The human subject in psychological research.

Examines the human S in terms of his changing role in the historical development of psychology, his image and task performance in contemporary psychology, and limitations and weaknesses of his present function. The discussion covers the bias in S selection, preconceptions and suspicions of Ss entering the laboratory, distorted performance in the experimental task, and ethical implications of psychological research. It is suggested that psychology's image of the S as a stimulus-response machine is inadequate and that many studies are based on data supplied by Ss who are neither randomly selected nor assigned, nor representative of the general population, nor naive, and who are suspicious and distrustful of psychological research and researchers. (34 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The test of significance in psychological research.

The test of significance does not provide the information concerning psychological phenomena characteristically attributed to it; and a great deal of mischief has been associated with its use. The basic logic associated with the test of significance is reviewed. The null hypothesis is characteristically false under any circumstances. Publication practices foster the reporting of small effects in populations. Psychologists have "adjusted" by misinterpretation, taking the p value as a "measure," assuming that the test of significance provides automaticity of inference, and confusing the aggregate with the general. The difficulties are illuminated by bringing to bear the contributions from the decision-theory school on the Fisher approach. The Bayesian approach is suggested. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The dissemination and implementation of evidence-based psychological treatments: A review of current efforts.

Recognizing an urgent need for increased access to evidenced-based psychological treatments, public health authorities have recently allocated over $2 billion to better disseminate these interventions. In response, implementation of these programs has begun, some of it on a very large scale, with substantial implications for the science and profession of psychology. But methods to transport treatments to service delivery settings have developed independently without strong evidence for, or even a consensus on, best practices for accomplishing this task or for measuring successful outcomes of training. This article reviews current leading efforts at the national, state, and individual treatment developer levels to integrate evidence-based interventions into service delivery settings. Programs are reviewed in the context of the accumulated wisdom of dissemination and implementation science and of methods for assessment of outcomes for training efforts. Recommendations for future implementation strategies will derive from evaluating outcomes of training procedures and developing a consensus on necessary training elements to be used in these efforts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The use of human subjects in psychological research.

A discussion of the ethics involved in using human subjects for psychological research. Emphasis is placed on the principles of consent, confidentiality, and standard or acceptable procedures. The 10 basic principles governing medical research laid down by the Nuremburg tribunal are quoted in full. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ageism in psychological research.

Insufficiently informed psychologists may draw erroneous or incomplete conclusions from their research findings that result in public representations that enhance adverse stereotypes held with respect to the elderly. Such inappropriate interpretations of age-related data may become accepted as the scientific basis for policy positions that lead to discrimination against and disadvantages for our older citizens. This article identifies major sources of ageist bias in psychological research that may inadvertently result in adverse consequences for the elderly. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Rationality in psychological research: The good-enough principle.

Reexamines methodological and procedural issues raised by P. Meehl (1967; see also PA, Vol 62:5042) that question the rationality of psychological inquiry. Issues concern the asymmetry in theory testing between psychology and physics and the slow progress observed in psychological research. A good-enough principle is proposed to resolve Meehl's methodological paradox, and a more powerful reconstruction of science developed by I. Lakatos (1978) is suggested to account for the actual practice of psychological researchers. (37 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some unprinciples of psychological research.

Presents 8 fictitious examples of information that contains errors of design or analysis. These examples include (1) the nonsample sample, (2) insignificant significance, and (3) the Byzantine bypass (avoiding the obvious). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The civil liberties of the participants in psychological research.

Comments on K. J. Gergen's (see record 1974-11186-001) contention that psychologists should use experimental techniques to study the effects of adhering to ethical principles and violating them in the course of psychological research. It is concluded that while Gergen and the American Psychological Association may adopt for their own purposes standards of research ethics, this does not lessen the responsibility to the individual researcher for safeguarding individual rights. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The dilemma of factitious demographic distinctions in psychological research.

