Concise Handbook of Experimental Methods for the Behavioral and Biological Sciences

Part One - Science: The Philosophy and Components PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE: THE SCIENTIFIC APPROACH TO KNOWLEDGE Philosophy and its Relationship to the Sciences Approaches to Knowledge Goals of Science Assumptions of Science Requirements of Scientific Observation FORMS OF SCIENTIFIC OBSERVATION AND RESEARCH Naturalistic Observation used in Descriptive Research Techniques of Naturalistic Observation used in Descriptive research Experimental Observation used in Explanatory / Experimental Research STEPS OF THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD Introduction Primary Steps Secondary Steps Problem Formulation (Step One of the Scientific Method) Hypothesis Formulation (Step Two of the Scientific Method) VARIABLES IN RESEARCH DESIGNS Design Construction (Step Three of the Scientific Method) Variables Principal Variables of Experiments Accuracy and Consistency of Variables Abstract Variables and Concrete Definitions Circular Reasoning INITIAL AND FINAL PHASES OF RESEARCH Literature Surveys Research Proposal Pilot Study Serendipity Research Report Part Two - Research Ethics and Experimental Control ETHICS OF RESEARCH Non-Participant Ethical Issues Human Participant Ethical Issues Animal Participant Ethical Issues CONTROL IN EXPERIMENTS: BASIC PRINCIPALS AND SOME TECHNIQUES Two Meanings of Experimental Control Forms of Extraneous Variables Concept of Variance and Good Experimental Designs General Sources of Variance Types of Variance Minimax Principals of Variance Maximizing the Primary Variance Making Equivalent the Secondary Variance: Some Techniques CONTROL IN EXPERIMENTS: ADDITIONAL TECHNIQUES AND PRINCIPLES Making Equivalent the Secondary Variance: More Techniques Minimizing the Error Variance Part Three - Design and Analysis of Experiments DESIGNS FOR EXPERIMENTS: INTRODUCTION AND WITHIN-PARTICIPANTS General Concepts and Principles Pre-Experimental Design Quasi-Experimental Designs Categories of Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs Within-Participants / Groups (Repeated-Measures) Designs DESIGNS FOR EXPERIMENTS: BETWEEN-PARTICIPANTS AND MULTIPLE TREATMENTS Between-Participants, Independent (Randomized), Two-Group Designs Between-Participants, Related/Matched/Correlated, Two-Group Designs Multiple Treatment Designs SAMPLING AND GENERALIZATION Definitions Fundamental Decisions When Selecting a Sample of Research Participants Statistics and Parameters Sampling Reliability Sampling Validity Generalization/ External Validity Concerns Sampling Techniques HYPOTHESIS TESTING AND STATISTICAL SIGNIFICANCE Types of Hypotheses Testing the Null Hypothesis: Two Possible Outcomes Proof versus Disproof: Certainty versus Support Potential Errors During Statistical Decision Making Researcher's Dilemma and the Chosen Level of Significance/Confidence Power/Sensitivity of Statistical Tests and Designs Sampling Distributions of Differences Between Pairs of Means Statistical Significance versus Practical Significance APPENDICES INDEX Note: Each chapter also includes a Review Summary and Review Questions