CHAPTER FOUR - Flip Flop Ranch



Chapter 4

Research Methods

Chapter Overview

This chapter outlines components of the research process in abnormal psychology. These components include the establishment of testable hypotheses, protection of internal validity, types of research design (i.e., case study, correlational, group and single-case experimental design, genetic linkage and analysis, cross-sectional, and longitudinal designs), the role of cultural factors that impinge upon research, and research ethics. This chapter also examines methods developed to discover what behaviors constitute problems, why people engage in behavioral disorders (etiology), and what constitutes effective treatments and beneficial treatment outcome. New material on clinical trials is discussed.

Chapter Outline

EXAMINING ABNORMAL BEHAVIOR

IMPORTANT CONCEPTS

Basic Components of a Research Study

Statistical versus Clinical Significance

The “Average” Client

TYPES OF RESEARCH METHODS

STUDYING INDIVIDUAL CASES

Research by Correlation

Research by Experiment

Single-Case Experimental Designs

GENETICS AND behavior ACROSS TIME AND CULTURES

STUDYING GENETICS

Studying Behavior over Time

Studying Behavior across Cultures

The Power of a Program of Research

Replication

Research Ethics

Detailed Outline

Examining Abnormal Behavior

( Research involves establishing a hypothesis that is then tested. In abnormal psychology, research focuses on hypotheses meant to explain the nature, the causes, or the treatment of a disorder.

( Important concepts include consideration of both internal validity (are change in a dependent variable caused by changes in an independent variable?) and external validity (do results of a study apply outside the context of that study?). Related to these are attempts to control confounding variables through randomization, as well as the use of analogue models and examination of the generalizability of research findings to situations and circumstances outside the context of the specific study in question.

➢ Discussion Point:

Have students generate examples of confounding variables in psychopathology research. What is the best way to control for confounding variables?

➢ Discussion Point:

It would seem that observation of a given phenomenon in an artificial setting, like a laboratory, would always call into question whether those findings would apply in the “real world.” If this is the case, then what is the value of such nonrealistic research protocols?

➢ Discussion Point:

Clinical and statistical significance are both important factors for researchers to achieve, but neither guarantees the existence of the other. Which do you think is more important, and why? Does your answer depend on the topic being researched?

Types of Research Methods

( The individual case study is used to study one or more individuals in depth. Although case studies have an important role in the theoretical development of psychology, they are not subject to experimental control and must necessarily be suspect in terms of both internal and external validity.

( Research by correlation can tell us whether a relationship exists between two variables, but it does not tell us if that relationship is a causal one. Epidemiological research is a type of correlational research that reveals the incidence, distribution, and consequences of a particular problem in one or more populations.

➢ Discussion Point:

If an epidemiologist is studying a new disease, or one that is beginning to emerge, would incidence or prevalence data be more useful?

( Research by experiment can follow one of two designs: group or single case. In both designs, a variable (or variables) is manipulated and the effects are observed to determine the nature of a causal relationship. It is important to remember that experimentation is the only type of research that gives us information about cause-and-effect relationships.

Genetics and Research across Time and Cultures

➢ Discussion Point:

How might endophenotype research contribute to the understanding of other disorders, such as depression? Relate the concept of endophenotypes to a dimensional, rather than categorical, classification system of psychological disorders.

( Genetic research focuses on the role of genetics in behavior. These research strategies include family studies, adoption studies, twin studies, genetic linkage analyses, and association studies.

➢ Discussion Point:

What are some examples of ways that psychologists could create prevention programs to target specific behaviors or conditions? What are the barriers involved in implementing a prevention program?

( Research strategies that examine psychopathology across time include cross-sectional and longitudinal designs. Both focus on differences in behavior or attitudes at different ages, but the former does so by looking at different individuals at different ages and the latter looks at the same individuals at different ages.

( Prevention research can be viewed in four broad categories: health promotion or positive development strategies, universal prevention strategies, selective prevention strategies, and indicated prevention strategies.

( The clinical picture, causal factors, and treatment process and outcome can all be influenced by cultural factors.

( The more the findings of a research program are replicated, the more they gain in credibility.

( Ethics are important to the research process, and ethical guidelines are spelled out by many professional organizations in an effort to ensure the well-being of research participants. Ethical concerns are being addressed through informed consent and through the inclusion of consumers in research design, implementation, and interpretation.

