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Preface

Methods in Behavioral Research guides students toward success by helping them

study smarter and more efficiently. Supported by SmartBook®, McGraw Hill’s
adaptive and personalized reading experience, this Fifteenth Edition provides
helpful pedagogy, rich examples, and a clear voice in its approach to methodologi-
cal decision making.
In this Fifteenth Edition, we strive for an accessible presentation and continue
looking for opportunities to drive home foundational concepts and reinforce stu-
dents’ understanding of the material. We have reimagined end-of-chapter content.
We chose concepts that students have traditionally found most challenging and
designed exercises that ask them to reflect, recall, and organize the material. We
have also aligned with the Publication Manual of the American Psychological
Association (7th ed.). Focused organization combined with clear and direct writing
remains a hallmark of Methods in Behavioral Research. Chapters follow the arc of
a research investigation, from planning through conducting and presenting.

ORGANIZATION
Methods in Behavioral Research moves carefully through the major concepts in
behavioral research, from the foundations of scientific study through practical
issues in research design and implementation.
“Scientific Understanding of Behavior” grounds students in the scientific
approach, emphasizing the distinction between basic and applied research. “Where
to Start” discusses sources of ideas for research and the importance of library
research. “Ethics in Behavioral Research” focuses on research ethics; ethical
issues are covered in depth here and emphasized throughout the book. “Funda-
mental Research Issues” introduces validity and examines psychological variables
and the distinction between experimental and nonexperimental approaches to
studying relationships among variables. “Measurement Concepts” focuses on mea-
surement issues, including reliability and validity. Nonexperimental research
approaches—including naturalistic observation, case studies, and content analysis—
are described in “Observational Methods.” “Asking People About Themselves:
Survey Research” covers sampling as well as the design of questionnaires and
interviews. “Experimental Design” and “Conducting Experiments” present the
basics of designing and conducting experiments. Factorial designs are emphasized
in “Complex Experimental Designs.” “Single-Case, Quasi-Experimental, and
xvi Preface

Developmental Research” discusses the designs for special applications: single-

case experimental designs, developmental research designs, and quasi-experimental
designs. “Understanding Research Results: Description and Correlation” and
“Understanding Research Results: Statistical Inference” focus on the use of
statistics to help students understand research results. These chapters include
material on effect size and confidence intervals. Finally, “Generalization” dis-
cusses external validity, meta-analyses, open science, and the importance of
replications.

FEATURES
Methods in Behavioral Research includes the following features to enhance learning:

NEW! APA Style Resources. New, easy-to-use guides on APA style

­formatting for the title page, page and section format, citations, and
the ­reference page. The title page guide includes both professional
and student versions. The citations guide includes how-to guides for
many common ­in-text and parenthetical citations as well as formats
for commonly used sources. The page and section guide guides students
through APA headers, font choices, margins, and running heads. The
reference page guide includes global formatting as well as source-level
formatting.
NEW! Sample Paper. A new, fully annotated sample paper—written by
an undergraduate researcher—provides an accessible example of good APA
style. Annotation points to common questions and common misperceptions
and connects students back to the APA Style Resources sections for additional
information. The new sample paper and annotations were designed to be
easy to use in both e-book and print formats.
Engaging with Research. This feature has been refined to include authors
from diverse backgrounds and topic-of-study that reflect the diversity of
the behavioral sciences. These boxes include published journal articles with
questions and exercises designed to focus on chapter-related material. In
addition, the articles help students become familiar with the structure and
language of journal articles in psychology. Most important, we have provided
links to online copies of the articles whenever possible.
Being a Skilled Consumer of Research. These exercises are designed to
get students out of the textbook and out of their classrooms and into the
broader world in which we all move. These exercises ask students to look
at examples of research—such as studies on the predictors of happiness and
the causes and effects of sitting in the front of the classroom—to compare
what they’ve learned in class or the text with what they see. Applying the
concepts they have learned will help them expand their understanding of
the content.
 Preface xvii

