Research in Psychology: Methods and Design

My copy itself came in fine quality. And while it might be a bit beside the point (since I doubt anyone buying this book is doing so for pleasure reading), the book itself is actually surprisingly amusing to read. Considering it's a textbook on how to create psychological tests and calculate the resulting results and statistics (perhaps the dryest material possible to write about), it's actually fairly easy to read and comprehend. The author speaks personably, sometimes even referring to himself in the first-person, and uses great examples. It almost felt like he was sitting there explaining it to me one-on-one!

I used this textbook in my Research Methods course. It has clear explanations backed up by many examples. Very helpful! I'll be using it over and over as a reference in further research!

This book is a very well-written introduction to methods in psychological research. Goodwin's style is friendly and often humorous. The information he provides is interspersed with case studies, historical antecdotes, and other "real-world" examples of research principles being put into practice. I found the reading to go extremely fast and painlessly. Goodwin covers such topics as the goals of scientific research, types of experimental research, the fundamentals of experimental design, ethics, subject sampling, types of measurement, assessing validity, and analysis of results. He does not go into great detail about statistics or computational analysis, as this is really meant to be a general introduction to methodology of designing research experiments. Each chapter begins with an overview, so you have a sense of what to expect ahead. He also provides study questions at the end of every chapter which are very helpful to work through. They are in various forms: multiple choice, short answers, essays, etc. so you can practice describing the topics to be sure you understand the material. There is also a study guide published for this textbook, which I would recommend getting if only for additional practice. Having a thorough grasp of research methods is critical for any student of psychology, and this book is probably required for many methods classes in universities. Luckily, it's a great textbook to use and makes research methodology interesting and enjoyable.

It was a very clear introduction to research methods. Simple and straightforward.