• Each of the 53 cases presents a practical problem faced by a researcher and the solution he or she selected.
•The questions encourage students to evaluate the researcher’s solution and consider alternatives.
•All cases are drawn from the published literature. Your students will evaluate real problems faced by practicing researchers.
•All major topics in research methods are covered. Here are samples from the seven major sections of the book: •Sampling: Sampling Hispanic Adults by Telephone
•Measurement: Social Desirability
•Operational Definitions: Defining “Physical Abuse” of Children
•Procedures: Controlling the Distribution of a Questionnaire
•Experimental and Causal-Comparative Design: Forming Comparison
•Groups in Classroom Research on Reading
•Ethical Considerations: Prescreening Adolescents for Stress
•Interpretation of Results: Health Risk Behaviors of Adolescents
•The extensive instructor’s guide provides discussion points as well as samples of students’ answers obtained in the field tests.
•This supplementary book makes dry textbook principles come alive! Students learn that research is a dynamic process—that for many problems there are competing solutions, each with its own advantages and drawbacks.
•The 35 short cases are ideal for classroom discussions. The 18 longer ones make great homework assignments.
Table of Contents:
SECTION I: Short Cases
Part A: Sampling
Case 1: Sampling Hispanic Adults by Telephone
Case 2: Using a Sample of Convenience
Case 3: Using Quota Sampling
Case 4: Using an Incentive to Increase Response Rate
Case 5: Obtaining a Sample of Psychotherapy Clients
Part B: Measurement
Case 6: Measuring the Attractiveness of Participants
Case 7: Measuring Social Desirability
Case 8: Measuring Students’ Distant Memories
Case 9: Evaluating an Acculturation Scale
Case 10: Determining the Validity of Self-Reports
Part C: Operational Definitions
Case 11: Defining “Physical Abuse” of Children
Case 12: Defining “Economic Well-Being”
Case 13: Defining “Substance Abuse” Among Pregnant Women
Case 14: Defining a “Social Interaction”
Case 15: Defining “Sex” in a National Survey
Part D: Procedures
Case 16: Controlling the Distribution of a Questionnaire in a Nutrition Study
Case 17: Identifying Duplicate Responses to an Anonymous Questionnaire
Case 18: Using a Simulated Setting to Evaluate Disciplinary Fairness Training
Case 19: Using Confederates in an Experiment
Case 20: Working with Severely Angry Participants
Part E: Experimental/Causal Comparative Designs
Case 21: Selecting Participants for a Comparison of Asian and White Americans
Case 22: Forming Experimental and Control Groups in a Study of Drug Prevention
Case 23: Forming Comparison Groups in Classroom Research on Reading
Case 24: Forming Comparison Groups for a Study of Postpartum Disorders
Case 25: Identifying Comparison Groups for a Study of Childhood Abuse
Part F: Protecting the Rights of Participants/Ethical Considerations
Case 26: Using Deception in a Study of Social Interactions
Case 27: Prescreening Adolescents for Stress
Case 28: Estimating HIV Rates Among Young Men
Case 29: Soliciting Professors for a Study of Their Intellect
Case 30: Hiding the Purpose of a Study from Employees
Part G: Interpretation of Results
Case 31: Interpreting Cause-and-Effect: Health Risk Behaviors of Adolescents
Case 32: Interpreting Results in Light of Social Desirability
Case 33: Evaluating Attrition in a Study on Hypnosis
Case 34: Interpreting Differences in Physical Victimization
Case 35: Interpreting Reported Differences in Husbands’ Marital Aggression
SECTION II: LONGER CASES
Case 36: Using Interviews to Measure Mothers’ Use of Physical Discipline
Descriptor: Measurement
Case 37: Defining Group Therapy Used with Elementary School Children
Descriptor: Operational Definition
Case 38: Getting Informed Consent for Research During an Emergency
Descriptor: Ethics
Case 39: Interpreting Data on Cigarette Smoking by Seventh Graders
Descriptor: Interpretation
Case 40: Encouraging Responses to a Mailed Survey
Descriptors: Sampling, Interpretation
Case 41: Interpreting Limitations in a Study of Childhood Cancer and Stress
Descriptors: Sampling, Interpretation
Case 42: Studying the Sale of Alcoholic Beverages to Minors
Descriptors: Sampling, Procedures, Ethics
Case 43: Identifying Heroin Addicts Who Falsify Information
Descriptors: Sampling, Measurement, Ethics
Case 44: Observing Children’s Aggressiveness on the Playground
Descriptors: Measurement, Ethics, Interpretation
Case 45: Introducing Participants to a Study on Lie Telling
Descriptors: Measurement, Operational Definitions, Procedures
Case 46: Measuring Sex-Role Stereotyping Among Children
Descriptors: Measurement, Ethics
Case 47: Studying Suicide Ideation and Acculturation Among Adolescents
Descriptors: Measurement, Ethics
Case 48: Encouraging Truthfulness in Telephone Interviews
Descriptors: Measurement, Interpretation
Case 49: Estimating the Credibility of Young Children’s Reports
Descriptors: Measurement, Ethics, Interpretation
Case 50: Designing an Experiment on Cross-Cultural Training
Descriptors: Measurement, Experimental Design, Ethics, Interpretation
Case 51: Designing an Experiment on Worrying Among the Elderly
Descriptors: Operational Definition, Experimental Design, Interpretation
Case 52: Designing an Experiment on Reducing the Risk of Bulimia
Descriptors: Operational Definition, Experimental Design
Case 53: Interpreting a “Natural Experiment” on Anonymous Testing for HIV
Descriptors: Causal Comparative Design, Interpretation