Terms such as race, sex, and age are assumed to reflect biological characteristics and distinctions. In psychological research, these terms are often treated as if they were a reflection of a meaningful set of psychological constructs. A review of articles in 3 prominent journals over a 30-year period reveals that these supposed biological identifiers are not used consistently and lack empirical and conceptual validity. An analysis of those articles shows that, over time, the term race has given way to the use of the more general and psychologically relevant term ethnicity, sex and gender have been used interchangeably, and the psychological constructs underlying or supposedly reflected in age are seldom discussed. It is proposed that psychosocial researchers and editors adopt a consistent definition of these terms and that research include an effort to identify the underlying concepts that the investigators assume to be reflected in these distinctions whenever these labels are used to report research findings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The use of the split-litter technique in psychological research.

The assumption that all genetic factors are held constant in the use of the split-litter technique is examined. On the basis of the available research evidence it can be concluded that within any one litter there will probably be some genetic variation. A decision as to the advisability of using the technique must depend upon whether the control gained over some genetic and environmental factors within the litter compensate for the variability introduced by the unknown genetic factors and other variable factors present within the litter environment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Optimal design in psychological research.

Psychologists often do not consider the optimality of their research designs. However, increasing costs of using inefficient designs requires psychologists to adopt more efficient designs with many factor levels and equal allocations of observations are often inefficient for the specific questions most psychologists want to answer. Happenstance allocations determined by random sampling are usually even more inefficient and some common analysis strategies can exacerbate the inefficiency. By selecting treatment levels and allocating observations optimally, psychologists can greatly increase the efficiency and statistical power of their research designs. A few heuristic design principles can produce much more efficient designs than are often used. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex bias in psychological research.

Sex bias occurs at different stages in research on sex differences. Review articles often attribute greater value to tasks on which good performance is more frequent among males and undervalue those tasks at which females excel. There is bias in reporting primary sources. Public statements by psychologists concerning sex differences are misleading and irresponsible. Journals more readily publish reports of sex differences and turn down reports of no differences. The conventional linguistic format describing sex differences does not adequately reflect group overlap. Research should seek to determine underlying causes for differential frequencies of good and bad performance among the sexes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evaluating deception in psychological research.

Reviews studies on the use of deception in psychological research, indicates other directions that such investigations might take, and suggests solutions to the problems posed by this tactic. Deception is widely used, but its efficacy is rarely evaluated. Ss' suspicion is a useful index of effectiveness and the only aspect that has been investigated so far. Many Ss may be suspicious of the deceptions in a study. This disbelief can be triggered by the experiment itself, operating in conjunction with the Ss' characteristics. Suspicion can affect the level of experimental performance or interact with it. Problems connected with this methodology may be minimized by improving the design of deception studies, by routinely assessing the effectiveness of dissimulations, and by modifying data analyses. (43 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Research Nurse Intern program. A model for research dissemination and utilization

The Research Nurse Intern program at the University of Nebraska Medical Center is designed to support the development of research-based nursing practice and to foster the professional development of staff nurses. The activities of the 2-year program are based on a model that blends research dissemination and utilization with the change process. The authors' purpose is to describe a staff nurse-focused program and its successes in accomplishing these two standards of clinical nursing practice.     

Involving participants in the dissemination of HIV research results.

Participatory action research initiatives engage research participants as co-investigators and provide them with an avenue to explore their own experiences. It is not always easy, however, to determine how to involve participants in meaningful ways. Funding limitations and rigid methodological procedures pose barriers for creative approaches to inquiry. Nonetheless, the HIV program at the Hospital for Sick Children in collaboration with the University of Victoria, has taken an important step towards involving participants in a meaningful way--through the dissemination of research results. The present article describes the procedure used to share the role of researcher/author. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Tort liability in psychological research.

Comments on S. E. Golann's (see record 1969-16572-001) article on ethical concerns in research and presents several tort actions in mental distress. A number of jurisdictions allow recovery without evidence of physical symptoms. Individuals cannot recover merely for hurt feelings or commonplace annoyances. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)