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A step-by-step guide to researching what people do in their everyday lives. This practical, beginner-friendly book teaches readers how to do daily life research, which is the study of what people do in their ordinary environments in their everyday lives. The basic approach is to collect data intensively over time, at least once a day for many days, in people's natural environments rather than in research labs. Common methods include daily diaries, experience sampling, and ecological momentary assessment. Collectively, these methods trade off the control and precision of the lab for the texture, depth, and realism of the real world. The book walks readers through the entire process of the research project, including first selecting a design and developing survey items, then collecting and cleaning data, and finally analyzing and disseminating the findings. With example studies pulled from all areas of psychology, the book will provide students with the conceptual foundation and practical knowledge needed to examine psychological processes “up close” in ways that experimental and survey methods can't.

A rich guide for understanding the evolving research landscape in psychology, including changes to core research ethics concepts such as informed consent, privacy, and risk of harm. This handbook offers a thorough and authoritative discussion of the ethical issues in conducting research with human participants. Each chapter poses an important ethical question, considers the relevant factors for addressing the question, and presents guidance for investigators. Topics include: informed consent, deception, risk/benefit ratio, data security, authorship, conflicts of interest, fairness and equity when collaborating with researchers in resource-poor settings, and more. While psychological research with humans still takes place in the investigator's laboratory and field, there is an increasing trend toward multiple investigators and interdisciplinary research projects owing to the complexity of modern research questions. Furthermore, technology has changed dramatically and affects all psychological researchers, whether they are working individually or in large teams. With its comprehensive scope and practical guidance, this book will serve as an invaluable aid to understanding and navigating the ethical challenges that confront new and seasoned researchers alike.

To become informed consumers of research, students need to thoughtfully evaluate the research they read rather than accept it without question. This second edition of a classic text gives students what they need to apply critical reasoning when reading behavioral science research. This second edition updates the original text with recent developments in research methods, including a new chapter on meta-analyses. Part I gives a thorough overview of the steps in a research project. It focuses on how to assess whether the conclusions drawn in a behavioral science report are warranted by the methods used in the research. Topics include research hypotheses, sampling, experimental design, data analysis, interpretation of results, and ethics. Part II allows readers to practice critical thinking with a series of fictitious journal articles containing built-in flaws in method and interpretation. Clever and engaging, each article is accompanied by a commentary that points out the errors of procedure and logic that have been deliberately embedded in the article. This combination of instruction and practical application will promote active learning and critical thinking in students studying the behavioral sciences.

Humans are a fundamentally social species. As individuals, we construct our identity through our affiliation, interaction, and identification with larger groups. And in diverse and multiethnic societies like ours, ethnic identity takes on an especially profound importance. In recent years, social scientists have been increasingly studying the meaning, process, and content of ethnic identity, but these efforts have been piecemeal, and the field as a whole has suffered from a lack of conceptual clarity and methodological rigor. In this book, editors Carlos Santos and Adriana Umaña-Taylor bring together a diverse group of social and applied scientists from a wide range of fields including educational anthropology, developmental, community and social psychology, and sociology. Together, they investigate the process by which ethnic identity is formed and maintained throughout the lifespan. Authors present qualitative and quantitative approaches to conceptualizing and measuring ethnic identity, including narrative psychology and ethnographic approaches, cognitive schemas and semi-structured interviews, as well as analyses of social networks. Throughout, authors present contextually-rich accounts of ethnic identity that keep the focus where it belongs, on the lived experience of real people.

When determining the most appropriate method for analyzing longitudinal data, you must first consider what research question you want to answer. In this book, McArdle and Nesselroade identify five basic purposes of longitudinal structural equation modeling. For each purpose, they present the most useful strategies and models. Two important but underused approaches are emphasized: multiple factorial invariance over time and latent change scores. The book covers a wealth of models in a straightforward, understandable manner. Rather than overwhelm the reader with an extensive amount of algebra, the authors use path diagrams and emphasize methods that are appropriate for many uses.

Single Case Design (SCD) is a highly flexible method of conducting applied research where there is no control group/condition or possibility of collecting data from large groups of participants. Thanks to remarkable methodological and statistical advances in recent years, single case design (SCD) research has become a viable and often essential option for researchers in applied psychology, education, and related fields. This book, with contributions from leading experts, not only summarizes the state of the field today but offers the latest information and tools for researchers. It is a compendium of information and tools for researchers considering SCD research, a methodology in which a subject serves as the experimental control.