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| Preface | |
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| Acknowledgments | |
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| About the Author | |
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| Understanding the Research Process and Getting Started | |
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| Why Is Research Necessary, and What Are Some of Its Benefits? | |
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| Generally, What Is the Process Through Which a Research Topic Is Identified, and Do I Have to Be an Experienced Researcher to Select a Topic of Interest to Me? | |
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| What Is the "Scientific Method," and How Can I Apply That to My Own Research? | |
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| There Are Different Types of Research Models That One Might Use. Can You Give Me a General Overview and How They Might Compare? | |
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| What Is the Best Research Model for My Purposes? | |
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| What Is the Difference Between Basic and Applied Research? | |
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| What Is Qualitative Research, and What Are Some Examples? | |
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| What Are Hypotheses, and How Do They Fit Into the Scientific Method? | |
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| What Do Good Research Hypotheses Do? | |
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| Besides Looking at the Reputation of a Journal Where a Study Is Published as One Criterion for a Good Study, Are There Other Things That I Can Look To? | |
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| I Hear So Much About Different Studies�From the Newspaper, From Professional Bulletins, and Even From My Boss. What Am I Supposed to Believe, and How Can I Judge if the Results of a Study Are Useful? | |
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| What Are Some of the Best Ways to Find Information Online, and Where Are Some of the Best Places? | |
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| What Role Might Social Media Play in My Efforts as Both a Researcher and a Consumer? | |
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| Reviewing and Writing about your Research Question | |
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| What Is a Review of the Literature, and Why Is It Important? | |
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| How Does a Review of the Literature Have an Impact on My Research Question and the Hypothesis I Propose? | |
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| How Do I Know When My Literature Review Is Finished? Couldn't It Go on Forever? | |
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| What Are the Three Main Sources of Information, and What Part Does Each Play in Creating a Literature Review? | |
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| What Steps Should I Take in Writing My Review of Literature? | |
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| What Are Some of the Best Electronic Resources Available, and How Do I Learn to Use Them? | |
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| Introductory Ideas About Ethics | |
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| What Are Some of the More General and Important Principles of Ethical Research? | |
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| What Is Informed Consent, and What Does It Consist Of? | |
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| What Special Attention Should I Give to Ethical Concerns When Children or Special Populations Are Involved, and What Should the Parents or Legal Guardian Know? | |
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| What Are Some Examples of the Most Serious Ethical Lapses? | |
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| What Is an Institutional Review Board or IRB, and How Does It Work? | |
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| What Are the Important Elements of an IRB Application? | |
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| Research Methods: Knowing the Language, knowing the ideas | |
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| Why Do All These Questions and Answers on Research Methods Have Any Relevance for Me? | |
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| I Have So Many Ideas I Want to Study. How Can I Decide Which One Is Best? | |
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| In Beginning My Research Work, Can I Focus Just on One Tiny, Little, Narrow Topic or Reach for the Stars and Be Broad and General? And, I Know the Library Is a Terrific Place to Start My Research Work, but Do I Have to Visit the Bricks-and-Mortar Buildings on Campus or Can I Just Work Remotely? | |
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| What Is a Null Hypothesis, and Why Is It Important? | |
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| What Is a Research Hypothesis, and What Are the Different Types? | |
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| What Is Similar, and What Is Different, About a Null and a Research Hypothesis? | |
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| How Can I Create a Good Research Hypothesis? | |
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| What Is the "Gold Standard" of Research Methods? | |
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| Can You Help Me Understand Which Method Best Fits Which Type of Question Being Asked? | |
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| What Are the Different Types of Variables, and What Are They Used For? | |
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| What Is an Independent Variable, and How Is It Used in the Research Process? | |
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| What Is a Dependent Variable, and What Does the Researcher Need to Be Careful About When Selecting and Using Dependent Variables? | |
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| What Is the Relationship Between Independent and Dependent Variables? | |
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| In an Experiment, How Does the Notion of a Control and an Experimental Group Fit Into the Scientific Method? | |
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| Sampling Ideas And Issues | |
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| What Is the Difference Between a Sample and a Population, and Why Are Samples Important? | |
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| What Is the Purpose of Sampling, and What Might Go Wrong During the Process? | |
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| What Is Sampling Error, and Why Is It Important? | |
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| What Are Some of the Different Types of Sampling? | |
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| What Is Random Sampling, and Why Is It So Useful? | |
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| How Does Stratified Random Sampling Work, and When Should I Use It? | |
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| How Can I Be Sure That the Sample of Participants, Which Is Part of a Study, Accurately Represents a Larger Group of People for Whom Those Results Would Be Important? | |