Fully updated according to the Publication Manual of the American

Psychological Association (7th ed.): This edition includes and supports
new guidelines on ethical and bias-free writing, adopts the new standard
for in-text citations, updates rules for manuscript formatting, and adopts
the APA’s final resolution to the eternal question: One space or two after
a period? (Answer: One!)
Check Your Learning: Practice Exercises. In previous editions, these
Check Your Learning boxes were placed within the body of the chapter.
We learned that students often found this placement distracting and
­preferred to be able to control when to complete the exercises. Feature
includes an in-text callout to place the content; the actual exercises and
answers are at the end of the chapter.
Solid pedagogy. Each chapter opens with a set of learning objectives that serve
as reading guides and ends with a review of major concepts and key terms.
Practical examples. Thought-provoking examples help students interpret
challenging concepts and complex research designs. For instance, the concept
of diversity of ideas is examined through the lens of biases regarding rap
music, and theory article formats are introduced by discussion of a recent
study on suicide.
Emphasis on decision-making. Distinguishing among a variety of research
designs helps students understand when to use one type of design over another.

FLEXIBLE
Chapters are designed to work independently, so that they can be adapted to any
curriculum or syllabus. Sections are clearly defined, and relevant practice e­ xercises
are called out within each, making it easy to reorder or skip topics.
In addition, two appendices related to communicating research findings and
conducting statistical analyses can be used at any time throughout the course.
Appendix A includes an annotated version of a published paper and provides firm
instructions for organizing research. Appendix B includes a bank of statistical tests
that can be applied to a variety of research designs.

Methods in Behavioral Research is available to instructors and students in tradi-

tional print format as well as online within McGraw Hill Connect, a digital assignment
and assessment platform. Connect includes assignable and assessable videos, quizzes,
exercises, and interactive activities, all associated with learning objectives for
Methods in Behavioral Research. These online tools make managing assignments
easier for instructors, and learning and studying more motivating and efficient for
students.
xviii Preface

Power of Process, available in Connect for Research Methods, guides students

through the process of critical reading, analysis, and writing. Faculty can select
or upload their own content, such as journal articles, and assign analysis strategies
to gain insight into students’ application of the scientific method. For students,
Power of Process offers a guided visual approach to exercising critical thinking
strategies to apply before, during, and after reading published research.

A PERSONALIZED EXPERIENCE THAT LEADS

TO IMPROVED LEARNING AND RESULTS
Students study more effectively with Connect and SmartBook. How many students
think they know everything about introductory psychology, but struggle on the
first exam?
With more than a decade of collecting data from billions of questions answered
across 90+ disciplines, we’ve learned a lot about adaptive learning’s impact on
student performance. We’ve created a secure space for learning that balances
intentional rigor with the freedom to make mistakes. This is an environment that
develops self-awareness through meaningful, immediate feedback that improves
student success. SmartBook builds on our market-leading technology with
enhanced capabilities that deliver a more personalized, productive, and accessible
learning experience for students and instructors.
SmartBook helps students study more efficiently by highlighting what to
focus on in the chapter, asking review questions, and directing them to resources
until they understand. SmartBook creates a personalized study path customized
to individual student needs, continually adapting to pinpoint knowledge gaps
and focus learning on concepts requiring additional study. By taking the guess-
work out of what to study, SmartBook fosters more productive learning and
helps students better prepare for class. With SmartBook, instructors have the
flexibility to tailor assignments to their courses. Pick the topics, depth of cover-
age, or even the length of time students spend on an assignment. SmartBook
assignments can help students build foundational knowledge, while review
assignments can focus on multiple chapters or previously assigned concepts to
help students prepare for exams.
With McGraw Hill’s free ReadAnywhere app, students can read or study when
it’s convenient for them—anytime, anywhere. Available for iOS or Android
 Preface xix

smartphones or tablets, ReadAnywhere gives users access to McGraw Hill tools,

including the eBook and SmartBook in Connect. Students can take notes, highlight,
and complete assignments offline, and their work will sync when they open the
app with WiFi access. SmartBook also provides a more accessible student experi-
ence with improved color contrast, descriptions for images, increased keyboard
navigation, and enhanced screen reader support. Work is ongoing to improve the
user experience for all.

