The Cambridge Handbook of Research Methods and Statistics for the Social and Behavioral Sciences is meant to be the most comprehensive and contemporary collection of topics related to research methods and statistics spanning these related yet extremely diverse fields of research. This second volume, Performing Research, provides researchers a vast array of tools to consider using in their research paradigms. Although each chapter has a separate focus, the chapters build upon one another to provide experienced and novice researchers alike the tools to engage in the highest-quality research possible.
Throughout these chapters, the leading researchers in a variety of disciplines seek to share their knowledge and experience in a way that is both accessible and useful. They do so by writing in a way that is both understandable to novice researchers but also deeply discusses the challenges related to each topic and provides new information to even the most highly experienced scientists. This volume begins with a discussion of the various ways researchers can access participants for quantitative research and the various strengths and weaknesses to each approach. This first part includes a modern discussion of participant pools, organizational-based research, and international research (and everything in-between).
The second part of this volume considers important methodological considerations in the design of the research. This section features in-depth discussions of reliability, validity, power, replication, and doing quality interdisciplinary research (among other topics). The third part pivots to topics that other volumes often presume a familiarity with in all researchers – the proper use of self-report measures. This section covers important considerations in the design of any self-report measure along with the concerns uniquely associated with questionnaire design.
The fourth part of the volume turns the focus to various behavioral measure approaches used by social and behavioral scientists. This section covers eyetracking, implicit, and reaction time-based measures that are incredibly useful for understanding human behavior. The fifth part changes the focus to physiological measures. This section features chapters looking at diverse topics such as EMG, hormones, and fMRI measures with a goal to familiarize the reader with the proper interpretation of these kinds of measures.
The final Part of Volume 2 turns to an explicit focus on qualitative measures. This expansive section considers all manner of qualitative data, from the analysis of open-ended survey items, to case studies, to pure observational data.
In all, these authors span over a dozen disciplines, many more countries, and have led groundbreaking world-class research paradigms. It is for this reason that we are confident in their ability to teach you and to help you progress in your career as a scientist.
