Introduction to Behavioral Research Methods 6th Edition Leary Solutions Manual

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Chapter 1

Research in the Behavioral Sciences

Chapter Outline

The Beginnings of Behavioral Research

Goals of Behavioral Research

Behavioral Science and Common Sense

The Value of Research to the Student

The Scientific Approach

The Scientist’s Two Jobs: Detecting and Explaining Phenomena

Research Hypotheses

Conceptual and Operational Definitions

Proof, Disproof, and Scientific Progress

Strategies of Behavioral Research

Domains of Behavioral Science

Behavioral Research on Human and Nonhuman Animals

A Preview

Key Terms

applied research

a priori prediction

basic research

conceptual definition

correlational research

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descriptive research

empirical generalization

empiricism

evaluation research

experimental research

falsifiability

file drawer problem

hypothesis

induction

methodological pluralism

model

null findings

operational definition

post hoc explanation

pseudoscience

public verification

quasi-experimental research

strategy of strong inference

theory

Course Enhancement Ideas

Establishing Rapport

The instructor of a research methods course must be aware that most students in the

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class are not taking the course by choice but rather because they need research methods to

fulfill a requirement. Most students would not only prefer to be taking some other course in

psychology but are also initially intimidated by methods and statistics. I find that it helps to

break the ice on the first day of class by acknowledging that I know how the students feel. I

start the first day of class by asking for a show of hands of those students who would have

taken research methods over all other courses in psychology if they had a choice. Rarely, if

ever, are any hands raised, which then allows me to admit (after feigning hurt at their

response) that, as a student, I wasn’t thrilled about taking research methods either. I then

explain why I and the department believe that research methods is an important course for all

majors and minors. I acknowledge that the class might not be as intrinsically appealing as

abnormal psychology, social psychology, or human sexuality, but promise to make it as

interesting and accessible as possible if the students will do their part in coming to class and

keeping up with the assignments. Students seem to appreciate my efforts to address their

feelings from the outset.

Behavioral Research in the Media

On the first or second day of class, I bring to class a newspaper or magazine article

that reports the results of a behavioral research study. After reading the article aloud, I use it

as an opportunity to raise questions about research methodology. How can we tell whether to

trust these results? Was the study designed and conducted properly? Were the measures

reliable and valid? Were the data analyzed properly, and did the researchers draw appropriate

conclusions from their data?

Of course, newspaper and magazine articles do not provide enough detail to answer

these questions with any confidence, but students begin to learn (a) which questions to ask

about research and (b) that they must be skeptical of research reported in the popular media. I

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stress that the research reported in the media spans the entire range from studies that are

nearly worthless to studies that are published in the best journals, and that we simply cannot

tell from most articles whether the research is valid or not.

Over the course of the semester, I bring other articles to class as I see them in

newspapers and magazines, and we spend a few minutes dissecting them. Often, I can find

the original journal article on which the popular article was based, which offers the

opportunity to critique the study more carefully and to show students that the article in the

popular press does not always accurately report what the original study found.

Seeing the Breadth of Behavioral Science

Most students take their first research methods course as sophomores or juniors.

Typically, they have had only a few courses in psychology and other behavioral sciences by

the time they take methods (and, sometimes, no more than an introductory psychology

course). As a result, they usually have a rather narrow view of behavioral science. For this

reason, I have included a description of major areas of behavioral science in the book (pages

23-24).

However, I also devote a portion of a lecture during the first week of class to show

students the full expanse of behavioral science. In addition to describing each area and giving

examples of what each area studies, I talk briefly about the areas of expertise of the faculty

members in my department (which includes some areas not shown in Table 1.1 in the book.).

Thus, the lecture doubles as an introduction to behavioral research and to our department.

Generating Research Ideas

I want my students to realize early-on that the individuals who conduct behavioral

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research are ordinary people much like themselves, and that they (the students) are, in fact,

quite capable of doing research. To begin to demystify the research process, I ask students

during the first week of class to generate their own research ideas.

I give them Handout #1, which asks them to come up with their own ideas for

research. At this point, they are not supposed to design a study but only to develop two

research ideas. (I have my students write a research proposal toward the end of the course,

but I don’t make that assignment until halfway through the course.) Of course, many of the

ideas that students generate at first are naive, simplistic, or unimportant, so I also have them

evaluate their own ideas according to certain criteria. Most students come away from this

exercise seeing that they can come up with interesting ideas.

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 Getting Ideas for Research

For experienced researchers who have worked on a particular topic for many years, new

research questions usually emerge naturally and easily. Many veteran researchers find that

they have far more ideas than they will ever have time to investigate. For novice researchers,

however, one of the most difficult parts of the research process involves developing a good

idea.

