Research Manual in Child Development

480 Pages·2003·6.095 MB·English

by  Lorraine Nadelman

Second Edition
Research Manual
in Child Development
Lorraine Nadelman
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RESEARCH MANUAL IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Second Edition
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RESEARCH MANUAL IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Second Edition
Lorraine Nadelman
University of Michigan
LawrenceErlbaumAssociates,Publishers
2004 Mahwah,NewJersey London
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Copyright©2004byLawrenceErlbaumAssociates,Inc.
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereproducedinanyform,byphotostat,
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thepublisher.
LawrenceErlbaumAssociates,Inc.Publishers
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Toourgrandchildren
Aaron Noah Kara Jacob Max Micah Ryan Gabriel
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CONTENTS
Preface2003 ix
ONE. INTRODUCTION—RESEARCHCONSIDERATIONS 1
A. APrimerofScientificResearch 3
Section1. AnIntroductiontoPsychologicalResearch 3
RobertWozniak
Section2. DevelopmentalResearch 11
Section3. ChildrenasSubjects 17
TWO. OBSERVATIONALSTUDIES 25
B. InfantObservation 29
C. ObservationProjects 43
1. Methods 43
2. Exercises 45
ActivityPreferencesbySex 45
SexandAgeDifferencesinPlay 47
TelevisionProgramsasaSocializationAgent 49
THREE. EXPERIMENTALSTUDIES 75
D. GeneralExperimentalResearchProcedures 77
E. PsychomotorandPerceptualBehavior—AClassicExperiment 87
Experiment1. AgeandSexDifferencesinTwoReaction-TimeTasks 89
KeithStanovich
F. CognitiveDevelopment 103
Background 103
PiagetianResearch 111
Piaget’sTheory 111
ScottMiller
Experiment2. SpatialPerspective-Taking:TheThreeMountainsTask 125
TheoryofMind:FalseBelief 151
Background 151
Experiment3. FalseBeliefinChildren’sTheoryofMind 157
AttentionandMemory 169
Background 169
Experiment4. AgeandSexDifferencesinInterferenceProneness 171
KeithStanovich
Experiment5. SemanticProcessinginaPicture–WordInterferenceTask 187
Experiment6. TheInfluenceofCategory-BlockedandRandomPresenta- 211
tioninFreeRecallandClustering
CognitiveDevelopmentandLanguage 239
SusanA.Gelman
Experiment7. Children’sInterpretationoftheWordBig 245
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viii Contents
G. TheSocializedChild 285
Self-Concept 289
Background 289
Experiment8. AgeandSexDifferencesinSelf-Esteem 299
SexIdentity 321
Experiment9. DifferentialRecallofSex-TypedMaterial 329
Experiment10. PreferenceforSex-TypedMaterial 349
Cooperation/Competition 369
Background 369
Experiment 11. Cooperation and Competition as a Function of Sex of 373
Dyads
SiblingRelationships 397
AssessingFourDomainsoftheChildhoodSiblingRelationship 403
SandraA.Graham-Bermann
Experiment12. SiblingRelationshipsandSiblingStatus:OlderorYounger 415
H. AFinalProject:Suggestions 429
FOUR.APPENDICES 435
AppendixA. NotesfortheInstructor 437
AppendixB. ListofExperiments 459
Index 465
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Preface
Goalsforthisbookanditsaudienceremainconstant,sosomeoftheearlierprefaceisrepeatedinthisupdated
reprint/revision.
Twentyyearsago,studentdemandforresearchtrainingcoursesinchilddevelopmentexceededthesupply
ofsuchcourses. Today,thatsituationhasimproved,butnotsufficiently. Universityfacultyprefertoteachre-
searchbyhavingstudentsactasassistantsinfacultyresearchprojects. CollegeandJuniorCollegeinstructors
