This chapter reviews methods to integrate hormones into theory and research in social and personality psychology. The advantages of hormones include identifying possible mechanisms that link the social environment to better physical and mental health; disadvantages include difficult psychological inference and multiple sources of variability. Three biological systems are reviewed, including the hypothalamic–pituitary axis, the hypothalamic–pituitary–gonadal axis, and neuropeptides, and six hormones are examined in depth. Following this review is a summary of the psychological and affective states most commonly linked to these hormones. The chapter then explores best measurement practices, important covariates, and temporal factors, including basal states, diurnal fluctuations, and reactivity, followed by how to measure, analyze, and interpret hormone data. It concludes with topics from social and personality psychology that profitably leverage hormonal data to advance theoretical and empirical research, including intergroup interactions, power and status, values, and emotions and affect.

Field research refers to research conducted with a high degree of naturalism. The first part of this chapter provides a definition of field research and discusses advantages and limitations. We then provide a brief overview of observational field research methods, followed by an in-depth overview of experimental field research methods. We discuss randomization schemes of different types in field experimentation, such as cluster randomization, block randomization, and randomized rollout or waitlist designs, as well as statistical implementation concerns when conducting field experiments, including spillover, attrition, and noncompliance. The second part of the chapter provides an overview of important considerations when conducting field research. We discuss the psychology of construal in the design of field research, conducting non-WEIRD field research, replicability and generalizability, and how technological advances have impacted field research. We end by discussing career considerations for psychologists who want to get involved in field research.

This introductory chapter was invited to serve the role of inspiring young people in social and personality psychology about research methods. I wrote it in a personal voice, telling stories and offering opinions about (a) the joy of doing research, (b) the challenges of doing research on “concepts” rather than visible things like cells and atoms, and (c) the importance of methods alongside theory – specifically an argument against the “theory-first” and “theory-as-all-important” view.

The purpose of this chapter is to review the contemporary methods used to collect and examine data on social media and to explore the common pitfalls of internet research. The discussion focuses on the importance of internet research while also reviewing common practices of data retrieval (e.g., crowdsourcing and snowball sampling). We will also explain a commonly used tool to analyze data collected using social media. Specifically, one section is dedicated to the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count software (LIWC); another section focuses on a brief overview of machine learning (ML) techniques and data visualization. At the end of the chapter, we will also examine some common ethical concerns, focusing mainly on anonymity and privacy, while also giving a general overview on the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Future directions for social media will then be addressed.

Welcome to the third edition of the Handbook of Research Methods in Social and Personality Psychology. The first two editions of this handbook – published in 2000 and 2014 – have played an important role in widening access to and utilization of cutting-edge methods in the field. Useful as these volumes have been, the science of personality/social psychology never sleeps when it comes to developing new and improved research methods. And so herewith we present a third edition, designed to capture some of the most influential and promising new methodological advances in our field.

This edition covers both traditional methodological topics that have seen advances in recent years and novel approaches of recent vintage. There are, of course, many other topics that could have been included. We’ve chosen content that we believe will be most relevant to the largest proportion of new scholars in the field.

Registered Reports provide one way to address shortcomings in the current way we manage research – from the design of studies to their publication. The format requires pre-specifying (1) why a design may crucially test a theory, (2) what auxiliary assumptions are required for the experiment to be such a test, (3) what outcome-neutral tests are required to test those assumptions, (4) what specific crucial tests will be used to test the theory (of the many tests that could be used), and (5) why those tests could provide evidence for no effect of interest given the proposed numbers of trials and participants. Reviewers and authors are then constructively involved in optimizing the study before it is performed. The agreement between reviewers and authors, as adjudicated by the editors, defines, in advance, the proposed method and analytic protocol, virtually guaranteeing acceptance of the paper, no matter what position, if any, the results support. In this chapter, I go through what problems the format solves and why it must be approached in a way that is little understood by people coming to it for the first time. Common pitfalls are also discussed. In all, the paper provides a roadmap for how readers, authors, and editors can approach Registered Reports.

