ABSTRACT

• Designed for students who are getting lost in the details of research methods and not getting the big picture, this short book provides an overview of the essential concepts traditionally covered in a research methods class.

•Lively examples on contemporary topics stimulate students’ interest and show the relevance of research methods to their everyday lives.

•Divided into short sections, this book makes it easy for you to give customized assignments. Assign only the sections your students need.

•Shows students how to interpret statistics without computations.

•Factual Questions at the end of each section allow students to check their comprehension.

•Questions for Discussion stimulate classroom dialogue.

• New to this edition: Five new sections on in-text citations and reference lists have been added. Numerous changes have also been made for consistency with the latest editions of the APA and ASA Style manuals, and new examples have been added.

part |2 pages

Part A Introduction to Research Methods

chapter 1|2 pages

Introduction to Empirical Research

chapter 4|2 pages

Types of Nonexperimental Research

chapter 5|2 pages

Variables in Nonexperimental Studies

chapter 6|2 pages

Variables in Experimental Studies

chapter 8|2 pages

Operational Definitions of Variables

chapter 11|2 pages

Program Evaluation

chapter 12|2 pages

Ethical Considerations in Research

chapter 13|2 pages

The Role of Theory in Research

part |2 pages

Part B Reviewing Literature

chapter 14|2 pages

Reasons for Reviewing Literature

chapter 15|2 pages

Locating Literature Electronically

chapter 16|2 pages

Organizing a Literature Review

chapter 17|2 pages

Preparing to Write a Critical Review

chapter 18|2 pages

Creating a Synthesis

part |2 pages

Part C In-Text Citations and Reference Lists

chapter 19|2 pages

Introduction to Style Guides

chapter 20|2 pages

In-Text Citations: ASA Style

chapter 21|2 pages

Reference Lists: ASA Style

chapter 22|2 pages

In-Text Citations: APA Style

chapter 23|2 pages

Reference Lists: APA Style

part |2 pages

Part D Sampling

chapter 24|2 pages

Biased and Unbiased Sampling

chapter 25|2 pages

Simple Random and Systematic Sampling

chapter 26|2 pages

Stratified Random Sampling

chapter 27|2 pages

Other Methods of Sampling

chapter 28|2 pages

Sampling and Demographics

chapter 29|2 pages

Introduction to Sample Size

chapter 30|2 pages

A Closer Look at Sample Size

part |2 pages

Part E Measurement

chapter 31|2 pages

Introduction to Validity

chapter 32|2 pages

Judgmental Validity

chapter 33|4 pages

Empirical Validity

chapter 34|4 pages

Judgmental-Empirical Validity

chapter 36|2 pages

Measures of Reliability

chapter 37|2 pages

Internal Consistency and Reliability

chapter 38|2 pages

Norm- and Criterion-Referenced Tests

chapter 39|2 pages

Measures of Optimum Performance

chapter 40|2 pages

Measures of Typical Performance

part |2 pages

Part F Experimental Design

chapter 41|2 pages

True Experimental Designs

chapter 42|2 pages

Threats to Internal Validity

chapter 43|2 pages

Threats to External Validity

chapter 44|2 pages

Preexperimental Designs

chapter 45|2 pages

Quasi-Experimental Designs

chapter 46|2 pages

Confounding in Experiments

part |2 pages

Part G Understanding Statistics

chapter 47|2 pages

Descriptive and Inferential Statistics

chapter 48|2 pages

Introduction to the Null Hypothesis

chapter 49|2 pages

Scales of Measurement

chapter 50|2 pages

Descriptions of Nominal Data

chapter 51|2 pages

Introduction to the Chi-Square Test

chapter 52|2 pages

A Closer Look at the Chi-Square Test

chapter 53|2 pages

Shapes of Distributions

chapter 54|2 pages

The Mean, Median, and Mode

chapter 55|2 pages

The Mean and Standard Deviation

chapter 56|2 pages

The Median and Interquartile Range

chapter 57|2 pages

The Pearson Correlation Coefficient

chapter 58|2 pages

The t Test

chapter 59|2 pages

One-Way Analysis of Variance

chapter 60|2 pages

Two-Way Analysis of Variance

chapter 61|2 pages

Practical Significance of Results

part |2 pages

Part H Effect Size and Meta-Analysis

chapter 62|2 pages

Introduction to Effect Size (d)

chapter 63|2 pages

Interpretation of Effect Size (d)

chapter 64|2 pages

Effect Size and Correlation (r)

chapter 65|2 pages

Introduction to Meta-Analysis

chapter 66|2 pages

Meta-Analysis and Effect Size

chapter 67|2 pages

Meta-Analysis: Strengths and Weaknesses

part |2 pages

Part I Qualitative Research

chapter 68|2 pages

Sampling in Qualitative Research: I

chapter 69|2 pages

Sampling in Qualitative Research: II

chapter 70|2 pages

Measurement in Qualitative Research: I

chapter 71|2 pages

Measurement in Qualitative Research: II

chapter 72|2 pages

Quality Control in Qualitative Research

chapter 73|2 pages

Grounded Theory for Data Analysis

chapter 74|2 pages

Consensual Qualitative Research: Analysis

part |2 pages

Part J Preparing Research Reports

chapter 75|2 pages

The Structure of a Research Report

chapter 76|2 pages

Writing Abstracts

chapter 77|2 pages

Introduction and Literature Review

chapter 78|2 pages

Describing Participants

chapter 79|2 pages

Describing Measures

chapter 80|2 pages

Reporting Research Results

chapter 81|2 pages

Writing the Discussion

chapter 82|2 pages

Preparing Theses and Dissertations

chapter C|4 pages

Excerpts From Literature Reviews

chapter |2 pages

E. A Closer Look at Effect Size

chapter |2 pages

G. Sample Abstracts of Research Reports

chapter 1|4 pages

Table of Random Numbers