recognizethevalueofatraditional,comprehensive,hands-onlaboratorycourse,butarereluctanttotakeon
thehassleandworkloadwhich,indeed,areformidable:obtaininghumansubjectsreviewapproval,liningup
subjectsandsignedpermissionslips,choosingprojects,preparinglectures,andcreatingstimuli,instructions,
datasheets,collationcharts,bibliographies,andchoosingappropriatestatisticsforeachproject. Ican’tpro-
videtheinstitutionalreviewboardapprovals,orthechildren,butthismanualdoessignificantlyreducethe
“hassle”componentandtherebyencouragetheadditionofhands-onresearchexperiencestostudents’train-
inginchilddevelopment. Studentswhohavehadactualexperiencewithresearchprocessesandwritingwill
derivealong-termbenefit,regardlessoftheireventualcareerchoice.
Theinstructorcanusethismanualinavarietyofways. Ihavetaughtthelabcourseasanintroductiontoex-
perimentalpsychology,asanadvancedundergraduatelaboratorycourse,andasanearlygraduatecourse. Itis
notintendedasastudentdo-it-yourselfmanual;supervisionandfeedbackarecrucial. Dedicatedteachersare
notyetoutofstyle,andindividualizedattentioncontinuestobethekeystoneofasuperiortrainingexperience.
Mostprogramstendtodenigratethedata-collectionprocess. Becauseourarchivaljournalsdonotalways
includesufficientmethodologicaldetailtoreplicatepublishedexperiments,theMethodsectionsinthisbook
aremeticulouslydetailed. Aninsistenceonadherencetothesedetails,muchpracticetoestablishreliability,
andacriticaldiscussionofeachmethodologicaldetailinclassmayhelptoridstudentsofnaivenotionsofthe
definitionandcollectionofappropriatedata.
Theprojectsthatfollowaregroupedbytopicssimilarinorganizationtothemoreheavily-usedchildpsy-
chologytextbooks. Theexperimentscoverdifferentcontentareas,severaltheoreticalparadigms,andvarious
statisticaltechniques;themeasuresvaryinvalidityandamountofinference;someeffectsarerobustandoth-
ersarenot(asinreallife). Ishouldhavelikedtoordertheprojectsfortheresearcherfromeasiesttohardest,
butthedifficultylevelsofthedata-collection,thestatistics,andtheconstructsoftenvaryindependently. For
whatitisworth,studentsseemtofindthefollowingprojectsthesimplesttoassimilate: self-esteem,thetwo
sex-rolestudies,reactiontime,andinterferenceproneness. AppendixA(NotesfortheInstructor),whichis
basedonmanyyearsofexperience,willhelptheresearcherindecidingwhichprojectsbestsuittheirvaried
purposes,andoffersmanypracticalsuggestions. Howmanyexperimentsareruninatermdependsonone’s
goals. Wehavevariedbetweenthreeandeight,withthenumberaffectedbydecisionsonnumberofsubjects,
amountandkindofstatistics,kindofwriteup,andextentofstudentinvolvementindesignmodifications.
Forthisedition,sixexperimentsandthestatisticschapterweredropped. ProjectsaddedincludeTheoryof
Mind,Language,SiblingRelationships,plussuggestionsforcross-culturalandneuropsychologyinvestiga-
tions. TheobservationchapterwasexpandedwithaTVproject. Backgroundessays,introductions,discus-
sions,andbibliographieshavebeenrevisedandexpanded.
Former contributors—Scott Miller, Keith Stanovich, and Robert Wozniak—are welcomed back, and
joinedbynewcolleagues—SandraGraham-Bermann,JohnColeyandSusanGelman.
Perhapsahistoricalandautobiographicalnoteisinorderhere. Myfirstinvolvementwiththiscoursebegan
inApril,1951,whentheincomingchairmanofthePsychologyandEducationDepartmentatMountHolyoke
College,StuartStoke,interviewedpotentialassistantprofessorsinterestedininitiatinganExperimentalChild
Psychologycourseandprogram. Theimmediaterapportandchallengewereirresistible,andfourexciting
andproductiveyearsfollowed.
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