Beginning Behavioral Research: A Conceptual Primer

For classes involving introductory Research or Experimental Methods.

This successful introduction to behavioral research methods provides step-by-step guidance through the processes of planning an empirical study, analyzing and interpreting data, and reporting findings and conclusions.

When Beginning Behavioral Research was created, it was conceived as an undergraduate text for students, who, as part of a course in research methods, are required to plan an empirical study, to analyze and interpret the data, and to present their findings and conclusions in a written report. With this in mind, however, through their years in the field the authors found that all research methods are limited in some ways, and therefore it is essential not to foreclose on the use of tools and techniques that enable the study of phenomena from more than one vantage point. By examining different scientific methods, theories, and units of analysis - rather than any single one - the authors are able to give students a broad base of scientific thinking that will, they believe, encourage the idea that each generation of researchers builds on the important findings of previous researchers in a chain of discovery and understanding.