Research Methods Page
Professor Will Langston
 
[Syllabi]  [Notes]  [Homework]  [Lab Notes/Exercises]  [Resources]  [Links]

This Week in Research Methods Week of 2/13/12
  • Lecture
    • Kinds of design
    • Observation designs
    • Quiz Friday
  • Lab
    • Finish article summaries/Annotated bibliography
    • Introduction notes
    • Start to choose project topic/Form teams (detailed table of contents posted to the lab syllabus)
A note about dois: dois (digital object identifiers) link directly to articles. You can click the doi links on this page to go to a downloadable copy of the articles. However, you need to be on a computer in MTSU's domain to take advantage of the library's subscription to the journals. If you click dois at home, you will probably be asked to pay for each article. If you click a doi and it asks you to pay, look up the article in PsycInfo.
Syllabi
Purchase the book as an eBook or chapters (lots cheaper):
Chapter scoring (lower numbers mean higher priority, 1 = bare minimum):

1: score = 5
2: score = 1 (terms, propositional logic)
3: score = 5
4: score = 2 (ethics)
5: score = 3 (stats, if you remember it, no need to buy this)
6: score = 3 (stats, if you remember it, no need to buy this)
7: score = 2 (threats to internal validity)
8: score = 1 (experimental design)
9: score = 1 (factorial design, outcomes of a 2X2)
10: score = 3 (within subjects)
11: score = 4 (bias)
12: score = 3 (details of non-experimental designs)
13: score = 3 (single subject designs)
14: score = 2 (surveys)
15: score = 2 (writing)
16: score = 5

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Course Notes [Top]
Homework Homeworks/Quizzes:
  • Homework 1: Go to the project resources section below. Download each of the scales (MIItems, SSSItems, AEIItems, and NEOItems). Save each one by putting your last name and first initial in front of the current filename. So, my MIItems would be LangstonWMIItems.xls. Open each file and follow the instructions to answer all of the questions in each file. Be sure that you are viewing them in "page layout;" a lot of the instructions are in headers that are only visible in "page layout." Email the final files with answers back to me.
  • Homeworks 2 and 3: Find an article as assigned in lab the week of 1/23/12. Read it. Bring that article to lab the week of 2/6/12 and present it to the group. After you present your article, email me a properly formatted reference for the reference section ,with the doi if one is available.
  • Homework 4: Submit a draft of your title page, method, and results sections using the RMDraft.doc template (Method and results draft notes). Email your draft to me by the end of the day Wednesday, February 15. The title of your paper should be YourlastnameMRDraft.doc (or, it could end in .docx, but not in both). For example, mine would be LangstonMRDraft.doc
  • Homeworks 5 and 6: Complete IRB training for students conducting no more than minimal risk research and give me a copy of the training certificate.
Recent quizzes are posted:
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Lab Notes/Exercises Writing papers
  • A paper format template (downloads a pdf sample one experiment paper for you to use for formatting, references, etc.)
  • The link to the APA style page (look at the tutorial for style and formatting tips)
Writing tips
Exercises  Sample posters/presentations
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Resources Project data and information
  • Project scales
    • MIItems.xls Eckblad, M., & Chapman, L. J. (1983). Magical ideation as an indicator of schizotypy. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 51, 215-225. doi:10.1037/0022-006X.51.2.215
    • SSSItems.xls Taken from Lalasz, C. B., & Weigel, D. J. (2011). Understanding the relationship between gender and extradyadic relations: The mediating role of sensation seeking on intentions to engage in sexual infidelity. Personality and Individual Differences, 50, 1079-1083. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2011.01.029; scale from Stephenson, M. T., Hoyle, R. H., Palmgreen, P., & Slater, M. D. (2003). Brief measures of sensation seeking for screening and large scale surveys. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 72, 279–286. doi:10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2003.08.003
    • AEIItems.xls Gallagher, C., Kumar, V. K., & Pekala, R. J. (1994). The anomalous experiences inventory: Reliability and validity. The Journal of Parapsychology, 58, 402-428. Walk to the library to get it.
    • NEOItems.xls Taken from the IPIP website, http://ipip.ori.org, described in Goldberg, L. R., Johnson, J. A., Eber, H. W., Hogan, R., Ashton, M. C., Cloninger, C. R., & Gough, H. G. (2006). The international personality item pool and the future of public-domain personality measures. Journal of Research in Personality, 40, 84-96. doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2005.08.007
  • Project scales with scoring (DO NOT open these to complete the scales, we will do these in class
  • Project data
  • Method and results draft notes (completed week of 1/30/12)
  • Annotated bibliography and intro notes (bibliography in progress 2/10/12; intro not started 2/10/12)
  • Notes for discussion sections (not started as of 2/10/12)
The sources below are numbered based on the annotated bibliography in the notes above.