POWERFUL REPORTING
Whether a class is face-to-face, hybrid, or entirely online, McGraw Hill Connect
provides the tools needed to reduce the amount of time and energy instructors
spend administering their courses. Easy-to-use course management tools allow
instructors to spend less time administering and more time teaching, while reports
allow students to monitor their progress and optimize their study time.
■
The At-Risk Student Report provides instructors with one-click access to a
dashboard that identifies students who are at risk of dropping out of the
course due to low engagement levels.
■
The Category Analysis Report details student performance relative to
specific learning objectives and goals, including APA learning goals and
outcomes and levels of Bloom’s taxonomy.
■
The SmartBook Reports allow instructors and students to easily monitor
progress and pinpoint areas of weakness, giving each student a personalized
study plan to achieve success.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Achieve simplicity in assigning and engaging your students with course materials.
Craft your teaching resources to match the way you teach! With McGraw Hill
Create, you can easily rearrange chapters, combine material from other content
sources, and quickly upload content you have written, such as your course syllabus
or teaching notes. Find the content you need in Create by searching through
thousands of leading McGraw Hill textbooks. Arrange your book to fit your teach-
ing style. Create even allows you to personalize your book’s appearance by select-
ing the cover and adding your name, school, and course information. Order a
Create book and you’ll receive a complimentary electronic review copy (eComp)
via email in about an hour. Experience how McGraw Hill Create empowers you
to teach your students your way: http://create.mheducation.com
xx Preface

CONTENT CHANGES IN THE FIFTEENTH EDITION

The Fifteenth Edition of Methods in Behavioral Research reflects global and
specific chapter level changes.

Global changes
■
We’ve adopted APA’s inclusive language guidelines.
■
We engage with diversity, equity, and inclusion in examples.
■
We cite research conducted with diverse populations and researchers from
diverse backgrounds.
■
Engaging with Research was refined to include authors from diverse
backgrounds and topics of study that reflect the diversity of the behavioral
sciences.
■
Appendix A was significantly revised to focus on usability for students: new
sections related to APA style (7th edition) were created, and a new sample
paper was designed to connect students to APA style guidelines and help
them learn effective APA style writing.
■
Being a Skilled Consumer of Research was refined to specifically enhance
critical thinking skills.

Chapter 1
■
“Being a Skilled Consumer of Research” has been revised to include eight
key questions to help students evaluate “any research study that will reveal a
lot about how much the study should be trusted.”
■
Repositioned “Engaging with Research” chapter-ending features are explained
in chapter 1 and align with the eight questions to ask of a study to be a
Being a Skilled Consumer of Research.
■
The new “Engaging with Research” chapter feature is a study of ethnic
variation in gratitude and well-being, and asks students to evaluate this study
using the eight questions that lead to being a skilled consumer of research.

Chapter 2
■
Analysis of the impact of the pandemic on research and academic
conferences.
■
A new key example related to Latina identity safety in STEM environments
anchors the chapter.

Chapter 3
■
Discussion on how exploitation of minority groups in research has
contributed to COVID-19 vaccine resistance.
 Preface xxi

■
Explanation of the informed consent procedure used in the Milgram study,
which allowed for participants to withdraw at any time without penalty.
■
Description of the Greenspan and Loftus (2021) study on misinformation and
“enhanced debriefing.”
■
Examination of “debriefing” as a researcher’s obligation to treat participants
with dignity and respect.
■
Significantly revised section on Research with Nonhuman Animal Subjects.

Chapter 4
■
Several new examples, including Schreer’s 2009 study of how Black
customers were subject to suspicion in a customer scenario, Weijers and de
Koning’s 2021 study of how subjects reacted to varying reminders to sanitize
hands. Guntzviller et al. 2020 found that stress is related to poor mental
health among young adult Hispanics and that social support can help
mitigate the effects of stress.
■
Expanded discussion of predictive validity, with the construct of “grit” as an
example.
■
New Engaging with Research study examining workplace discrimination
using a “lost email” experiment (Agerström et al., 2021).