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| I've Heard Quite a Bit About the Importance of Sample Size. What's That All About? | |
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| How Big of a Sample Is Big Enough? | |
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| How Important Is Big? | |
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| Describing Data using Descriptive Techniques | |
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| What Are Descriptive Statistics, and How Are They Used? | |
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| What Are Measures of Central Tendency, and How Are They Computed? | |
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| How Do I Decide Whether to Use the Mean, Mode, or Median as a Measure of Central Tendency? | |
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| What Are the Most Often Used Measures of Variability, and How Are They Computed? | |
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| How Do I Use the Mean and the Standard Deviation to Describe a Set of Data? | |
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| What Is a Normal Curve, and What Are Its Characteristics? | |
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| If a Distribution of Scores Is Not Normal (or Not Bell Shaped), How Can the Ideas on Which Inference Is Based Be Applied? | |
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| What Does It Mean When a Distribution Is Skewed? | |
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| I'm Looking for a Visual Way to Describe Data. What Are Some of My Choices? | |
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| What Is a Standard Score, and Why Is It Important? | |
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| What Are Some of the More Common Standard Scores, and How Are They Used? | |
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| All About Testing And Measuring | |
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| There is a Particular Outcome That I Want to Measure, but I Have No Idea Where I Can Find Out Whether or Not There Are Existing Measures. Where Do I Look to Find Suggestions as to What Dependent Variable I Should Use? | |
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| What Are the Different Levels of Measurement, and How Are They Used? | |
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| What Is Reliability? | |
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| What Are Some of the Different Types of Reliability and When Are They Used? | |
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| How Are Reliability Coefficients Interpreted? | |
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| What Are Some of the Different Types of Validity, and When Are They Used? | |
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| What Is Criterion Validity, and How Do the Two Types of Criterion Validity, Concurrent and Predictive, Differ? | |
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| What Is the Difference Between a Norm-Referenced and a Criterion-Referenced Test? | |
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| What Is Construct Validity, and Why Is It Especially Appropriate for Establishing the Validity of Psychological Tests? | |
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| How Are Different Types of Validity Established? | |
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| How Do Reliability and Validity Work Together? | |
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| How Can I Find Out If a Test Is Reliable and Valid? | |
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| What Are Some of the Different Types of Tests, and How Are They Used? | |
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| When It Comes to Measuring Attitude, What Is the Difference Between a Likert and a Thurstone Scale? | |
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| What Is Item Analysis, and How Is It Used in Evaluating Achievement Tests? | |
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| What Is a Percentile or a Percentile Rank? | |
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| What Is Adaptive Testing? | |
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| What Is the FairTest Movement, and What Are Its Basic Goals? | |
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| Where Do I Find a Collection of Tests From Which to Choose? And, How Do I Go About Selecting One? | |
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| Understanding Different Research methods | |
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| What Is an Experimental Design, and What Is the Difference Between the Major Types of Experimental Designs? | |
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| What Is a One-Shot Case Study, and What Are Some of the Advantages and Disadvantages of Using This Design? | |
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| I Know What Correlational Research Methods Are. When and How Are They Used? | |
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| I Know That Correlations Reflect the Association Between Two Variables, but How Do I Interpret Them? | |
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| What Is an Example of a Quasi-Experimental Design, and When Is It Appropriate to Use It? | |
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| What Is Internal Validity, and Why Is It Important in Experimental Design? | |
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| What Is External Validity, and Why Is It Important in Experimental Design? | |
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| What Is the Trade-Off Between Internal and External Validity? | |
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| All About Inference And Significance | |
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| What Is Statistical Significance, and Why Is It Important? | |
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| In Research Reports, I Often See Entries Such as p = .042 and df(22) What Do They Mean? | |
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| How Do Statistical Programs Such as SPSS Display Significance Levels? | |
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| What Other Types of Errors Should Be Considered as Part of the Research Process? | |
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| What Is Power, and Why Is It Important? | |
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| What Are Some of the Other Popular Statistical Tests, and When Are They Used? | |
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| What Is Regression, and How Is It Used? | |
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| What Is the Difference Between a Parametric and a Nonparametric Test? | |
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| I Often See the Term "Statistical Significance" Being Used in Journal Articles. What Is It, and Why Is It Important? | |
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| How Can I Tell If an Outcome Is Statistically Significant? | |
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| What Is Effect Size? | |
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| What Is the Difference Between Statistical Significance and Meaningfulness? | |
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| Why Are the Values of .01 and .05 Usually Used as Conventional Levels of Statistical Significance? | |
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| Index | |