Learning to Use Statistical Tests in Psychology
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Praise for the first edition: "An excellent textbook which is well planned, well written, and pitched at the correct level for psychology students. I would not hesitate to recommend Greene and d'Oliveira to all psychology students looking for an introductory text on statistical methodology." Bulletin of the British Psychological Society Learning to Use Statistical Tests in Psychology third edition has been updated throughout. It continues to be a key text in helping students to understand and conduct statistical tests in psychology without panic! It takes students from the most basic elements of statistics teaching them: How psychologists plan experiments and statistical tests Which considerations must be made when planning experiments How to analyze and comprehend test results Like the previous editions, this book provides students with a step-by-step guide to the simplest non-parametric tests through to more complex analysis of variance designs. There are clear summaries in progress boxes and questions for the student to answer in order to be sure that they have understood what they have read. The new edition is divided into four discrete sections and within this structure each test covered is illustrated through a chapter of its own. The sections cover: The principles of psychological research and psychological statistics Statistical tests for experiments with two or three conditions Statistical tests based on ANOVA (Analysis of Variance) conditions as well as tests for multiple comparisons between individual conditions Statistical tests to analyze relationships between variables Presented in a student-friendly textbook format, Learning to Use Psychological Tests in Psychology enables readers to select and use the most appropriate statistical tests to evaluate the significance of data obtained from psychological experiments. An errata sheet detailing the Decision Chart which is referred to can be downloaded by clicking here
A Guide for the Statistically Perplexed
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In addition to the sophisticated commercial software used in survey creation, there are numerous online programs available for free. Review recommendations in your course materials and discuss your specific needs with your instructor. Below are some interesting free programs.
Survey Monkey is an online tool for the creation and management of survey research. Basic features are accessible with a free account; additional featuares are available by purchasing the "PRO Plan".
Zoomerang offers embeddable online polling and survey tools with a free account.
A new free open-source program for suveys, now in Beta release.
University-level research is not the same as a high school report, not just patching together quotes and paraphrases of existing information ("patchwriting"). It should be new (and hopefully interesting) work.
In choosing an area for original research, a careful review of reported research in the field identifies areas that need clarification or elucidation, areas with conflicting results, areas with gaps in the research, and areas yet to be explored. Beginning student researchers sometimes dismiss initial literature reviews as a waste of time, seeing this step as an annoying hoop to jump through and postponing this until a great deal of work has been invested in their research. Don't fall into this trap!
Literature Review
Actually, a literature review is critical to identifying questions that are worthy of your time as a researcher and of your readers' time. You will identify concepts that are already thoroughly researched and understood and distinguish areas that would benefit from additional study or new approaches. You will be forewarned of practical problems you may encounter. Instead of being a rehash of the field, your work can be a building block of knowledge, providing new support for a theory or technique or describing a novel approach to a problem.
Annotated Bibliographies
Organized notes on the reported research that you review will be your treasure map to identify the richest veins to be mined for your project. In addition to "perfect" resources, your annotated bibliography can explain the deficiencies of others and thus the need for your research. You may do this informally for your own convenience, or as a formal presentation to your professor and your colleagues. Here are some useful tips on the academic way to note your analysis and evaluation of a resource.
Choosing, Evaluating, and Using Existing Research
After finding a topic of interest, map out the trails that other researchers have explored. The books below illustrate key questions to answer during your literature review about the existing state of research and provide a systematic approach for collecting this information.
The choice of research methods affects the value and reliability of both the research reports you review and the reader's evaluation of your research project. Both qualitative methods (e.g. surveys and interviews) and quantitative methods (questions that can be answered by an objective or numerical value, e.g. ages, census data, grade level, etc.) are used and sometimes combined ("mixed methods").
Refer to the online tool e-Source Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, developed by the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, National Institutes of Health. It offers " authoritative answers to methodological questions on behavioral and social science research. With contributions from a team of international experts, this anthology provides the latest information on addressing emerging challenges in public health."
Methodological Reform 101 for developmental researchers - M. Brent Donnellan, Glenn I. Roisman, R. Chris Fraley, and Richard E. Lucas. Developmental Psychologist (July 2013).
Systematic reviews and meta-analyses blend (1) qualitative reviews of the key features of reported studies (PICO - population, intervention, comparison, and outcomes) for a particular condition, and (2) a synthesis of the effect size of the results of those studies. A recent article provides a concise summary of this process:
Uman, L.S. (2011). Systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Journal of the Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 20(1), 57-59. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3024725/.
Designing and Reporting Experiments in Psychology
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Handbook of Physiological Research Methods in Health Psychology
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Advances in Psychology Research. Volume 75
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Qualitative Methods in Psychology
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This text combines a solid grounding in the theory behind research methods, as well as serving as a practical guide to conducting qualitative investigations and a critical assessment of these methods.
Interviewing and Representation in Qualitative Research
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In posing the question, ''what is research for?'', this book explores the processes of interviewing as itself a project intimately involved in contemporary debates around knowledge, freedom, power, ethics, modernism postmodernism, and globalisation.
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