Acknowledgements vii

1. Introduction and How To Use This Book 1

2. Ethics 4

3. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder 15

Experiment - A Randomised Controlled Trial

4. Music and Stress 27

Experiment - A Matched Pairs Design

5. Competitive Anxiety 41

Experiment - A Repeated Measures Design

6. Change Blindness 51

Experiment - A Single Sample Design

7. Acoustic Preferences 67

Programme of Experiments - Animal Studies

8. Cognitive Costs of Racial Prejudice 83

Experiment - Unrelated Three-Factor Design, Between Groups and Between Conditions

9. Mate-Selection Strategies 96

Experiment - A Mixed Two-Factor Design, Within and Between Groups

10. The Autistic Spectrum 110

Structured Observation

11. Cognitive Maps 121

Clinical/Laboratory Observation

12. Eating Disorders and the Media 134

Observation - Quantitative Content Analysis

13. Eating Disorders: The Experience 146

Observation - Qualitative Content Analysis

14. Face Recognition 157

Observation - Clinical Case Study

15. Choices and Decisions 166

Survey Methods - Quantitative Questionnaire

16. Measuring Romance 181

Survey Methods - Scale Development

17. Paranoia 196

Survey Methods - Interview

18. Understanding Heavy Drinking 207

Survey Methods - Qualitative and Quantitative

19. Attributing Success and Failure 217

Cross-Cultural Study Using Mixed Methods

20. Contrasting the Methods 231

An Overview

Key Topics 246

BPS Ethical Principles for Conducting Research with Human Participants 268

Glossary 275

References 309

Index 320

"A practical and easy-to-read "how to" guide for all psychology students, especially those new to the field of experimental design and research methods. By teaching research methods via real life examples from current published literature, this book gives students a fresh look at the diversity of research. A must-have for all students just starting out on their psychology career paths."
-Claudia Dougall, second year Experimental Psychology student, University of Bristol

"This is a resource that will help combat research-methods teaching fatigue for both students and teachers alike."
-Jason Ellis, Associate Director of University of Glasgow Sleep Centre

"The attractive material in this innovative text guarantees that, from now on, the hours spent teaching and learning Research Methods will be a relaxed and enjoyable experience."
-Cris Izura, Swansea University

"In this book, Dr Sanders manages to deliver everything in an easy and approachable way. The book is clearly structured and attractively written and covers all the material I need for my course."
-Peter Ivak, second year Psychology student, University of Aberdeen, UK

"Lalage Sanders' book, Discovering Research Methods in Psychology, is something rare amongst research methods textbooks. So few books manage to capture the curiosity and intellectual enjoyment that some of us experience when reading and critically assessing research articles. So few authors really put research into context, and even fewer write in a style that can excite and reach out to the student. Dr Sanders writes enthusiastically and vibrantly, and produces something thoroughly worth reading. This book is an excellent vehicle for anyone who needs convincing why the seemingly dry concepts we have thrust upon us are totally essential to our world."
-Dr Mark Forshaw, Staffordshire University

Lalage Sanders is Principal Lecturer at the Cardiff School of Health Science, University of Wales Institute, Cardiff, U.K. She has authored more than 40 publications relating to lifestyle psychology and higher education research. She is also an Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society, a Chartered Health Psychologist, a Chartered Scientist, and a Fellow of the Higher Education Society. She co-edited Ambulatory Anaesthesia and Sedation: Impairment and Recovery, an example of how psychological research methods can be used in applied settings. She has been teaching research methods and statistics to university students since 1991.

L. Sanders, Cardiff Metropolitan University, UK