Students and beginning researchers often discover that their introductory statistics and methods courses have not fully equipped them to plan and execute their own behavioral research studies. This indispensable book bridges the gap between coursework and conducting independent research. With clarity and wit, the author helps the reader build needed skills to formulate a precise, meaningful research question; understand the pros and cons of widely used research designs and analysis options; correctly interpret the outcomes of statistical tests; make informed measurement choices for a particular study; manage the practical aspects of data screening and preparation; and craft effective journal articles, oral presentations, and posters. Including annotated examples and recommended readings, most chapters feature theoretical and computer-based exercises; an answer appendix at the back of the book allows readers to check their work.
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Students and beginning researchers often discover that their introductory statistics and methods courses have not fully equipped them to plan and execute their own behavioral research studies. This book bridges the gap between course work and conducting independent research.
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I. PROMISE AND PROBLEMS1. Introduction Not Ready for Prime Time What Students Say They Need Plan of the Book Career Paths for Behavioral Scientists Summary Recommended Readings 2. The Good, the Bad, and (the Really) Ugly of Behavioral Science Research The Good The Bad The (Really) Ugly Why? Summary Recommended Readings II. CONCEPTS3. The Research TrinityTrinity Overview Design Measurement Analysis Internal Validity Construct ValidityConclusion ValidityExternal Validity and SamplingSummary Recommended ReadingsExercises4. Design and Analysis Chapter OverviewFrom Question to Design Experimental DesignsControlled Quasi-Experimental DesignsNonequivalent-Group DesignsRegression-Discontinuity DesignsOther Quasi-Experimental DesignsNonexperimental DesignsResources for Learning MoreSummaryRecommended ReadingsExercises5. The Truth about StatisticsStudy StrategyA Dozen Truths about StatisticsWhat Statistical Significance Really MeansMisinterpretations of Statistical SignificanceWhy Are There So Many Myths?Other Drawbacks of Statistical TestsIn Defense of Statistical TestsRecommendations for Changing TimesSummaryRecommended ReadingsExercisesAppendix 5.1. Review of Statistics Fundamentals6. Effect Size EstimationContexts for Estimating Effect SizeFamilies of Parametric Effect SizesEstimating Effect Size When Comparing Two SamplesMeasures of Association for More Complex DesignsEffect Sizes for Dichotomous OutcomesT-Shirt Effect Sizes, Importance, and CautionsApproximate Confidence IntervalsResearch ExamplesSummaryRecommended ReadingsExercisesAppendix 6.1. Noncentrality Interval Estimation for Effect Sizes7. MeasurementChapter ScopeThe Critical Yet Underappreciated Role of MeasurementMeasurement Process OverviewResources for Finding MeasuresAdapting or Translating TestsEvaluation of Score Reliability and ValidityChecklist for Evaluating MeasuresRecent Developments in Test TheorySummaryRecommended ReadingsExercisesIII. SKILLS8. Practical Data AnalysisVision First, Then SimplicityManaging Complex Analyses (Batch to the Future)Data ScreeningSummaryRecommended ReadingsExercises9. WritingPlagiarism and Academic IntegrityWriting as LearningGetting StartedThe Role of Style GuidesGeneral Principles of Good WritingPrinciples of Good Scientific WritingWriting Sections of Empirical StudiesEffective Graphical DisplaysReady for the Big TimeSummaryRecommended ReadingsAppendix 9.1. Example Results Section10. PresentationsChallenges of Oral PresentationsProblems with PowerPoint PresentationsPrinciples for Creating Effective PowerPoint PresentationsLessons from Multimedia LearningOther PowerPoint IssuesPoster PresentationsSummaryRecommended ReadingsExercisesAppendix 10.1. 4-Color Example Slides, Handout, and PosterSuggested Answers to Exercises
