The first chapter provides an overview of the textbook and reviews the history of psychology and its methodology. Psychology is described as a science studying how hereditary (nature) and experiential (nurture) variables interact to influence the thoughts, feelings, and behavior of individuals. The remainder of the text will be organized in sections entitled “Mostly Nature” (Biological Psychology; Sensation & Perception; Motivation & Emotion), “Mostly Nurture” (Direct Learning; Indirect Learning (i.e., observational learning and language); Cognition), and “Nature/Nurture” (Human Development; Personality; Social Psychology; Maladaptive Behavior; Professional Psychology and Human Potential).

This resource is intended as an easy-to-use guide for anyone who needs some quick and simple advice on quantitative aspects of research in social sciences, covering subjects such as education, sociology, business, nursing. If you area qualitative researcher who needs to venture into the world of numbers, or a student instructed to undertake a quantitative research project despite a hatred for maths, then this booklet should be a real help.

This resource is intended as an easy-to-use guide for anyone who needs some quick and simple advice on quantitative aspects of research in social sciences, covering subjects such as education, sociology, business, nursing. If you area qualitative researcher who needs to venture into the world of numbers, or a student instructed to undertake a quantitative research project despite a hatred for maths, then this booklet should be a real help.

Table of Contents
Section 1: What will this resource do for you?
Section 2: Why are you thinking about numbers? A discussion of the research questjion and paradigms.
Section 3: An overview of the Research Process and Research Designs
Section 4: Quantitative Research Methods
Section 5: the data obtained from quantitative research
Section 6: Analysis of data
Section 7: Discussing your Results

It is expected that Students who take part in this course have completed almost all courses of their MSc and are about to start on their Master Orientation project, their Literature Study or MSc thesis depending on their chosen MSC track.

It is of little value to take this course early, so please plan accordingly!
Course Contents The aim of the course is to be a research-driven preparation for the aerospace engineering MSc thesis in the final year of the MSc. It will help you prepare for the challenges of your thesis work.

The course will consist of 7 lectures and will be taught online using video lectures in periods 1, 2 and 3 and face-to-face using traditional lectures in period 4.

The lecture set up is as follows:
1. Research Design in MSc - Introduction to research, research framework
2. Research Methods - Stages of a project, Research objective, research questions, research strategy, research methods
3. Data Analysis - Quantitative & Qualitative methods
4. Validation & Verification - How to validate & verify your work?
5. Project Management & Peer review of draft Project plan - How to manage your project and your thesis progress. Project plan peer review
6. Planning - How to plan, expectations, Gannt Charts
7. Literature Review - How to carry out a scientific literature review? Differences between review and research

Please be advised that all lectures are also available via Blackboard for those following the online version. It is possible to do this course by distant learning, attendance in the 4th period, though highly appreciated, is not mandatory!
Study Goals At the end of the course the student will:
- be aware of the expectations of an MSc student
- be able to formulate a research question and research aim
- be able to set up a research plan for their MOP/Literature Study/MSc thesis
- be able to write a literature review based on the research plan with a view to select appropriate methodologies for their MOP/MSc thesis

Education Method (Online) Lectures, Assignments and voluntary Peer review of each others research plans and literature studies

This course will introduce the student to research methodologies frequently used in the social sciences, and especially those used in the field of psychology. This course covers the basics of conducting research, touching upon statistics and their importance (although it does not require a comprehensive knowledge of the subject). The course will conclude with a section on experimental design. By the end of this course, the student should understand why research methodology is important in scientific research, be comfortable reading procedural and methodological sections of journal articles, and understand how to employ different research methods. (Psychology 202A)

Contents:
Conceptualising Research Methods: Ontology; Epistemology; Axiology

Research Paradigms

Paradigmatic Methods: Positivism / Post-positivism; Interpretivism; Critical / Transformational; Pragmatism; Multidisciplinarity, Interdisciplinarity, Transdisciplinarity; Mixed
Methods & Triangulation

Researching Open: Open Research Cycles; Open Practices

Designing a Research Project: Planning Research; Ethical Issues; Managing Risk; Using Technologies; Self Management; Research Design

Research Method Insights from the Global OER Graduate Network: Action Research and Participatory Action Research: Case Study: Content Analysis and Thematic Analysis: Design-Based Research and Interventions; Discourse Analysis; Ethnography; Evaluation Research; Experimental and Quasi-experimental Research; Grounded Theory; Interviews & Focus Groups; Literature Review, Systematic Review and Meta-analysis; Mixed Methods; Narrative Research; Observation (Naturalistic & Analogue);
Phenomenography; Phenomenolog; Social Network Analysis; Surveys & Questionnaires

Conclusion & Reflection Prompts

This course intends to acquaint the student with a variety of different research techniques. In this lab course, the student will put research and experimental design concepts into practice while conducting laboratory experiments. In addition to review of concepts developed in the Research Methods lecture course, this lab will also broach a number of practical matters, including the standard organizational format for research project documentation. (Psychology 202B)

This book is based on two open-access textbooks: Bhattacherjee’s (2012) Social science research: Principles, methods, and practices and Blackstone’s (2012) Principles of sociological inquiry: Qualitative and quantitative methods. I first used Bhattacherjee’s book in a graduate-level criminal justice research methods course. I chose the book because it was an open educational resource that covered the major topics of my course. While I found the book adequate for my purposes, the business school perspective did not always fit with my criminal justice focus. I decided to rewrite the textbook for undergraduate and graduate students in my criminal justice research methods courses. As I researched other open- educational resources for teaching social science research methods, I found Blackstone’s book, which covered more of the social science and qualitative methods perspectives that I wanted to incorporate into my book.