Chapter 5
■
A new section, Measurement Validity: For Whom, focuses on measurement
validity across populations in an effort to draw attention to measurement
biases that intersect with the diversity of study populations.

Chapter 6
■
A significantly revised section introducing qualitative and quantitative
approaches.
■
Discussion of the Goodrum et al. 2021 study using mixed-methods research
design to study what happens after mothers diagnosed with HIV disclose
their HIV status to their children.
■
A new section on Sampling Behaviors and Experiences describes the
Experience Sampling Method (ESM) and Day Reconstruction Method (DRM).
■
Description of the Halstead et al. 2021 study on PTSD resulting from racial
discrimination and sexual abuse during childhood.
■
Definition of psychobiography as a case study in which the researcher
applies psychological theory to explain the life of a historical figure.
■
Discussion of Stout et al. 2020 study that tried two different mentors for
recruiting Black and non-Hispanic White older adults for research
investigation on Alzheimer’s disease.
xxii Preface

■
Explanation of the National Longitudinal Mortality Study as a database for
studying the effects of demographic and socioeconomic characteristics on
mortality rates.
■
New examples of archival research studies using written, audio, and video
records: Kruspe et al. (2020), who analyzed Twitter messages during the first
months of the COVID-19 pandemic; Corbett and Savarimuthu (2022), who
analyzed 6,528 tweets about sustainable energy; Trivedi et al. (2021), who
examined suicide prevention using Google-search trends; and Lewis et al.
(2020), who analyzed the content of books for young children to detect and
quantify gender biases.
■
The new Engaging with Research study examines meal service and feeding
practices among Mexican American fathers and mothers (Penilla et al., 2022).

Chapter 7
■
Updated section on using pictorial scales in behavioral research.
■
New information on conducting surveys in large randomly selected samples,
especially online, and the Pew Research Center’s American Trends Panel.
■
Discussion of the McBride et al. (2021) study on the impact of concerns
about climate change on psychological well-being.
■
Explanation of convenience samples through online participant recruitment
services such as Amazon Mechanical Turk and Prolific.
■
The new “Engaging with Research” study examines the effects of COVID-19
on U.S. college students’ mental health (Son et al., 2020).

Chapter 8
■
Discussion of education reform, especially emphasis on STEM and the
Educational Robotics approach and its impact on cognitive development.
■
A new example of the Solomon four-group design studied the effect of an
intervention to promote responsible substance use, safe sex, and other
positive behaviors in a diverse sample of 18- to 24-year-olds experiencing
homelessness (Rew et al. 2022).
■
Debate on the manipulation check as a potential demand characteristic that
alerts subjects to the study’s purpose.
■
The new Engaging with Research study examines executive functions in
5- and 6-year-old typically developing children through educational robotics
in a randomized control trial study (Di Lieto et al., 2020).

Chapter 9
■
Examination of the methods used to study memory and cognition, including
the Cushing and Bodner 2022 study on improving proofreading accuracy.
 Preface xxiii

■
Hies and Lewis (2022) used a face database to obtain stimuli for a study on
perceptions of people wearing masks during the COVID pandemic.
■
Forrin et al. (2021) studied whether and how the behavior of one student in
a learning situation might affect the behavior of another. They proposed that
inattention (or attention) to learning could spread, a phenomenon called
“attention contagion.”
■
Randall et al. (2017) investigated weight discrimination in a field experiment
conducted on a college campus.
■
Wang et al. (2021) used a technology called the Contain Intelligent Facial
Expression Recognition System (CIFERS) to explore real-time emotions (joy
and anxiety) of college students.
■
De Vita et al. (2021) conducted research to examine the pain-reducing
effects of cannabidiol (CBD) and determine the degree to which observed
pain reduction is due to the effects of CBD as opposed to the psychological
expectancies associated with this substance.
■
Introduction of the “examiner” expectancy effect using the Sodos et al. 2018
study in which examiners first rated whether or not they believed an
examinee was a cannabis user.
■
Discussion of the debate about the use of manipulation checks (Ejelöv and
Luke, 2020; Hauser et al., 2018). One concern is that the manipulation check
might serve as a demand characteristic, alerting subjects to the purpose of
the study.
■
A new section on Open Science and Preregistration.
■
The new Engaging with Research study examines Instagram influencer
posts using eye-tracking technology to see how specific tags on posts
(#ad versus #sponsored) would impact people’s visual attention to those
ads (Klein et al., 2020).

