Research Design Explained

So you want to learn how to set up a psychological inquiry but you don't exactly know how to go about it? Well, this book is pretty good at helping you along. It takes the time to walk you through the "do" and the "don't" that comes with gathering useful data, and it actually keeps a pace that isn't too slow and it isn't to fast, and it doesn't make drastic leaps and expect you to keep up. It actually starts a ground level, showcasing what is good and what isn't when it comes to research topics, and sets in motion a process that walks you through the objects an experiment should set out to achieve. This expands as the book focuses, and walks you through Set-Up Chapters 1-5), Simple Experiments (Chapter 6, Multiple-Group Experiments (Chapter 7), Factorial Designs (Chapter 8), Within-Subjects Designs (Chapter 9), how to read and evaluate your data, and how to pull it all together and write your research proposal/ reports. The book itself is very user friendly, and it takes a lot of the sting out of statistics. Too often a book is written from a point of view that reads like an archaic tome, and too often people are frightened by it and chased off by the thoughts dry literature attempts to express. That's why I like this book, because it takes ideas and boils them down to a simplistic form, allowing a person that really doesn't understand the subject to walk with the author as the experiments build. That isn't to say that all the processes are without fault, mind you, because a lot of experimentation leads to hitting brick walls and readjusting your trajectory so you can succeed. The book tries to teach you ways to keep from doing that, however, much like a driver's manual tries to show you the road before you hit the highway. If you're looking into the subject, its good stuff and would explain alot of the statistics you get hit with everyday. If you're looking at it as a student, it can teach you about generating concepts. Note that you should be using it should in collaboration with a statistics package (I'm currently using SPSS to gather my empirical data, but the program used isn't as important as having one so you can understand how factors actually "plug in") and the APA manual (5th edition, currently) if you're doing a project or simply want to know how to draft a proposal. Ah, the joys of scientific postulation.

very very good. Very good for class. Thorough information. Useful.

A book that helps students make sense of research methods. The book uses clear examples, summary tables, end-of-chapter glossaries that define key terms and explain the relationships between terms, and a very simple writing style. In addition, students and professors can access free computerized tutorials as well as web pages for each chapter by going to the book's home page at http://spsp.clarion.edu/RDE3/Start/RDE3start.html