As a result, this open-access textbook includes some content from both previous works along with my own additions based on my extensive experience and expertise in conducting qualitative and quantitative research in social science settings and in mentoring students through the research process. My Ph.D. is in Sociology, and I currently teach undergraduates and graduate students in a criminal justice program at Weber State University. Throughout my career, I have conducted and published the results of research projects using a variety of methods, including surveys, case studies, in-depth interviews, participant observation, content analysis, and secondary analysis of quantitative data. I have also mentored undergraduates in conducting community-based research projects using many of these same methods with the addition of focus groups and program evaluations.

Table of Contents
Chapter 1: The Science of Psychology

Understanding Science
Scientific Research in Psychology
Science and Common Sense
Science and Clinical Practice
Chapter 2: Getting Started in Research

Basic Concepts
Generating Good Research Questions
Reviewing the Research Literature
Chapter 3: Research Ethics

Moral Foundations of Ethical Research
From Moral Principles to Ethics Codes
Putting Ethics Into Practice
Chapter 4: Theory in Psychology

Phenomena and Theories
The Variety of Theories in Psychology
Using Theories in Psychological Research
Chapter 5: Psychological Measurement

Understanding Psychological Measurement
Reliability and Validity of Measurement
Practical Strategies for Psychological Measurement
Chapter 6: Experimental Research

Experiment Basics
Experimental Design
Conducting Experiments
Chapter 7: Nonexperimental Research

Overview of Nonexperimental Research
Correlational Research
Quasi-Experimental Research
Qualitative Research
Chapter 8: Complex Research Designs

Multiple Dependent Variables
Multiple Independent Variables
Complex Correlational Designs
Chapter 9: Survey Research

Overview of Survey Research
Constructing Survey Questionnaires
Conducting Surveys
Chapter 10: Single-Subject Research

Overview of Single-Subject Research
Single-Subject Research Designs
The Single-Subject Versus Group “Debate”
Chapter 11: Presenting Your Research

American Psychological Association (APA) Style
Writing a Research Report in American Psychological Association (APA) Style
Other Presentation Formats
Chapter 12: Descriptive Statistics

Describing Single Variables
Describing Statistical Relationships
Expressing Your Results
Conducting Your Analyses
Chapter 13: Inferential Statistics

Understanding Null Hypothesis Testing
Some Basic Null Hypothesis Tests
Additional Considerations
From the “Replicability Crisis” to Open Science Practices
About the Book
The present adaptation constitutes the second Canadian edition and was co-authored by Rajiv S. Jhangiani (Kwantlen Polytechnic University) and I-Chant A. Chiang (Quest University Canada) and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Revisions include the following:

Chapter 1: Added a description of the “Many Labs Replication Project,” added a reference to the Neurobonkers website, and embedded videos about open access publishing, driver distraction, two types of empirical studies, and the use of evidence to evaluate the world around us.

Chapter 2: Updated the exemplar study in the chapter overview, added relevant examples and descriptions of contemporary studies, provided a link to an interactive visualization for correlations, added a description of double-blind peer review, added a figure to illustrate a spurious correlation, and embedded videos about how to develop a good research topic, searching the PsycINFO database, using Google Scholar, and how to read an academic paper.

Chapter 3: Added in LaCour ethical violation. Revised chapter headings and order to reflect TCPS-2 moral principles.

Chapter 4: Added in difference between laws and effects and theoretical framework.

Chapter 5: Added fuller descriptions of the levels of measurement, added a table to summarize the levels of measurement, added a fuller description of the MMPI, removed the discussion of the IAT, and added descriptions of concurrent, predictive, and convergent validity.

Chapter 6: Added in construct validity, statistical validity, mundane realism, psychological realism, Latin Square Design. Updated references.

Chapter 7: Added in mixed-design studies and fuller discussion of qualitative-quantitative debate.

Chapter 8: Added an exercise to sketch the 8 possible results of a 2 x 2 factorial experiment.

Chapter 9: Added information about Canadian Election Studies, more references, specific guidelines about order and open-ended questions, and rating scale. Updated online survey creation sites.

Chapter 11: Updated examples and links to online resources.

