Scientific Explanation in Psychological Science	21	(3)
The Organization of the Text	24	(6)
Summary	25	(1)
Key Terms	26	(1)
Review and Study Questions	27	(1)
Critical Thinking Exercise	28	(1)
Online Resources	29	(1)
Research Ethics	30	(31)
Research Ethics	31	(6)
The American Psychological Association Guidelines	37	(7)
Protecting the Welfare of Animal Subjects	44	(9)
Fraud in Science	53	(2)
Plagiarism	55	(1)
Ethical Reports	56	(5)
Summary	57	(1)
Key Terms	58	(1)
Review and Study Questions	59	(1)
Critical Thinking Exercise	60	(1)
Online Resources	60	(1)
Alternatives to Experimentation: Nonexperimental Designs	61	(29)
Describing Research Activities	63	(1)
Phenomenology	64	(2)
Case Studies	66	(6)
Field Studies	72	(8)
Archival Study	80	(2)
Qualitative Research	82	(8)
Summary	86	(1)
Key Terms	87	(1)
Review and Study Questions	88	(1)
Critical Thinking Exercise	89	(1)
Online Resources	89	(1)
Alternatives to Experimentation: Surveys and Interviews	90	(33)
Survey Research	91	(1)
Constructing Surveys	92	(3)
Measuring Responses	95	(5)
Important Considerations for Survey Items	100	(5)
Collecting Survey Data	105	(5)
Evaluating Surveys and Survey Data	110	(1)
Sampling	111	(1)
Probability Sampling	111	(4)
Nonprobability Sampling	115	(8)
Summary	118	(1)
Key Terms	119	(1)
Review and Study Questions	120	(1)
Critical Thinking Exercise	121	(1)
Online Resources	122	(1)
Alternatives to Experimentation: Correlational and Quasi-Experimental Designs	123	(35)
Correlational Designs	126	(12)
Causal Modeling	138	(3)
Quasi-Experimental Designs	141	(17)
Summary	153	(2)
Key Terms	155	(1)
Review and Study Questions	156	(1)
Critical Thinking Exercise	157	(1)
Online Resources	157	(1)
Formulating the Hypothesis	158	(25)
The Characteristics of an Experimental Hypothesis	160	(3)
The Inductive Model	163	(3)
The Deductive Model	166	(1)
Combining Induction and Deduction	167	(1)
Building on Prior Research	167	(1)
Serendipity and the Windfall Hypothesis	168	(2)
Intuition	170	(1)
When All Else Fails	171	(3)
Searching the Research Literature	174	(9)
Summary	179	(1)
Key Terms	180	(1)
Review and Study Questions	181	(1)
Critical Thinking Exercise	182	(1)
Online Resources	182	(1)
Part Two Method	183	(180)
The Basics of Experimentation	184	(40)
Independent and Dependent Variables	186	(8)
Operational Definitions	194	(6)
Evaluating Operational Definitions	200	(16)
Planning the Method Section	216	(8)
Summary	220	(1)
Key Terms	221	(1)
Review and Study Questions	222	(1)
Critical Thinking Exercise	223	(1)
Online Resources	223	(1)
Solving Problems: Controlling Extraneous Variables	224	(28)
Physical Variables	225	(4)
Social Variables	229	(14)
Personality Variables	243	(2)
Context Variables	245	(7)
Summary	247	(2)
Key Terms	249	(1)
Review and Study Questions	249	(1)
Critical Thinking Exercise	250	(1)
Online Resources	251	(1)
Basic Between-Subjects Designs	252	(32)
Selecting and Recruiting Subjects	254	(3)
One Independent Variable: Two Group Designs	257	(1)
Two Independent Groups	258	(11)
Two Matched Groups	269	(4)
Multiple Groups	273	(11)
Summary	279	(2)
Key Terms	281	(1)
Review and Study Questions	282	(1)
Critical Thinking Exercise	283	(1)
Online Resources	283	(1)
Between-Subjects Factorial Designs	284	(24)
More Than One Independent Variable	285	(5)