Chapter 10
■
A new example of a mixed factorial design. Pan et al. (2020), for example,
were interested in identifying factors that might help college students pay
attention to the material presented in a recorded lecture.
■
A new Engaging with Research study reported on an experiment with
Instagram users in the United States to test whether hiding “likes” would
affect the users’ mood and loneliness (Wallace and Buil, 2020).

Chapter 11
■
Enhanced discussion of the ex post facto design and selection differences
that can arise.
■
Discussion of the Rathje et al. (2021) study on empathy
xxiv Preface

■
The new Engaging with Research Study (Aurino et al., 2020) reported on a
longitudinal study of children in Ghana, in sub-Saharan Africa.

Chapter 12
■
Significantly revised section on multiple correlation and regression.
■
A new section on mediating and moderating variables.
■
A revised section on advanced statistics that creates a gentle introduction to
the more sophisticated statistical approaches that students see in recently
published work.

Chapter 14
■
A deeply revised section on Generalizing Across People that focuses on
identities (including sex, gender, sexual orientation, race, and ethnicity) and
culture, threats to external validity.
■
A deeply revised section on Generalizing Across Situations focuses
on research conducted in a laboratory setting and researcher expectancy
effects.
■
A new example of meta-analysis that examined the effectiveness of
psychotherapy delivered remotely for children and adolescents (Venturo-
Conerly et al., 2022).
■
A new book-ending section, Using Research to Improve Lives, frames the
behavioral sciences in terms of “There is a lot of work left to do” and our
hope that students “feel more prepared to do it.”
■
The new Engaging with Research study investigated the experiences of
economically disadvantaged mothers during the COVID-19 pandemic
(Haskett et al., 2022).

Appendix A
■
Updated and aligned with the Publication Manual of the American
Psychological Association (7th ed.).
■
An enhanced organization designed to provide useful and accessible
resources for students as they learn to write in APA style.
■
The section Avoiding Biased Language now refers to the APA Inclusive
Language Guidelines (APA, 2021b).
■
A new annotated sample paper—written by an undergraduate—provides an
accessible example of good APA style.
■
New APA Style Resources pages provide students will easy-to-use
guidance on the title page, page and section format, citations, and the
reference page.
 Preface xxv

INSTRUCTOR RESOURCES
Methods in Behavioral Research also includes the following instructor resources:

Instructor’s Manual: Designed to provide a wide variety of resources for

presenting the course, the instructor’s manual includes learning objectives,
ideas for lectures and discussions, laboratory demonstrations, and activities
aligned specifically to facilitate a clearer knowledge of research methods.
Test Bank: By increasing the rigor of the test bank development process,
McGraw Hill has raised the bar for student assessment. A coordinated team of
subject-matter experts methodically vetted each question and each set of possible
answers for accuracy, clarity, and effectiveness. Each question is further anno-
tated for level of page difficulty, Bloom’s taxonomy, APA learning outcomes,
and corresponding coverage in the text. Structured by chapter, the questions are
designed to test students’ conceptual, applied, and factual understanding.
Test Builder: New to this edition and available within Connect, Test Builder
is a cloud-based tool that enables instructors to format tests that can be
printed or administered within a Learning Management System. Test
Builder offers a modern, streamlined interface for easy content configura-
tion that matches course needs, without requiring a download.