Key Terms

dependent variable, 100 repeated measurement, 107

external validity, 100 single-case experimental design, 107

hypothesis, 100 baseline, 108

independent variable, 100 level, 108

internal validity, 100 trend, 108

research design, 100 variability, 108

testability, 100 withdrawal design, 108

analogue model, 101 genotype, 109

confound, 101 multiple baseline, 109

confounding variable, 101 phenotype, 109

control group, 101 endophenotypes, 111

generalizability, 101 human genome project, 111

randomization, 101 adoption studies, 112

case study method, 102 family studies, 112

clinical significance, 102 genetic linkage analysis, 112

effect size, 102 proband, 112

patient uniformity myth, 102 twin studies, 112

statistical significance, 102 association studies, 113

correlation, 103 genetic marker, 113

correlation coefficient, 103 cohort, 114

positive correlation, 103 cohort effect, 114

directionality, 104 cross-sectional design, 114

epidemiology, 104 longitudinal design, 114

negative correlation, 104 retrospective information, 114

experiment, 105 cross-generational effect, 115

placebo control group, 106 sequential design, 115

placebo effect, 106 informed consent, 117

comparative treatment research, 107

double-blind control, 107

Ideas for Instruction

1. Activity: The Case Study Method. To demonstrate the advantages and disadvantages of case study methodology, encourage students to conduct a case study of their own. They may look for a person who is willing to discuss a disorder they have (e.g., alcoholism, insomnia, eating disorder, etc.) or they can conduct a case study on a person’s experience of a phenomenon (e.g., divorce, war, loss, etc.), including some aspect of their own life and experience. Discuss the advantages of using this methodology and the drawbacks.

2. Activity: The Correlational Method. Have your students look through popular literature to find claims about new and newsworthy psychological findings (see below under the heading Internet Resources for an online resource to Abnormal Psychology in the News). Most of the time, the popular literature is utilizing correlational data. Assist students in learning how to critically evaluate data that is presented in the popular literature. You may want to illustrate how easy it is to make false assumptions about correlational data. For example, if you tell your class that obesity and the number of hours children watch television is positively correlated, many students will surmise that those results are due to the fact that watching television prohibits children from exercising. However, an alternative explanation is that obese children choose to watch television because it is more difficult for them to exercise. Caution students about directionality problems and the possibility of a third factor being responsible for correlations. Again, correlation does not imply causation. To truly emphasize this activity, you may consider finding examples of the correlation-causation error in peer-reviewed journals so that students can see that even professional researchers are prone to forgetting this important rule of correlational research.

3. Activity: Establishing Empirically Support Treatments. Use the transparency master titled “Criteria for Empirically Supported Treatments” to illustrate how research design and research criteria translate into the science of psychotherapy (note that the current terminology has changed from “empirically validated” to “empirically supported,” to dissuade psychologists from thinking that treatments making this efficacy list are there to stay). The criteria for empirically supported treatments contain a rich source of information about research design and the process of developing efficacious treatments. You may also use this topic as a spring board to discuss the current controversies surrounding empirically supported psychotherapies, highlight the distinction between efficacy vs. effectiveness research, and discuss whether psychologists should move toward having a model like the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in sanctioning psychotherapies and what empirically supported treatments mean for consumers of psychological services.

Source Information. You may find on-line reports regarding empirically supported treatments at the following website: .

5. Activity: Random Assignment and Expectations Regarding Psychotherapy. The following activity is designed to illustrate random selection and random assignment as well as the role of expectations and feelings regarding treatment. To illustrate random selection, tell students that you are going to perform a little experiment in class that may involve the possibility of earning extra credit. Also, explain that everyone should pretend that the class represents the population as a whole. Begin by stating that your study has two conditions: a treatment and a wait-list control, and that people in the treatment condition will receive extra credit (the others will not, but may at some point in the future). Using your roster, begin by randomly selecting 10 students from the class and asking them to come forward one at a time (do this slowly). Now, pull out a coin and flip it as each student comes forward (illustrates the process of random assignment). If the coin comes up heads for the first student, place him or her in the treatment group off to your right. If the coin comes up tails for the next student, place him or her off to your left in the wait-list control group. You will want to make this part dramatic, so again handle each student one at a time (i.e., randomly select one student, go through the process of random assignment, and then move on). Continue until all 10 students are separated into groups (you should end up with about four or five students in each group). This is a good time to discuss how students felt immediately after they learned that they were being assigned to either the wait-list control or extra credit treatment. Relate their feelings to what patients may experience (but on a much larger scale) when enrolling in treatment research. You may want to go ahead and offer extra credit to all students who participated or perhaps a small prize, cheers, applause, etc.

6. Designing a Research Project. Have the students come up with two or three questions on how to design a research project in abnormal psychology. For example: What are the symptoms of schizophrenia, and how are they changing? Have students identify appropriate independent variable(s), the dependent variable(s), and any needed control groups and describe how they would be operationalized. In addition, there are several questions the students should be able to answer: What research method would be the most practical to study abnormal behavior? How would using a different research method change the meaning of the study?

Supplementary Reading Material

Additional Readings:

Bersoff, D. N. (1995). Ethical conflicts in psychology. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Bromley, D. B. (1986). The case-study method in psychology and related disciplines. New York: Wiley.

Critelli, J. W., & Neumann, K. F. (1984). The placebo: Conceptual analysis of a construct in transition. American Psychologist, 39, 32–39.