Laying Out a Factorial Design	290	(3)
A Research Example	293	(8)
Choosing a Between-Subjects Design	301	(7)
Summary	305	(1)
Key Terms	305	(1)
Review and Study Questions	306	(1)
Critical Thinking Exercise	307	(1)
Online Resources	307	(1)
Within-Subjects Designs	308	(31)
A Within-Subjects Experiment: Homophone Priming of Proper Names	311	(2)
Within-Subjects Factorial Designs	313	(1)
Mixed Designs	314	(1)
Advantages of Within-Subjects Designs	315	(2)
Disadvantages of Within-Subjects Designs	317	(2)
Controlling Within-Subjects Designs	319	(13)
How Can You Choose a Design?	332	(7)
Summary	333	(1)
Key Terms	334	(1)
Review and Study Questions	335	(2)
Critical Thinking Exercise	337	(1)
Online Resources	338	(1)
Within-Subjects Designs: Small N	339	(24)
Small N Designs	340	(4)
ABA Designs	344	(7)
Multiple Baseline Design	351	(2)
Changing Criterion Designs	353	(1)
Discrete Trials Designs	353	(2)
When to Use Large N and Small N Designs	355	(8)
Summary	359	(1)
Key Terms	360	(1)
Review and Study Questions	361	(1)
Critical Thinking Exercise	362	(1)
Online Resources	362	(1)
Part Three Results: Coping with Data	363	(88)
Why We Need Statistics	364	(36)
The Argument for Using Statistics	365	(1)
Weighing the Evidence	366	(1)
Statistical Inference: An Overview	367	(6)
Applying Statistical Inference: An Example	373	(8)
Going Beyond Testing the Null Hypothesis	381	(1)
The Odds of Finding Significance	382	(5)
Test Statistics	387	(1)
Organizing and Summarizing Data	388	(12)
Summary	394	(2)
Key Terms	396	(1)
Review and Study Questions	397	(1)
Critical Thinking Exercise	398	(1)
Online Resources	398	(2)
Analyzing Results	400	(51)
Which Test Do I Use?	401	(3)
Statistics for Two Group Experiments	404	(1)
The Chi Square Test	404	(4)
The t Test	408	(12)
Analyzing Multiple Groups and Factorial Experiments	420	(1)
Analysis of Variance	421	(1)
Sources of Variability	421	(3)
A One-Way Between-Subjects Analysis of Variance	424	(8)
One-Way Repeated Measures Analysis of Variance	432	(1)
Analyzing Data from a Between-Subjects Factorial Experiment	432	(2)
Two-Way Analysis of Variance	434	(6)
Repeated Measures and Mixed Factorial Designs	440	(11)
Summary	442	(3)
Key Terms	445	(1)
Review and Study Questions	446	(3)
Critical Thinking Exercise	449	(1)
Online Resources	449	(2)
Part Four Discussion	451	(112)
Drawing Conclusions: The Search for the Elusive Bottom Line	452	(25)
Evaluating the Experiment from the Inside: Internal Validity	454	(5)
Taking a Broader Perspective: The Problem of External Validity	459	(10)
Handling a Nonsignificant Outcome	469	(8)
Summary	473	(1)
Key Terms	474	(1)
Review and Study Questions	475	(1)
Critical Thinking Exercise	476	(1)
Online Resources	476	(1)
Writing the Research Report	477	(86)
The Written Report: Purpose and Format	478	(3)
Major Sections	481	(9)
Looking at a Journal Article	490	(14)
Preparing Your Manuscript: Procedural Details	504	(3)
Making Revisions	507	(7)
Summary	510	(1)
Key Terms	511	(1)
Review and Study Questions	511	(1)
Critical Thinking Exercise	512	(1)
Online Resources	513	(1)
Appendixes
A Computational Formulas	514	(13)
B Statistical Tables	527	(10)
C A Journal Article in Manuscript Form	537	(26)
Glossary	563	(15)
References	578	(13)
Index	591	(13)
Photo Credits	604