Research ideas can come from nearly anywhere. Although ideas must be tested in a scientific

manner, there is no one “scientific” way to generate ideas or to develop hypotheses. Pages

15-16 in your text offer several ways to stimulate ideas for research.

Your assignment is to develop two ideas for research, using any of the tips for generating

ideas described on pages 15-16. Try to develop ideas for studies that involve more than

simply describing patterns of attitudes, emotions, or behavior. Surveys and other descriptive

studies have their uses, but because they don’t examine how variables are related to one

another, they seldom enhance our understanding of behavioral processes. Your ideas should

involve efforts to understand how and why certain variables relate to behavior.

In addition to describing your idea, state one or more hypotheses regarding what you would

expect to find. Note that your goal is simply to develop researchable ideas, not to design

studies that will test them.

After a researcher comes up with an idea, he or she must evaluate its quality. How do we

know whether an idea is a good one to pursue? Although there is no definite answer to this

question, you should consider several criteria as you evaluate research ideas:

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 Does the idea have the potential to advance our understanding of behavior?

Assuming that the study is conducted and the expected patterns of results are

obtained, will we have learned something new about behavior?

Is the knowledge that may be gained potentially important? Importance is, of

course, in the eye of the beholder. A study can be important in many ways. It can (a)

test hypotheses derived from a theory (thereby providing evidence for or against the

theory), (b) identify a qualification to a previously-demonstrated finding, (c)

demonstrate a weakness in a previously-used research method or technique, (d)

document the effectiveness of procedures for modifying a behavioral problem (such

as in counseling, education, or industry, for example), or (e) demonstrate the existence

of a phenomenon or effect that had not been previously recognized. Rarely does a

single study provide earthshaking information that revolutionizes the field, so don’t

expect too much. Just ask yourself whether this idea is likely to provide information

that other psychologists would find interesting or useful.

Do I find the idea interesting? No matter how important an idea might be, it is

difficult to do research that one finds boring. If you really don’t care about the area and

aren’t interested in the answer to the research question, consider getting a different

topic.

Is the idea researchable? Many research ideas are not viable because they are

ethically questionable, because they require resources that the researcher cannot

possibly obtain, or because the researcher can not think of any way to design a

relevant study.

Complete the following form for each of the research ideas you create.

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Research Idea #1

Brief title of idea (e.g., Effects of noise on concentration):

How did you get this idea?

Full description of idea - describe your idea in a few sentences:

Hypotheses - what do predict your results will show?

Evaluation of idea - for each criterion, give your assessment of the idea:

Advances knowledge?

Important?

Interesting?

Researchable?

Research Idea #2

Brief title of idea (e.g., Effects of noise on concentration):

How did you get this idea?

Full description of idea - describe your idea in a few sentences:

Hypotheses - what do predict your results will show?

Evaluation of idea - for each criterion, give your assessment of the idea:

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Advances knowledge?

Important?

Interesting?

Researchable?

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 Test Questions

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Wilhelm Wundt

a. was the first clinical psychologist

b. began the scientific study of children

c. was the father of modern statistics

* d. founded one of the first psychological laboratories

e. developed the first psychological theory

2. The first psychological laboratory in the United States was established by

a. Wilhelm Wundt

b. James McKeen Cattell

c. G. Stanley Hall

d. John Watson

* e. William James

3. The individual who is usually credited with starting the scientific study of behavior and

mental processes was

a. Sigmund Freud

b. William James

c. John Watson

* d. Wilhelm Wundt

e. B. F. Skinner

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4. Research that is conducted to enhance our understanding of behavior without regard for the

immediate application of this knowledge is

a. descriptive research

b. applied research

* c. basic research

d. empirical research

e. conceptual research

5. An industrial-organizational psychologist who has been hired to study the causes of low

morale at a particular manufacturing plant is probably conducting

* a. applied research

b. developmental research

c. post hoc research

d. basic research

e. action research

6. Research that uses behavioral research methods to investigate the effects of social and

educational programs is called

* a. evaluation research

b. prediction research

c. basic research

d. pseudoscientific research

e. intervention research

7. Whether a particular area of study is considered scientific depends on

* a. the methods it uses

b. the topics it studies

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 c. the accuracy of its findings

d. its use of statistics

e. all of the above

8. Which of the following is not a criterion of scientific investigations?

a. problems must be solvable

b. observations must be conducted systematically

* c. researchers must agree regarding how data should be interpreted

d. research findings must be publicly verifiable

e. conclusions must be based on empirical observation

9. How does the scientific observation of events differ from everyday observation?

a. scientific observations are always correct

* b. scientific observations are structured in a systematic fashion

c. scientific observations use highly specialized equipment

d. scientific observations are made by people who have a Ph.D.