This chapter discusses social-cognitive domain theory (SCDT) as a theoretical lens for studying parental monitoring and adolescents’ information management. Theoretical concepts are presented, social cognitive domains are defined, and research applying SCDT to parenting and adolescent information management is reviewed. Research on various beliefs (parental authority legitimacy, parents’ right to know about adolescents’ behaviors, adolescents’ obligations to disclose to and obey parents) and adolescents’ reasons for disclosing and concealing information are discussed and related to adolescents’ disclosure and nondisclosure. Distinctions are drawn between issues that are legitimately regulated by parents (i.e. moral, conventional, prudential issues) and those viewed as personal prerogatives and essential to autonomy and identity development. Developmental changes, cultural variations, and parent-adolescent discrepancies in beliefs are discussed, and explanations are considered for observed discrepancies between youth’s beliefs about obligations to disclose their risky behaviors and involvement in those behaviors. The chapter concludes with directions for future research.

This chapter is concerned with reliability as a key indicator of measurement quality in behavioral and social science research. It commences with a discussion of the basics and a definition of the reliability coefficient. The following section deals with the meaning, interpretation, and utility of the reliability concept. Subsequently, the focus is on the evaluation of reliability as well as its discrepancy from the popular coefficient alpha that has been widely used for a number of decades as an index related to reliability. The large-sample behavior of the alpha and scale reliability estimates is then discussed, as is the relationship between the reliability coefficient and that of standardized reliability. The conclusion points out the limitations of the procedures for reliability evaluation discussed in the chapter.

The two statistical approaches commonly used in the analysis of dyadic and group data, multilevel modeling and structural equation modeling, are reviewed. Next considered are three different models for dyadic data, focusing mostly on the very popular actor–partner interdependence model (APIM). We further consider power analyses for the APIM as well as the partition of nonindependence. We then present an overview of the analysis of over-time dyadic data, considering growth-curve models, the stability-and-influence model, and the over-time APIM. After that, we turn to group data and focus on considerations of the analysis of group data using multilevel modeling, including a discussion of the social relations model, which is a model of dyadic data from groups of persons. The final topic concerns measurement equivalence of constructs across members of different types in dyadic and group studies.

A quasi-experiment is a type of study that attempts to mimic the objectives and structure of traditional (randomized) experiments. However, quasi-experiments differ from experiments in that condition assignment is randomized in experiments whereas it is not randomized in quasi-experiments. This chapter reviews conceptual, methodological, and practical issues that arise in the design, implementation, and interpretation of quasi-experiments. The chapter begins by highlighting similarities and differences between quasi-experiments, randomized experiments, and nonexperimental studies. Next, it provides a framework for discussion of the relative strengths and weaknesses of different study types. The chapter then discusses traditional threats to causal inferences when conducting studies of different types and reviews the most common quasi-experimental designs and how they attempt to reach accurate assessments of the causal impact of independent variables. The chapter concludes with a discussion of how quasi-experiments might be integrated with studies of other types to produce richer insights.

We review work on disclosure to others about one’s chronic illness condition and challenges in the management of illnesses, focusing on the period of adolescence and emerging adulthood. Adolescents and young adults with a chronic illness who self-disclose to others (beyond parents) that they have a chronic illness are often quite strategic as to how much to disclose and to whom. We then review work on routine disclosures about challenges in the management of chronic illnesses that often occur between parents and adolescents and young adults and romantic partners that can elicit support. We focus our treatment on the illness context of type 1 diabetes, as there is little research on routine disclosure with other illness conditions. We conclude by linking this work to broader models of disclosures for health decisions, recommend that interventions that ease the burden of disclosure may be beneficial, and suggest directions for future research.

This chapter argues that research-focused social and behavioral scientists also need to be good research technicians. This statement reflects the belief that this technical skill is needed because an accurate understanding of the social and behavioral sciences depends crucially on the use of valid measures of variables that are of interest and importance. The chapter also argues that the establishment of measurement validity is not an easy task, requiring researchers to gather evidence for measurement validity diligently, persistently, and constantly. Described in the chapter are some ways in which such evidence can be obtained and some of the pitfalls that confront researchers when they evaluate their evidence.

Parents commonly induce feelings of guilt and shame in adolescents as part of the socialization process. Preliminary evidence indicates that parental guilt induction and shaming are associated with less routine disclosure and greater secrecy among adolescents. However, little research has explored these associations, and it has focused entirely on psychologically controlling forms of guilt induction. The present chapter highlights distinctions between parental guilt induction and shaming, including their overlap with related constructs such as parental psychological control and inductive discipline. We then outline empirical and conceptual links between parental guilt induction or shaming and adolescent information management, focusing on how these associations likely depend on the extent to which the parenting practice feels psychologically controlling to youth. As part of this discussion, we highlight individual, cultural, relational, and situational factors that may impact these perceptions and associations. We end with suggestions for future research in this area.