Remember: You need a citation for every statement of fact. If you took it from somewhere and you fail to cite it, that's plagiarism. Everything you cite needs to go into the reference list so that someone could find it.

Articles and sources:

Target article:

Auton, H. R., Pope, J., & Seeger, G. (2003). It isn’t that strange: Paranormal belief and personality traits. Social Behavior and Personality, 31, 711-720. doi:10.2224/sbp.2003.31.7.711

Section 1: Measuring personality

a. Sensation seeking:

8. Zuckerman, M., Bone, R. N., Neary, R., Mangelsdorff, D., & Brustman, B. (1972). What is the sensation seeker? Personality trait and experience correlates of the sensation-seeking scale. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 39, 308-321. doi:10.1037/h0033398

9. Zuckerman, M., Kolin, E. A., Price, L., & Zoob, I. (1964). Development of a sensation-seeking scale. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 28, 477-482. doi:10.1037/h0040995

16. Quinn, P. D., Stappenbeck, C. A., & Fromme, K. (2011). Collegiate heavy drinking prospectively predicts change in sensation seeking and impulsivity. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 120, 543-556. doi:10.1037/a0023159

17. Harden, K. P., & Tucker-Drob, E. M. (2011). Individual differences in the development of sensation seeking and impulsivity during adolescence: Further evidence for a dual systems model. Developmental Psychology, 47, 739-746. doi:10.1037/a0023279

21. NIDA Notes (1995). Measuring sensation seeking. http://archives.drugabuse.gov/NIDA_Notes/NNVol10N4/MeasureSens.html

b. NEO:

10. Soto, C. J., John, O. P., Gosling, S. D., & Potter, J. (2010). Age differences in personality traits from 10 to 65: Big Five domains and facets in a large cross-sectional sample. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100, 330-348. doi:10.1037/a0021717

11. T.B.D.

18. Komarraju, M., Karau, S. J., Schmeck, R. R., & Avdic, A. (2011). The big five personality traits, learning styles, and academic achievement. Personality and Individual Differences, 51, 472–477. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2011.04.019

19. Digman, J. M. (1990). Personality structure: Emergence of the five-factor model. Annual Review of Psychology, 41, 417-440. doi:10.1146/annurev.ps.41.020190.002221

20. Sharpe, J. P., Martin, N. R., Roth, K. A. (2011). Optimism and the big five factors of personality: Beyond neuroticism and extroversion. Personality and Individual Differences, 51, 946-951. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2011.07.033

Section 2: Measuring belief

a. Magical ideation:

1. Kwapil, T. R., Miller, M. B., Zinser, M. C., Chapman, J., & Chapman, L. J. (1997). Magical ideation and social anhedonia as predictors of psychosis proneness: A partial replication. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 106, 491-495. doi:10.1037/0021-843X.106.3.491
2. Pronin, E., Wegner, D. M., McCarthy, K., & Rodriguez, S. (2006). Everyday magical powers: The role of apparent mental causation in the overestimation of personal influence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91, 218-231. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.91.2.218

b. AEI:

3. Gallagher, C., Kumar, V. K., & Pekala, R. J. (1994). The anomalous experiences inventory: Reliability and validity. The Journal of Parapsychology, 58, 402-428. Walk to the library to get it.