e. scientific observations may be interpreted in only one way

10. Empiricism refers to the practice of relying on _________ to draw conclusions.

a. statistics

b. experts

* c. observation

d. basic research

e. deduction

11. How does pseudoscience differ from true science?

a. pseudoscientific ideas are wrong

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 b. pseudoscience is conducted by people without scientific degrees

* c. pseudoscience violates the central criteria of true science

d. pseudoscience is not empirical

e. all of the above

12. Concluding that aliens have visited Earth on the basis of one person’s report fails to

support which criterion of science?

a. empiricism

* b. public verifiability

c. solvability

d. statistical analysis

e. none of the above

13. A set of propositions that attempts to specify the interrelationships among constructs is a

(an)

* a. theory

b. pseudoscientific proposition

c. deduction

d. operational definition

e. post hoc explanation

14. Reasoning from general propositions to specific implications of those propositions

involves the process of

a. operationism

b. induction

c. conduction

d. post hoc analysis

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* e. deduction

15. When researchers derive research hypotheses from a theory, they use

a. induction

b. operational definitions

c. empiricism

* d. deduction

e. verification

16. A model differs from a theory in that it

a. explains why a particular effect occurs

b. is constructed from physical objects

c. can not be tested by research

d. is less strongly supported by empirical evidence

* e. explains how but not why concepts are related

17. A specific proposition that logically follows from a theory is a (an)

a. induction

* b. hypothesis

c. empirical generalization

d. post hoc explanation

e. model

18. Deriving a general explanation from specific facts involves

* a. induction

b. operationism

c. a priori reasoning

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 d. post hoc analysis

e. deduction

19. Empirical generalizations are

a. facts

b. models

* c. hypotheses

d. definitions

e. theories

20. Empirical generalizations are

* a. induced from observed results

b. deduced from theories

c. inferred from models

d. generalized from assumptions

e. created from nothing

21. Hypotheses must be stated in such a way that they are

a. induced

b. proven

c. post hoc

* d. falsifiable

e. definable

22. Some philosophers of science have suggested that the defining characteristic of science is

its emphasis on

a. statistics

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* b. falsifiability

c. deduction

d. philosophy

e. experimentation

23. An explanation that is developed after obtaining a particular result is called

a. inductive

b. deductive

* c. post hoc

d. a priori

e. operational

24. An a priori hypothesis is

a. scientifically valid

b. logically valid

c. pseudoscientific

* d. made before collecting data

e. not falsifiable

25. Operational definitions differ from conceptual definitions in that operational definitions are

a. more general

* b. specific to a particular research context

c. more similar to dictionary definitions

d. not used in scientific research

e. more vague

26. Which of the following would be an operational definition of “anxiety”?

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 a. a participant’s score on an anxiety scale

b. a researcher’s rating of how anxious a participant appears

c. a physiological measure of anxious arousal

d. the frequency of “nervous” behaviors, such as fidgeting

* e. all of the above are operational definitions of anxiety

27. Although theories can never be ______ , they can be _______ by the results of a

particular research study.

a. proved; disproved

b. disproved; proved

* c. proved; supported

d. tested; falsified

e. falsified; proved

28. Scientific proof is impossible for _______ reasons.

* a. logical

b. practical

c. statistical

d. operational

e. experimental

29. Given that theories can not be proved nor disproved by the results of a research study, how

does scientific knowledge advance?

a. it doesn’t

b. on the basis of null findings

* c. on the basis of accumulated evidence over many studies

d. through logic

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 e. through experimentation

30. A researcher who was applying the strategy of strong inference would design studies that

a. proved a theory

b. generated null findings

c. used many different research methods

d. evaluated social or educational programs

* e. tested hypotheses of two or more competing theories

31. The practice of using many different methods and designs to test theories is called

a. strong inference

* b. methodological pluralism

c. operationism

d. deductive research

e. evaluation research

32. Null findings are results of a study that

a. disconfirm the researcher’s hypothesis

b. confirm a common sense hypothesis

* c. reveal no relationships among the variables being studied

d. are dismissed as invalid by the scientific community

e. are pseudoscientific

33. Null findings are often uninformative regarding the hypothesis being tested because they

a. indicate that the study is flawed

b. are not based on empirical observation

* c. may be the result of a poor research design

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 d. prove rather than falsify the hypothesis

e. are not verifiable

34. A researcher measured the public’s attitudes toward nuclear power after a nuclear

accident. This is an example of __________ research.

a. correlational

b. post hoc

c. experimental

* d. descriptive

e. none of the above

35. A researcher was interested in the effects of caffeine on memory. After administering

various doses of caffeine to participants, she gave participants a test of memory. This is an

example of ________ research.

a. correlational

b. post hoc

* c. experimental

d. descriptive

e. none of the above

36. A researcher was interested in whether extraversion is related to drug use. He

administered a measure of extraversion, along with a questionnaire regarding drug use, to 200

respondents, then looked at the relationship between the scores on the two measures. This is

an example of research.

