Discussion questions for Whitley Principles of Research Methods in Behavioral Science, 2002

Chapter 1 Behavioral Science: Theory, Research and Applications (p.1)

1. Give an example of how the goals of science would apply to a research interest of your own.
2. How would a theory relevant to your proposal help to organize and extend knowledge and guide research or action in your area of interest?
3. Describe the relationships among theory research and application. Which aspect appeals most to you?

Chapter 4 Formulating a Research Question (p. 89)

1. Construct a research hypothesis and statistical hypothesis appropriate for testing a hypothesis derived from a psychological theory relevant to your topic of interest.
2. Identify at least one policy variable and estimator variable relevant to your applied research interest and explain how the estimator variable may help to explain why the policy variable may be not be effective (see figure 4.4).
3. Identify possible sources of population and setting biases in your area of research interest.
4. Find examples of what you believe may be a biased theory which could lead to focusing research in the wrong direction and research that has been used validate a biased theory (other than the example of given by Whitley on p. 118).

Chapter 2 Research Strategies An overview (p. 29)

1. What are the characteristics of experiments that allow for inferences of causality?
2. What are the characteristics of correlational studies that don't allow for inferences of causality?
3. Give examples of a possible reciprocal relationship between two variables; one applicable to counseling and one, to I/O psych
4. For both I/O and counseling situations, give an example of when a case study may be better to use than a correlational or experiemental design

Chapter 3 Ethical Treatment of Research Participants

1. Is it important, from an ethical standpoint, to debrief even when deception was not employed?
2. Is surreptitious observation of elevator riders an unethical use of surveillance?
3. Is it ethical to conduct research on elderly demented patients if consent is given by their power of attorney? 
4. Give an example of conducting research when the cost is higher for doing it than not doing it, and another in which the cost is higher for NOT doing it.   

Chapter 5 Developing a Measurement Strategy (p. 121)

1. Give an example of how, in your project, a problem might arise from using a manifest variable as a measure of a construct.
2. What form of reliability is most important for a construct in your study?
3. Give an example of a construct that should be expected to be high in reliability and one expected to be low.
4. Identify two constructs, one for which you would want to demonstrate criterion related validity and one more appropriate for content validity
5. Using a construct from your project, identify a construct for which it would show convergent validity and one for which it should show convergent validity.
6. Which coefficients are expected to be higher, validity or reliability? Why?
7. What are the relative strengths and weaknesses of self-report and behavioral measures?
8. What are some advantages and disadvantages in using self-developed measures vs. standardized ones?

Chapter 6 The Internal Validity of Research

1. What is the difference between natural confounds and treatment confounds? Give an example of each one that could play a role in your project plan.
2. Which of the five time-related threats to internal validity is most important to consider in your project? (history, maturation, testing, instrumentation, statistical regression).
3. How will you protect against selection threat in your study? (non-random assignment, preexisting groups, mortality)
4. Are there any reactivity threats in your experimental design? If so, how will you handle them?
5. What demand characteristic(s) may threaten the internal validity of your experiment?
6. Will you need a manipulation check to insure the IV was administered adquately?

Chapter 7 The Experimental Research Strategy (p. 181)

1. When do you use a priori v. post hoc analysis?
2. What impact does the "washout period" have on internal validity?
3. Would you go for a factorial design (i.e. test interaction) after finding no IV effect?
4. How does a repeated measures design help to avoid a between subjects effect?
5. What's the difference between within Ss and between Ss design? What's the advantages of each?
6. How do I explain interaction in words?

Chapter 12 Data Collection (p. 389)

1. how can I use cluster sampling for my research project?
2. How can I be certain that my data collection strategy is the best one?
3. Can survey questionnaires be used as the sole DV in an experiment?

Chapter 13 Interpreting Research Results (p. 451)