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"Outstanding! Kline is masterful in helping to fill the sometimes cavernous gap between research coursework and applied practice. The focus on modern approaches, including emphasis on replication and effect sizes, represents a new (and needed) generation of research texts, which will benefit advanced undergraduate and graduate students alike in their research courses and seminars. The book honestly and artfully walks the fine line between applied accessibility and necessary depth of content."--Robin K. Henson, PhD, Department of Educational Psychology, University of North Texas "Many beginning graduate students find that conventional statistics and methods courses do not give them enough of the practical skills in data analysis, interpretation, and oral and written communication that they need to succeed. Kline has given us a wonderfully wise guide to these skills. This book is beautifully written, entirely practical, and includes the latest statistical approaches. It is essential reading for anyone who wishes to become a successful behavioral science researcher today."--Geoff Cumming, DPhil, School of Psychological Science (Emeritus), La Trobe University, Australia"A book designed to improve the quality of behavioral and social science research and the way in which it is communicated. I would strongly recommend this text for use in both undergraduate and graduate research methods courses. It offers students a glimpse of many important issues in the field. In particular, the emphasis on, and presentation of, measurement and statistics reform should truly benefit students. This book is a valuable resource for anyone who intends to pursue a career in the behavioral or social sciences."--Chris L. S. Coryn, PhD, Director, Interdisciplinary PhD Program in Evaluation, The Evaluation Center, Western Michigan University"This book could be used in a graduate seminar that has the goals of bridging the gap between statistics and methods courses and preparing students to conduct good research. I appreciated the section on data screening--a crucial topic--and found the author's treatment of how to write each section of an empirical paper quite valuable. The APA style manual is not nearly as instructive. This text is the kind of book that you keep; it would serve as a handy reference."--Theresa DiDonato, doctoral candidate, Department of Psychology, Brown University"This is more than a textbook; it is a portable mentor! Kline brings his considerable knowledge and approachable style to the aid of advanced undergraduates and graduate students alike. The book addresses so many issues that fall through the cracks in our fragmented coursework, such as the general integration of design, measurement, and analysis. I would be remiss if I did not make this mandatory reading for all of my students."--Gregory R. Hancock, PhD, Professor and Chair, Department of Measurement, Statistics and Evaluation, University of Maryland, College Park"Kline has written the finest synthesis of initiating and finishing research for graduate students that I have read. It is comprehensive, integrative, and couched at a level that will engage students in the research process. I wish I'd had this book when I was first starting out. This text could be used in a proseminar or basic research methods course for first-year graduate students, an honors undergraduate class, or an upper-division thesis course."--William R. Shadish, PhD, Chair, Psychological Sciences Section, University of California, Merced"This book helps me sell research to my students and present the big picture like no other methods text I've seen. It not only covers basic research designs and methods, but also provides the most current treatment of effect sizes, meta-analysis, and the paradigmatic shift from significance tests to model fitting--all within a painfully honest critique of the limits of research as currently conducted and published, and what social scientists need to do to improve it. Like Kline's book on structural equation modeling (which was all I needed to learn SEM), this book is crystal clear and engaging. Yet what makes it most unique and essential for my students is its synthetic approach and attention to the big issues. This is what I most want my students to learn. They can easily find more information about specific designs and sampling techniques, but if they don't 'get' research--its purpose, meaning, and importance--then I haven't done my job."--Michael J. Karcher, EdD, PhD, Department of Counseling, University of Texas at San Antonio
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Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9781593858384
Publisert
2008-09-01
Utgiver
Vendor
Guilford Publications
Vekt
643 gr
Høyde
229 mm
Bredde
152 mm
Aldersnivå
06, 05, P, UP
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Innbundet
Antall sider
367

Forfatter

Biographical note

Rex B. Kline, PhD, is Professor of Psychology at Concordia University in Montreal. Since earning a doctorate in clinical psychology, he has conducted research on the psychometric evaluation of cognitive abilities, behavioral and scholastic assessment of children, structural equation modeling, training of researchers, statistics reform in the behavioral sciences, and usability engineering in computer science. Dr. Kline has published a number of books, chapters, and journal articles in these areas. His website is http://tinyurl.com/rexkline.