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Quantitative Psychological Research

The Complete Student's Companion

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This book expertly guides the reader through all stages involved in undertaking quantitative psychological research, from accessing the relevant literature, through designing and conducting a study, analysing and interpreting data, and finally reporting the research.

This third edition includes two new chapters - on preliminary checking of data and allowing for additional variables when comparing the means of different conditions - and expands on original topics such as choosing sample sizes and how to test for mediation effects. It also contains increased coverage of tests and further detail of techniques and terms which psychologists will meet when working with those in the medical professions. As the chapters focus on choosing appropriate statistical tests and how to interpret and report them (rather than the detailed calculations, which appear in appendices), the reader is able to gain an understanding of a test without being interrupted by the need to understand the complex mathematics behind it. In addition, for the first time, the book is accompanied by an online bank of multiple choice questions.

The book helps readers to:

  • Locate reports of relevant existing research
  • Design research while adhering to ethical principles
  • Identify various methods which can be used to ask questions or observe behaviour
  • Choose appropriate samples
  • Display and analyse findings numerically and graphically to test hypotheses
  • Report psychological research in a variety of ways.

As such, the book is suitable for psychology students and professionals at all levels, and is particularly useful to those working in Health and Clinical Psychology.

Table of Contents

Preface. Part 1. Introduction. 1. The methods used in psychological research. Part 2. Choice of Topic, Measures and Research Design. 2. The Preliminary Stages of Research. 3. Variables and the Validity of Research Designs. 4. Research Designs and Their Internal Validity. Part 3. Methods. 5. Asking Questions I: Interviews and Surveys. 6. Asking Questions II: Measuring Attitudes and Meaning. 7. Observation and Content Analysis. Part 4. Data and Analysis. 8. Scales of Measurement. 9. Summarising and Describing Data. 10. Going Beyond Description. 11. Samples and Populations. 12. Analysis of Differences Between a Single Sample and a Population. 13. Effect Size and Power. 14. Parametric and Non-Parametric Tests. 15. Analysis of Differences Between Two Levels of an Independent Variable. 16. Preliminary Analysis of Designs with One Independent Variable with More than Two Levels. 17. Analysis of Designs with More than One Independent Variable. 18. Subsequent Analysis after ANOVA or X2. 19. Analysis of relationships I: Correlation. 20. Analysis of Relationships II: Regression. 21. Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). 22. Screening Data. 23. Multivariate Analysis. 24: Meta-Analysis. Part 5. Sharing the Results. 25. Reporting Research. Appendixes.

Reviews

"The material is organised helpfully for both novices and more experienced readers; the gently paced main text introduces ideas in a clear, intuitive fashion. … This is a good choice as a text to take a student through the quantitative elements of their undergraduate or conversion degree and perhaps even further as a bookshelf reference book." - Harriet Nock in The Psychologist

"Well written with clear examples, David Clark-Carter is successful in delivering complex ideas in a way that students will be able to understand and apply to their own research." - Charlotte Brownlow, Centre for Childhood, Development and Learning, The Open University, UK

"This book provides a comprehensive, indeed encyclopaedic overview of research methods and statistics, which both novice and experienced researcher alike will find useful as a quick and ready authoritative reference to methods commonly required as part of many undergraduate courses." - Brendan Bunting, Professor of Psychology, University of Ulster, UK

Author/Editor Biography

David Clark-Carter is Professor of Psychological Research Methods at Staffordshire University. He is a member of the BPS Mathematics, Statistics and Computing Section and Consultant Editor of the British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology. He has extensive experience of teaching undergraduates and graduates at all levels.

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