Our students appreciate the student-friendly style of our book, and we hope you and your students do also.
Ancillaries
Student Study Site
The open-access, free student study site provides additional support to students who are using this book. Each chapter in the text is accompanied by a self-quiz on the website, which includes multiple-choice questions. In addition, e-flashcards and learning objectives are included. Web resources are provided for additional information and support. SAGE journal articles are also available to help students use original research. You can visit the study site at edge.sagepub.com/rooney4e.
Instructor Teaching Site
This password-protected resource provides a number of helpful teaching aids for professors who are new to teaching research methods or to using this book. Included are PowerPoint slides, a test bank, lecture notes, sample syllabi, and suggested web resources. You can access the site at edge.sagepub.com/rooney4e.
—Bryan J. Rooney and Annabel Ness Evans
Acknowledgments
A successful textbook requires contributions from many people. We would like to thank the many people at SAGE who worked so hard to make our book a success, including Abbie Rickard, acquisitions editor; Jennifer Cline, editorial assistant; Bennie Clark Allen, production editor; Candice Harman, cover designer; and Katherine Hepburn, marketing manager. All the people we have worked with at SAGE have been supportive and helpful, but we were especially gobsmacked by the work of Laureen Gleason, the copy editor extraordinaire of this edition. Thanks again, Reen.
We were delighted to find that the reviews of the third edition of our book were very favorable, and we want to thank those reviewers for their comments, support, and suggestions. They are Irene Karayianni, Deree College, The American College of Greece; Erin M. Ramage, Nevada State College; Gal Slonim, University of Bamberg, Germany; and John E. Story, Bluegrass Community and Technical College.
Keith Nye allowed us to use his research paper as an example in the first edition of our book and has graciously allowed us to continue to use his work in all further editions. Thanks, Keith!
Brian Horne and Mitchell Loepp worked with us on the second and third editions. Both were amazing. Thanks, guys!
And, as always, to all of our students, thank you.
About the Authors
Bryan J. Rooney is Associate Professor of Psychology at Concordia University of Edmonton. He enjoys teaching research methods and finds the process of helping students design and implement their own research projects particularly rewarding. When students learn about research by developing their own projects, they experience the frustrations, excitements, and occasional disappointments that are part of the process. They also discover how fun it is to seek answers to questions that pique their curiosity. He has taught research methods for more than 15 years and also teaches introductory and intermediate statistics. His research background is in visual and auditory sensation and perception, and his more recent interests include quality-of-life issues for people with dementia. When he is not involved in the life of his busy family, you can find him skiing or riding his motorcycles, depending on the season. He earned his PhD in psychology from Carleton University in Ottawa and his BSc and MSc from the University of Calgary.
Source: Photo by Marea Evans Photography.
Annabel Ness Evans received her PhD in cognitive psychology from the University of Alberta in 1979. She was Chair of the Department of Psychology at Concordia University of Edmonton from 1975 until 2013, when she retired as Professor Emerita to muddle about in her garden, ski her brains out, and basically have a really good time.She has written two other texts. Her Using Basic Statistics in the Behavioral and Social Sciences (2014) is in its fifth edition and is available from SAGE. She has also coauthored another book, Principles of Behavior Analysis (1994), with Lyle Grant.Annabel’s sons, Christiaan, Marcus, and Luke, are grown and on their own, so she lives with her Havanese dog, Skye, who has shown a notable lack of interest in psychological research.
About the Contributors
Marcus D. Coldeway is a brand manager and graphic designer with a BA in psychology and art and design from the University of Alberta. Marcus has helped companies large and small stay current and consistent in the traditional and social media arenas of today’s media market, most recently helping FC Edmonton, Edmonton’s professional soccer club, reach new heights of attendance and success. Marcus is also a passionate visual artist and owns a small art gallery in Edmonton’s downtown called MINBID One. The gallery hosts art auctions that help emerging artists and new art collectors find their voice in the fine art market. The characters in this book and in previous editions are a series of illustrations that Marcus began creating when he was in high school and have become the signature look for this textbook. Find his work online @marcitcreative and @minbid on Instagram.
Tanya M. Jansen graduated with high distinction from Concordia University of Edmonton in 2017 with a BA in applied psychology. Tanya is proud to have received two eagle feathers in recognition of her academic achievements as a Dene First Nations woman; one was presented by an elder at her convocation and the other by her mother. Among many First Nations in Canada, the eagle feather is considered sacred, and it is a great honor to be gifted an eagle feather upon reaching a significant milestone in one’s life. It is an even greater honor to receive an eagle feather from an elder, a person revered within a First Nations community.Tanya was deeply honored when Bryan and Annabel invited her to be a contributor to the fourth edition of this book. Tanya is a firm believer that you can do anything you put your mind to, and she has demonstrated this by continuing her education while rearing two kiddiewinks with her husband, Rikus.When she is not busy with work, school, and family, Tanya can sometimes be found cleaning her clogged sink drains, a chore she finds therapeutic and her cat, Piggy, finds fascinating.
1 Introduction to Research in Psychology
Objectives
After studying this chapter, students should be able to
List and describe common sources of belief and identify the likely source of example beliefs
Explain why psychology is a science and an art
List the steps of the critical thinking process
Describe the objectives of science and create examples of each
Describe the tenets of science and identify examples of each
Apply the steps of the scientific method to a problem
Describe the difference between a theory, a concept, and a hypothesis
Discuss the various reasons why scientists do research
Describe various approaches to research and classify research examples
List the steps in planning and doing research and generate a research topic from available sources
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