Contents

xiiPrefaceAs has been our approach for each edition, students learn that a multimethodapproach to answering questions will best advance the science of psychology andthat one goal of this book is to “fill their toolbox” with strategies for conductingresearch. Thus, our organization following the introductory chapters is in termsof “methods,” moving from the simplest of observational techniques to complexexperimental designs.We remain sensitive to ethical issues in psychological research and to thedilemmas researchers face when they study animal or human behavior. Toemphasize our concern we give “ethics” its own chapter (Chapter 3) but alsodiscuss specific ethical issues in other chapters as they relate to particularmethodologies. The increase in Internet-based research, for example, raisesnew ethical questions and we identify some of them for our readers.Finally, we believe that research methods are best taught in the context ofpublished psychological research. Thus, we continue to use the rich psychologyliterature to provide examples of ways in which researchers actually usethe methods we discuss. It is always fun for us to update the research examples,while continuing to include important “classic” findings and studies that haveproved effective in helping students learn research methods. We believe thatone way to motivate students to join us on this exciting path of pursuingknowledge is to show the “payoff” that psychological research provides.CHANGES IN THIS EDITIONWe continue to use bullet points within the chapters and Review Questions atthe end of chapters to help students see clearly the points we think are most importantfor them to learn. And we continue to rely on the Challenge Questionsat the end of chapters to help students learn to apply the principles they havelearned. Building on the model of the Challenge Questions, we have embeddedStretching Exercises in most chapters to allow students to apply researchprinciples while they are learning about the principles. An extensive reviewof statistics remains at the end of the book (Chapters 11 and 12), and we continueto introduce these issues briefly in the appropriate places in the text. Oneway this is done is through a pedagogical aid we call “Stat Tips,” which drawsstudents’ attention to questions of statistical analysis. In some cases we answerthose questions for students; in other instances we refer them to material inChapters 11 and 12. We believe our approach provides important flexibilitythat allows instructors to decide when and how they will cover statistics in aresearch methods course.Changes in this edition have been aimed at economizing, simplifying, andupdating. For example, we continue to reduce in Chapter 3 the amount of materialtaken directly from the published APA ethics code (American PsychologicalAssociation, 2002) and material from the APA Publication Manual (2010), nowin its sixth edition, in Chapter 13. Less reliance on direct quotations from thesesources makes for a simpler introduction to these issues while safeguarding theintegrity of the original sources, which students are urged to consult for moreinformation. Moreover, the APA-sponsored website (www.apa.org) contains