Table Of ContentEVALUATING RESEARCH
METHODS IN PSYCHOLOGY
For Romy
EVALUATING
RESEARCH
METHODS IN
PSYCHOLOGY
A CASE STUDY APPROACH
GEORGE DUNBAR
© 2005 by George Dunbar
A BPS Blackwell book
BLACKWELL PUBLISHING
350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148-5020, USA
9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK
550 Swanston Street, Carlton, Victoria 3053, Australia
The right of George Dunbar to be identified as the Author of this Work has
been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act
1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by the
UK Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988, without the prior permission of
the publisher.
First published 2005 by The British Psychological Society and Blackwell
Publishing Ltd
1 2005
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Dunbar, George (George L.)
Evaluating research methods in psychology : a case study approach /
George Dunbar.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-1-4051-2074-6 (hard cover : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 1-4051-2074-6 (hard cover : alk. paper)
ISBN-13: 978-1-4051-2075-3 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 1-4051-2075-4 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Psychology – Research – Methodology. 2. Psychology – Research –
Case studies. I. Title.
BF76.5.D85 2005
150'.72–dc22
2004029159
A catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
Set in 10.5/12.5pt Photina
by Graphicraft Ltd., Hong Kong
Printed and bound in the United Kingdom
by TJ International, Padstow, Cornwall
The publisher’s policy is to use permanent paper from mills that operate a
sustainable forestry policy, and which has been manufactured from pulp
processed using acid-free and elementary chlorine-free practices. Furthermore,
the publisher ensures that the text paper and cover board used have met
acceptable environmental accreditation standards.
For further information on
BPS Blackwell, visit our website:
www.bpsblackwell.co.uk
The British Psychological Society’s free Research Digest e-mail service rounds
up the latest research and relates it to your syllabus in a user-friendly way.
To subscribe go to www.researchdigest.org.uk or send a blank e-mail to
[email protected]
CONTENTS
List of Case Studies vi
List of Solutions viii
Preface xi
1. Evidence in Psychology 1
2. Case Studies 27
3. Solutions 97
4. Recap 155
Cross-reference Chart 158
Glossary 160
References 170
Index 176
CASE STUDIES
1. The mentality of apes 27
2. Are older people less likely to misplace things? 29
3. Do women have better memories than men? 30
4. Are people in the United KAinllgiedom smarter than
they were five years ago? 31
5. Does graphology work? 31
6. Is the selective modification model refuted? 32
7. Is the F-scale a valid questionnaire? 34
8. Does repression cause psychological illness? 37
9. Did his mother’s unconscious wish make Willie
a violent man? 40
10. Does memory fade because of the sheer passage of
time? 41
11. Is disgust responsible for some phobias? 43
12. Have feelings of disgust evolved from a need to avoid
disease? 44
13. Does the smell of old people cheer you up? 45
14. Can positive emotions repair negative feelings? 47
15. Do vignettes help us understand the experience of
drug users’ families? 49
16. Is the “Draw a Figure Test” a valid measure of sexual
abuse? 50
17. Do different kinds of mathematics teaching cause
differences between Japanese and American children
on mathematics tests? 51
18. Do mothers cause referential and expressive language
learning styles? 53
19. Do infants think an object that disappears has ceased
to exist? 54
CASE STUDIES vii
20. Can infants add and subtract? 55
21. Do children under 2 years old try to influence other
people’s minds? 57
22. Can talking to someone who is less racist influence
prejudice? 58
23. Do 4-year-old children believe a person’s race cannot
change as the person grows into an adult? 60
24. Can personality predict who will have a driving
accident? 63
25. Do violent video games make people aggressive? 64
26. Can playing action video games improve your
attention skills? 65
27. Can people scan a scene more efficiently by ignoring
the locations of objects they have already examined? 66
28. Does word frequency mainly affect the efficiency of
processing after the word has been identified? 67
29. Do the first and last letters of a word provide special
information that helps a reader perceive the word? 69
30. How do people understand ambiguous words? 72
31. Did watching a play improve attitudes towards
speeding? 75
32. Does DDAT treatment work? 75
33. Can it be ethical to eat your participants? 77
34. The Burt affair 80
35. Do people from northern England have lower IQs
than people from southern England? 81
36. The Flynn Effect: Is each generation more intelligent
than the last? 81
37. Do race differences in IQ imply that immigration to
the United States will lead to more social problems? 82
38. Is sexual reorientation therapy effective? 85
39. Can a medium contact the dead? 87
40. Does alcohol make people of the opposite sex look
prettier? 88
41. Do inexperienced football players perform cognitive
tasks better when they are tired? 89
42. Are decisions about penalty kicks influenced by
earlier decisions the referee has made? 91
43. Is Susie more likely to move to Sussex than Durham? 92
44. Are people more hostile towards immigrants because
they perceive their presence as a threat? 95
SOLUTIONS
1. The mentality of apes 97
2. Are older people less likely to misplace things? 97
3. Do women have better memories than men? 99
4. Are people in the United Kingdom smarter than
they were five years ago? 99
5. Does graphology work? 100
6. Is the selective modification model refuted? 101
7. Is the F-scale a valid questionnaire? 102
8. Does repression cause psychological illness? 104
9. Did his mother’s unconscious wish make Willie
a violent man? 105
10. Does memory fade because of the sheer passage of
time? 106
11. Is disgust responsible for some phobias? 107
12. Have feelings of disgust evolved from a need to avoid
disease? 109
13. Does the smell of old people cheer you up? 112
14. Can positive emotions repair negative feelings? 113
15. Do vignettes help us to understand the experience of
drug users’ families? 114
16. Is the “Draw a Figure Test” a valid measure of sexual
abuse? 114
17. Do different kinds of mathematics teaching cause
differences between Japanese and American children
on mathematics tests? 115
18. Do mothers cause referential and expressive language
learning styles? 117
19. Do infants think an object that disappears has ceased
to exist? 117
SOLUTIONS ix
20. Can infants add and subtract? 118
21. Do children under 2 years old try to influence other
people’s minds? 119
22. Can talking to someone who is less racist influence
prejudice? 120
23. Do 4-year-old children believe a person’s race cannot
change as the person grows into an adult? 124
24. Can personality predict who will have a driving
accident? 125
25. Do violent video games make people aggressive? 126
26. Can playing action video games improve your
attention skills? 127
27. Can people scan a scene more efficiently by ignoring
the locations of objects they have already examined? 129
28. Does word frequency mainly affect the efficiency of
processing after the word has been identified? 130
29. Do the first and last letters of a word provide special
information that helps a reader perceive the word? 131
30. How do people understand ambiguous words? 133
31. Did watching a play improve attitudes towards
speeding? 134
32. Does DDAT treatment work? 135
33. Can it be ethical to eat your participants? 136
34. The Burt affair 137
35. Do people from northern England have lower IQs
than people from southern England? 138
36. The Flynn Effect: Is each generation more intelligent
than the last? 139
37. Do race differences in IQ imply that immigration to
the United States will lead to more social problems? 139
38. Is sexual reorientation therapy effective? 143
39. Can a medium contact the dead? 145
40. Does alcohol make people of the opposite sex look
prettier? 146
41. Do inexperienced football players perform cognitive
tasks better when they are tired? 147
42. Are decisions about penalty kicks influenced by
earlier decisions the referee has made? 148
43. Is Susie more likely to move to Sussex than Durham? 149
44. Are people more hostile towards immigrants because
they perceive their presence as a threat? 151
