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16 PART I: General IssuesBOX 1.2CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SCIENCEDo clinical psychologists apply the latest scientificfindings from psychological research in the treatmentof their patients?In a recent critique of the practice of clinicalpsychology, Drs. Timothy Baker, Richard McFall,and Varda Shoham, themselves esteemed clinicalpsychologists, argue a resounding “no” to thisquestion. Their extensive analysis of the practiceof clinical psychologists, which appeared in theNovember 2009 issue of the APS journal, PsychologicalScience in the Public Interest, was pickedup by various media sources, including coveragein Newsweek magazine (October 12, 2009).Over the past several decades, clinical researchershave demonstrated the effectiveness—including cost-effectiveness—of psychologicaltreatments (e.g., cognitive behavioral therapy) formany mental disorders. Yet, according to theauthors, relatively few psychologists learn orpractice these effective treatments. Baker et al.contend that present-day clinical psychologyresembles the prescientific medical practice thattook place in the 1800s and early 1900s, in whichmedical doctors rejected scientific practices infavor of their personal experience. Research indicatesthat today’s clinical psychologist is morelikely to rely on his or her own personal opinionsregarding “what works” rather than scientificevidence for empirically supported treatments(ESTs). In fact, Baker et al. report that the averageclinical psychologist is unaware of researchfindings regarding ESTs and likely does not havethe scientific training to understand the researchmethodology or findings.Baker, McFall, and Shoham (2009) argue thaturgent changes must be made to training programsfor clinical psychologists, much like medicaltraining was completely reformed in the early1900s to make medicine scientifically based.Without scientific grounding, clinical psychologistswill continue to lose their role in present-daymental and behavioral health care. Baker et al.believe that high-quality, science-centered educationand training must be a central feature ofclinical psychology training, and that the practiceof clinical psychology without a strong basis inscience should be stigmatized.For students using this textbook who are interestedin clinical psychology, we hope that asyou learn about the various research methods inpsychology, you will see this introduction to researchmethods as only the first step needed inyour successful and ethical practice of clinicalpsychology.We’ve indicated that to think like a researcher you need to be skeptical aboutevidence and claims. You already know something about evidence and claimsif you’ve read any book detailing a crime and trial, or watched any number ofpopular movie or television legal dramas. Detectives, lawyers, and others in thelegal profession collect evidence from a variety of sources and seek convergingevidence in order to make claims about people’s behavior. A small amount ofevidence may be enough to suspect someone of a crime, but converging evidencefrom many sources is needed to convict the person. Psychological scientistswork in much the same way—they collect evidence in order to make claimsabout behavior and psychological processes.The main emphasis of this text will be to detail the different research methodsthat result in different types of evidence and conclusions. As you proceedin your study of research methods, you will find that there are important—anddifferent—scientific principles that apply to reporting a survey statistic or behavioralobservation, identifying a relationship between factors (or “variables”),