* a. correlational

b. post hoc

c. experimental

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 d. descriptive

e. none of the above

36. In an experiment, the variable that is manipulated by the researcher is the ________

variable.

* a. independent

b. control

c. empirical

d. dependent

e. operational

37. In an experiment, the variable that is measured is the ________ variable.

a. independent

b. control

c. empirical

* d. dependent

e. operational

38. When researchers are interested in studying the effects of a variable that they can not

control, they use ______________ designs.

a. experimental

b. pseudoscientific

* c. quasi-experimental

d. descriptive

e. operational

39. Research that involves the description, measurement, and explanation of psychological

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differences among people is most likely to be conducted within

* a. personality psychology

b. developmental psychology

c. social psychology

d. clinical psychology

e. cognitive psychology

40. A researcher who studies the relationship between processes occurring in the nervous

system and behavior is most likely to be a (an)

a. cognitive psychologist

b. personality psychologist

c. clinical psychologist

* d. physiological psychologist

e. educational psychologist

Matching

Match each domain of behavioral science on the left to its description on the right.

______ 1. Social psychology a. Processes involved in learning, and

the development of methods and

materials for educating people

______ 2. Clinical psychology b. Description, measurement, and

explanation of psychological differences

among individuals

______ 3. Cognitive psychology c. Description, measurement, and

explanation of age-related changes in

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 behavior, thought, and emotion

______ 4. Educational psychology d. Basic psychological processes,

including learning and memory,

sensation, perception, motivation,

language, and physiological processes

______ 5. School psychology e. Relationship between bodily

structures and processes and behavior

______ 6. Family studies f. Thinking, learning, and memory

______ 7. Developmental psychology g. Behavior in work settings

______ 8. Industrial-organizational psychology h. The influence of social environments

(particularly other people) on behavior,

thought, and emotion

______ 9. Personality psychology i. Causes and treatment of emotional

and behavioral problems

______ 10. Psychophysiology j. Intellectual, social, and emotional

development of children, particularly as

it affects performance and behavior in

school

______ 11. Experimental psychology k. Relationships among family members;

family influences on child development

Answers to matching: 1-H, 2-I, 3-F, 4-A, 5-J, 6-K, 7-C, 8-G, 9-B, 10-E, 11-D

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Short Answer Questions

1. In what sense is psychology both a science and a profession?

2. What was Wilhelm Wundt’s contribution to scientific psychology?

3. Who established the first psychological laboratory in the United States?

4. What are the four primary functions of behavioral research?

5. Distinguish between basic and applied research. Why is the distinction between basic and

applied research a somewhat misleading one?

6. What three characteristics must be met in order for an investigation to be considered

scientific?

7. Why is empiricism the central criterion of scientific investigation?

8. How can one tell whether a particular claim is pseudoscientific?

9. What are the two primary activities of all scientists?

10. What is a theory? Give an example.

11. Why can theories not be tested directly?

12. Where do researchers get hypotheses for research?

13. Distinguish between induction and deduction.

14. What is an empirical generalization?

15. Why must hypotheses be stated in such a way that they are falsifiable?

16. Why are a priori predictions more convincing than post hoc explanations?

23
17. What is an operational definition?

18. Propose three operational definitions of shyness.

19. Why is it impossible to prove a theory?

20. Why is it impossible to disprove a theory?

21. Given that theories cannot be proved or disproved by a single study, how does science

advance?

22. What is the strategy of strong inference?

23. Using the idea of the scientific filter, discuss how science separates valid from invalid

ideas about the nature of the world.

24. Why are scientific journals reluctant to publish null findings?

25. How does quasi-experimental research differ from experimental research

26. For each research question below, tell whether the most appropriate research strategy

involves descriptive, correlational, experimental, or quasi-experimental research.

a. Do children who have high self-esteem perform better is sports than children with low

self-esteem?

b. In what percentage of American families do husbands take more responsibility for the

children than wives?

c. Which of two drugs is more effective in reducing schizophrenics’ hallucinations?

d. Did Hurricane Katrina cause an increase in stress-related disorders among residents of the

Gulf Coast after it struck in 2005?

e. Does a partial reinforcement schedule result in slower extinction of behavior than a

schedule that reinforces every response?

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Introduction to Behavioral Research Methods 6th Edition Leary Solutions Manual
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25. Tell what researchers in each of these domains of behavioral science study.

a. neuroscience

b. school psychology

c. social psychology

d. cognitive psychology

e. community psychology

25

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