Chapter 13: Added discussion of p-curve and BASP announcement about banning p-values. Added a section that introduces the “replicability crisis” in psychology, along with discussions of questionable research practices, best practices in research design and data management, and the emergence of open science practices and Transparency and Openness Promotion guidelines.

Glossary of key terms: Added.

In addition, throughout the textbook, we revised the language to be more precise and to improve flow, added links to other chapters, added images, updated hyperlinks, corrected spelling and formatting errors, and changed references to reflect the contemporary Canadian context.

The present adaptation constitutes the second Canadian edition and was co-authored by Rajiv S. Jhangiani (Kwantlen Polytechnic University) and I-Chant A. Chiang (Quest University Canada) and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Revisions include the following:

This third American edition is a comprehensive textbook for research methods classes. It is an adaptation of the second American edition.

This fourth edition (published in 2019) was co-authored by Rajiv S. Jhangiani (Kwantlen Polytechnic University), Carrie Cuttler (Washington State University), and Dana C. Leighton (Texas A&M University—Texarkana) and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Revisions throughout the current edition include changing the chapter and section numbering system to better accommodate adaptions that remove or reorder chapters; continued reversion from the Canadian edition; general grammatical edits; replacement of “he/she” to “they” and “his/her” to “their”; removal or update of dead links; embedded videos that were not embedded; moved key takeaways and exercises from the end of each chapter section to the end of each chapter; a new cover design. In addition, the following revisions were made to specific chapters:

Social psychologists are interested in the ways that other people affect thought, emotion, and behavior. To explore these concepts requires special research methods. Following a brief overview of traditional research designs, this module introduces how complex experimental designs, field experiments, naturalistic observation, experience sampling techniques, survey research, subtle and nonconscious techniques such as priming, and archival research and the use of big data may each be adapted to address social psychological questions. This module also discusses the importance of obtaining a representative sample along with some ethical considerations that social psychologists face.

As an introductory textbook for social work students studying research methods, this book guides students through the process of creating a research project. Students will learn how to discover a researchable topic that is interesting to them, examine scholarly literature, formulate a proper research question, design a quantitative or qualitative study to answer their question, carry out the design, interpret quantitative or qualitative results, and disseminate their findings to a variety of audiences. Examples are drawn from the author's practice and research experience, as well as topical articles from the literature. The textbook is aligned with the Council on Social Work Education's 2015 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards. Students and faculty can download copies of this textbook using the links provided in the front matter.

As an introductory textbook for social work students studying research methods, this book guides students through the process of creating a research project. Students will learn how to discover a researchable topic that is interesting to them, examine scholarly literature, formulate a proper research question, design a quantitative or qualitative study to answer their question, carry out the design, interpret quantitative or qualitative results, and disseminate their findings to a variety of audiences. Examples are drawn from the author's practice and research experience, as well as topical articles from the literature. The textbook is aligned with the Council on Social Work Education's 2015 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards. Students and faculty can download copies of this textbook using the links provided in the front matter.

Ancillary resources are available here: https://www.opensocialworkeducation.com/textbooks

Reviews available here: https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/scientific-inquiry-in-social-work

Social data analysis enables you, as a researcher, to organize the facts you collect during your research. Your data may have come from a questionnaire survey, a set of interviews, or observations. They may be data that have been made available to you from some organization, national or international agency or other researchers. Whatever their source, social data can be daunting to put together in a way that makes sense to you and others.

This book is designed to introduce doctoral and graduate students to the process of scientific research in the social sciences, business, education, public health, and related disciplines. This book is based on my lecture materials developed over a decade of teaching the doctoral-level class on Research Methods at the University of South Florida. The target audience for this book includes Ph.D. and graduate students, junior researchers, and professors teaching courses on research methods, although senior researchers can also use this book as a handy and compact reference.

Table of Contents
Introduction to Research

1. Science and Scientific Research
2. Thinking Like a Researcher
3. The Research Process
4. Theories in Scientific Research
Basics of Empirical Research

5. Research Design
6. Measurement of Constructs
7. Scale Reliability and Validity
8. Sampling
Data Collection

9. Survery Research
10. Experimental Research
11. Case Research
12. Interpretive Research
Data Analysis

13. Qualitative Analysis
14. Quantitative Analysis: Descriptive Statistics
15. Quantitative Analysis: Inferential Statistics
Epilogue

16. Research Ethics

This book is designed to introduce doctoral and graduate students to the process of scientific research in the social sciences, business, education, public health, and related disciplines. This book is based on my lecture materials developed over a decade of teaching the doctoral-level class on Research Methods at the University of South Florida. The target audience for this book includes Ph.D. and graduate students, junior researchers, and professors teaching courses on research methods, although senior researchers can also use this book as a handy and compact reference.

Introductory Sociology Course developed through the Ohio Department of Higher Education OER Innovation Grant. The course is part of the Ohio Transfer Module and is also named OSS021. For more information about credit transfer between Ohio colleges and universities, please visit: www.ohiohighered.org/transfer.