Test Builder enables instructors to:

■
Access all test bank content from a particular title
■
Easily pinpoint the most relevant content through robust filtering options
■
Manipulate the order of questions or scramble questions and / or answers
■
Pin questions to a specific location within a test
■
Determine your preferred treatment of algorithmic questions
■
Choose the layout and spacing
■
Add instructions and configure default settings

Lecture Presentation: Accessibility compliant, PowerPoint slides are pro-

vided that present key points of the chapter, along with supporting visuals.
All of the slides can be modified to meet individual needs.
Image Gallery: The complete set of figures and tables from the text are
available for download and can be easily embedded into PowerPoint slides.
Remote proctoring and browser-locking capabilities: Hosted by Proctorio
within Connect, remote proctoring provides control of the assessment envi-
ronment by enabling security options and verifying the identity of the student.
Seamlessly integrated within Connect, these services allow instructors to
control students’ assessment experience by restricting browser activity,
recording students’ activity, and verifying students are doing their own
work. Instant and detailed reporting gives instructors an at-a-glance view
xxvi Preface

of potential academic integrity concerns, thereby avoiding personal bias and

supporting evidence-based claims.
Writing Assignment: The Writing Assignment tool delivers a learning expe-
rience to help students improve their written communication skills and con-
ceptual understanding. As an instructor you can assign, monitor, grade, and
provide feedback on writing more efficiently and effectively

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Many individuals helped to produce this and previous editions of this book. The
portfolio manager at McGraw Hill was Jason Seitz; we are also indebted to the
editors of previous editions, Franklin Graham, Ken King, Mike Sugarman, and
Krista Bettino, for their guidance. We are extremely grateful for the input from
numerous students and instructors:
Marina Bornovalova Suzanne Helfer
University of South Florida Adrian College
Kristy Boyce Charles M. Huffman
The Ohio State University Georgia Southwestern State University
Blaine Browne Christopher Howard
Valdosta State University Husson University
Robert Christman Ashley Jordan
Mohawk Valley Community College University of Arizona
Emily Cohen-Shikora Ruthellen Josselson
Washington University at St. Louis Society for Qualitative Inquiry in
Paul Curran Psychology The Fielding
Grand Valley State University Graduate University
Robert O. Deaner Jeff Kibler
Grand Valley State University Nova Southeastern University
Christopher Dickinson Cecile Lardon
Appalachian State University University of Alaska Fairbanks
Melanie Domenech Rodríguez Mindy Ma
Utah State University Nova Southeastern University
Dana S. Dunn Hajime Otani
Moravian College Central Michigan University
Mario Fific Mary K. Radeke
Grand Valley State University Central Washington University
Stephen Gabbard Theodore M. Singelis
Wright State University, Dayton California State University, Chico
Leslie A. Gill Lynda Villaneuva
Eastern New Mexico University University of Houston
About the Authors

Paul C. Cozby is Emeritus Professor of Psychology at California State University,

Fullerton. Dr. Cozby was an undergraduate at the University of California, Riverside,
and received his PhD in psychology from the University of Minnesota. He is a
fellow of the American Psychological Association and a member of the Association
for Psychological Science. He served as an officer of the Society for Computers
in Psychology and as Executive Officer of the Western Psychological Association.
He is the author of Using Computers in the Behavioral Sciences and co-editor
with Daniel Perlman of Social Psychology.
Scott C. Bates is a Professor and Department Head of the Psychology Department
at Utah State University in Logan, Utah. He earned a BS in Psychology from
Whitman College, an MS in Psychology from Western Washington University,
and a PhD in social psychology from Colorado State University. His research
interests and experiences are varied. He has conducted research in areas as wide-
ranging as adolescent problem behavior and problem-behavior prevention, teaching
and learning in higher education, and the psychological consequences of growing
and tending plants in outer space.
We are always interested in receiving comments and suggestions from students
and instructors. Please email us at scott.bates@usu.edu or cozby@fullerton.edu.