Estes, W. K. (1991). Statistical models in behavioral research. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Garber, J., & Hollon, S. D. (1991). What can specificity designs say about causality in psychopathology research? Psychological Bulletin, 110, 129-136.

Greenberg, L. S., & Pinsof, W. M. (1994). Reassessing psychotherapy research. New York: Guilford.

Hayes, S. C., Barlow, D. H., & Nelson-Gray, R. O. (1999). The scientist practitioner: Research and accountability in the age of managed care, Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Hayes, S. C., Follette, V. M., Dawes, R. M., & Grady, K. E. (1995). Scientific standards of psychological practice: Issues and recommendations. Reno, NV: Context Press.

Hock, R. R. (1992). Forty studies that changed psychology: Explorations into the history of psychological research. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Kazdin, A. E. (Ed.) (1992). Methodological issues and strategies in clinical research. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Keith-Speigel, P., & Koocher, G. P. (1985). Ethics in psychology: Professional standards and cases. New York: Random House.

Kratochwill, T. R., & Levin, J. R. (Eds.) (1992). Single-case research design and analysis: New directions for psychology and education. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Levine, G. (1994). Experimental methods in psychology. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

McGuigan, F. J. (1993). Experimental psychology: Methods of research. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Monroe, S. M., & Roberts, J. E. (1991). Psychopathology research. In M. Hersen, A. E. Kazdin, & A. S. Bellack (Eds.) The clinical psychology handbook (2nd ed.). New York: Pergamon.

Routh, D. K. (1993). Clinical psychology since 1917: Science, practice, and organization. New York: Plenum.

Spring, B. (2007). Evidence-based practice in clinical psychology: What it is, why it matters; what you need to know. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 63, 611-631.

Trierweiler, S. J., & Stricker, G. (1998). The scientific practice of professional psychology. New York: Plenum.

Suggested Videos

Abnormal Psychology Inside/Out. (Available through your Cengage Learning representative). David H. Barlow of Boston University talks about the research methodology used in studying panic patients and clients with sexual disorders. He also discusses the ethical issues in selecting subjects and the changes that technology has brought to data collection.

Ethics and scientific research. (Insight Media). This video addresses ethical issues faced by scientific researchers, focusing on scientific misconduct and its control. It features Robert L. Sprague, recipient of the AAAS Scientific Integrity and Freedom Award, who discusses a case of a scientist who faked research on psychotropic drugs. (30 min)

Experimental design. (Insight Media). This program distinguishes between observational studies and experiments, teaching basic principles of experimental design. It covers comparison, randomization, and replication, and includes a program that examines the question of causation. (30 min each)

Experiments in human behavior. (Insight Media). This still-image video shows how psychological experiments are designed, using examples from research on prisoner/guard relationships, obedience to authority, cult behavior, and alcohol consumption. It also discusses experimenter bias and examines when to use field studies, observational studies, and questionnaires. (35 min)

How numbers lie: Media truth or fiction. (Insight Media). Numbers are powerful persuasion tools that can be twisted to support a particular point of view. This program teaches viewers how to think critically and analyze statistics disguised as facts. “Provides excellent examples…thought-provoking.” (23 min)

Nature and nurture interwoven. (Insight Media). Using research in behavior genetics, ideas of heritability, and data from twin studies, this video questions the extent to which parents can alter their children’s futures by changing the circumstances of their lives. It profiles the Oliveira children from urban São Paulo, showing their visit to the rural region where their parents grew up and their encounter with their country cousins. (30 min)

The mystery of twins. (Insight Media). Presenting the findings of a range of current research projects on the links between identical twins, this video explores what twins may be able to reveal about the different impacts of nature and nurture. It questions the importance of genes to behavioral choices, considers the evolutionary significance of naturally occurring clones, and addresses the possibility of ESP between people with matching genetic material. (52 min)

The scientific method. (Insight Media). Tracing the evolution of the scientific method, this program shows the three-step process of observing, developing a hypothesis, and testing it through experimentation. It presents examples of how the scientific method is applied in the classroom and in professional research. (23 min)

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Online Resources

APA Ethical Principles and Code of Conduct



This is the online version of the American Psychological Association’s Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct.

Encyclopedia of Psychology: Pseudoscience



This site contains several links to pseudoscientific issues in psychology and abnormal psychology in particular.

Internal Validity Tutorial



A tutorial on validity that is part of an experimental design course.

Library Research



This APA website is designed for students and explains how to find library resources about psychology by searching journals, books, newspapers, etc.

On Being a Scientist: Responsible Conduct In Research



A formal introduction to research ethics and the responsibilities that these commitments imply.

Preparing Your Laboratory Report



A “tipsheet” webpage devoted to writing a psychological report based on the publication manual of the American Psychological Association.

Psychotherapists and FDA Standards



The possibility of imposing standards for psychotherapy that are comparable to the standards the FDA has established for drugs and drug therapy raises major issues about psychotherapy, including the possibility that some psychotherapies and the treatment of schizophrenia could be banned.

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