4. Wolfradt, U., Oubaid, V., Straube, E. R., Bischoff, N., & Mischo, J. (1999). Thinking styles, schizotypal traits and anomalous experiences. Personality and Individual Differences, 27, 821-830. doi:10.1016/S0191-8869(99)00031-8

5. T.B.D.

c. Ways of measuring belief

6. Lawrence, T. R. (1995). How many factors of paranormal belief are there? A critique of the Paranormal Belief Scale. Journal of Parapsychology, 59, 3-25. No doi; available in PsycInfo as html full text.

7. Tobacyk, J. J. (1995). What is the correct dimensionality of paranormal beliefs? A reply to Lawrence's critique of the Paranormal Belief Scale. Journal of Parapsychology, 59, 27-46. Link

23. French, C. C., & Wilson, K. (2007). Cognitive factors underlying paranormal beliefs and experiences. In S. Della Sala (ed.). Tall tales about the mind and brain: Separating facto from fiction (pp. 3-22). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Get the pdf here.

24. Dagnall, N., Drinkwater, K., Parker, A., & Munley, G. (2010). Reality testing, belief in the paranormal, and urban legends. European Journal of Parapsychology, 25, 25-55. Don't think you're going to be able to get this one.

26. Wiseman, R., & Watt, C. (2004). Measuring superstitious belief: Why lucky charms matter. Personality and Individual Differences, 37, 1533-1541. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2004.02.009

Section 3: Belief correlated with things that are not personality

12. Philips, H. (2002). Paranormal beliefs linked to brain chemistry. New Scientist. http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn2589-paranormal-beliefs-linked-to-brain-chemistry.html

13. Sharps, M. J., Matthews, J., & Asten, J. (2006). Cognition and belief in paranormal phenomena: Gestalt/feature-intensive processing theory and tendencies toward ADHD, depression, and dissociation. The Journal of Psychology, 140, 579-590. doi:10.3200/JRLP.140.6.579-590

14. Gray, T. (1990). Gender differences in belief in scientifically unsubstantiated phenomena. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science, 22, 181-190. doi:10.1037/h0078898

25. Orenstein, A. (2002). Religion and paranormal belief. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 41, 301-311. doi:10.1111/1468-5906.00118

27. Wierzbicki, M. (1985) Reasoning errors and belief in the Paranormal. The Journal of Social Psychology, 125, 489-494.  No doi; available in PsycInfo as pdf full text.

Section 4: Belief and personality

15. Smith, C. L., Johnson, J. L., & Hathaway, W. (2009). Personality contributes to belief in paranormal phenomena. Individual Differences Research, 7, 85-96. No doi; available in PsycInfo as full text.

22. Swami, V., Chamorro-Premuzic, T., & Shafi, M. (2010). Psychology in outerspace: Personality, individual difference, and demographic predictors of beliefs about extraterrestrial life. European Psychologist, 15, 220-228. doi:10.1027/1016-9040/a000023
IRB resources  
Sample exams    Finding scales and measures
  • Check out the various volumes of the Directory of Unpublished Experimental Mental Measures in the Reserve Room. These books list over 6,000 test instruments with references. You can read the blurb for the latest volume here.
Evaluating sources [Top]
Links Correlation research, the media, and the importance of thinking
Here are some links to media reports on the link between psychosis and marijuana use. Note the uneven treatment of caveats about correlation research, and the presentation of alternative explanations:
And a critical analysis:
What this shows is not that there is or isn't a link (you would need to look closely at the original research to determine that; there may be a link). What this shows is that when you see a study reported, you need to look for yourself and not take the report at face value.

Research methods and experiments Undergraduate research support
  • MTSU Undergraduate Research Experience and Creative Activity grants (URECA) (The link is to the undergraduate research center website; you'll need to click the URECA link.)
  • MTSU McNair Scholars Program
Science and skepticism
Note: These are presented for informational purposes. I don't endorse everything here, and unbridled skepticism is as silly as unbridled acceptance. That said, dig in.  
? (Ideas?) Fun with skepticism and science    [Top]
 
Research Methods Page
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