My Office

Here is where I work. Here's a tour from left to right. On the left is one of my servers. It serves my research methods ideas database (private, sorry) and sometimes others (e.g., for candidates for our job searches). Next is my window air conditioner, possibly the most important piece of equipment of all, given our hot summers along with the fact that the building is not cooled from Thursday night until Sunday mornings in the summer. The gooseneck lamp, too, is vital as my eyes get older. The small television is connected to the local cable system and comes in handy when I am doing mechanical work such as grading tests from a key. It stays off when I'm trying to write. It's on top of an old 13" RGB monitor (just in case I ever get another Apple II+) and it's on top of a large speaker. The huge 24" screen belongs to my three-year old, ailing, out-of-warranty iMac. It can no longer be trusted, alas. About once a week it decides to enter an endless loop featuring the spinning Mac pinwheel icon. Fortunately, restarting it seems to kick it out of its misery. There are two phones. The one nearest the foreground no longer has a working line connected to it. It used to be connected to our long gone modem server (remember those days?). That phone is gone now, freeing up some desk space. The scanner between the phones only scans slides now; it's main scanner bulb is weak, plus it costs more to buy the bulb than to buy a new scanner. The stereo works and the wire hanging down from the ceiling is its FM antenna. It's in the only orientation that will receive a good signal. Under the scanner is a 12 port router connecting all of the computers to the Internet and to the local printers. Barely visible on top of the router is my next to last cell phone. It only serves to forward my calls to its number to my new phone. Last on the right is one of the world's fastest System 9 laptops. It was built as aG4 OS X machine but its hard drive died. At about the same time one of our G3 laptop's boards crashed. You can guess the rest, the G4 now holds the G3's old drive, presto. I use that laptop for my old HyperCard materials and for Mac WordPerfect files. So, believe it or not, nearly everything here has a purpose. The office chair is mine. We bought it at an auction long ago. It's more comfortable than it looks. Good thing, I spend lots of time on it. The drawings on the wall are mostly my daughter's work. The stuff behind the iMac is mostly notes to myself along with some wistful thinking about motorcycles. Fortunately I don't really want another one but I will take a two-seater sports car.

Poster Session

The Research Methods II class had their first ever poster session today. Students presented their research projects for about an hour in their classroom. Students from other classes and faculty viewed the posters and interacted with the authors.

In chapter 12, we describe some of the dynamics of poster presentation:

• "Poster sessions usually take place in large rooms equipped with easels and large blank poster boards. Presenters are assigned a poster board, and they use it to post materials describing their research. After they post their materials, presenters stand next to their poster and wait for viewers (their audience) to file by. Interested viewers may pause, read the posted materials, and discuss them with the presenter. Poster presenters usually have copies of a complete report to give to those who are interested."

Here are some pictures of the event:



Kudos to Dr. Brittney Schrick, the new instructor of our Research Methods II class, for putting on the poster session.

Mascots and Autism

Here is a report on a pilot project in Nebraska where autistic volunteers are dressing up in Frito-Lay inflatable costumes of Chester Cheetah. Keith Allen of University of Nebraska Medical Center and Scott Bowen of Signs and Shapes, a company that creates and produces inflatable costumes, are the collaborators.

The hope is that wearing the costume will allow the autistic volunteers to adopt a new identity while wearing the costume.

This is certainly a far out research idea. Hopefully it will work.

Redheads and Pain

A recent article in the New York Times discusses the relationship between pain and having red hair. The problem is especially acute in dentistry. Redheads tend to avoid visiting the dentist because the usual does of analgesics (painkillers) are not effective.

The apparent cause seems to be the MC1R gene. In most people, that gene creates melanin. In redheads, however, the gene produces pheomelanin instead, causing red hair and fair skin. Another effect of pheomelanin is increased pain sensitivity, both for general and topical anesthesia.

Here's a research idea. Expose redheads and non-redheads to the cold pressor test, a standard laboratory test for pain using time as the dependent variable. Redheads, as a group, should remove their hands sooner.

Another Batch of Student Research Ideas: Summer 2009

Here are the latest research ideas from my Research Methods I students:

• Coach's Personality and Team Success
• Drug Abuse and College Students: Drugs of Choice
• Grade Inflation by College at Southern Arkansas University
• Prevalence of Date Rape Among SAU College Students
• Differences is Altruism Between Male and Female College Students
• Traditional vs. Non-traditional Undergraduate College Students: GPA Differences
• College Students from Divorced Homes Views on Marriage and Relationships
• Does Participation in Greek Life Affect Male and Female GPAs Differently?
• Does Regular Bible Reading Affect Pro-social Behaviors and Values?
• Are Male College Students Less Faithful than Female Students?
• Violent Criminal Family Histories: Effects of Parents Marital Status
• Is Recidivism More Likely with Mild or Harsh Punishment?

Texting and Length of Relationship

Modern love and romance seem inextricably linked to communication. But, I wonder is there too much of a good thing. Specifically, does texting predict relationship success?

I'm betting there's an inverse relationship, the more lovers text, the shorter their relationship will last.

A search of PsycINFO for "texting" found 24 hits, none closely related to relationship length. A couple did relate to a sexual topic, the use of texting to convey information about sexuality and risks of sex.

Someone, please test my hypothesis...

Jack Kramer Autograph Midsize Tennis Racquet

Back in the 1980s, I played a lot of tennis. In 1984, I logged nearly 200 matches. Those days are long gone. But a couple of days ago, I went to hit some tennis balls with my 16 year-old-son. As we were leaving the house (naturally) he informed me that he had broken the strings on his and his sister's racquet and that the only one he had left was my old Wilson graphite racquet, the one I used back then.

So, I went into our spare room to look for some more racquets. I knew my wife had one still from back then. What I did not remember was my old, wood, Jack Kramer Autograph midsize. Click HERE for a picture of one (not mine).

I picked it up. It was not warped but the grip tape was probably 20 years old. When we got to the courts, I cut off the old tape and wrapped on a new grip tape. I let him hit a few off the wall, unimpressed he was. No me, I was impressed. That old racquet felt brand new. Long story short, I played well, felt good, and even started getting my serve in once I quit trying to kill it.

What's the research idea? Obviously, it would be to get tennis players to hit their racquets for accuracy and then compare them to the Kramer. All the usual research caveats would apply of course: counterbalancing, a sufficient number of trials, and control for fatigue.

I'll probably play again soon, and when I do it will be with Jack.

Earliest Primate Described

Here's a bit of paleontological news. Researchers have just released news of a new, fossil primate: Darwinius masillae, discovered near Darmstadt, Germany. The fossil is both a new genus and new species, previously unknown to science. Click HERE to see the complete publication describing the new mammal.

Just in case you were wondering, the specimen is about 47 million years old and seems to be near the root of the line that eventually led to us: Homo sapiens. It is being labeled as a "missing link."

Here is what it looks like. Its actual size is about that of a small cat.

On Variability

An important part of research methods is understanding concepts in measurement. Those include central tendency and variability. Of these, variability is more probably difficult to understand.

A couple of recent articles have highlighted the long-running longitudinal study, funded by W.T. Grant. One of those, in The Atlantic details many of the facets of his longitudinal study. Another, in the New York Times summarizes the work.

The study is remarkable because the 268 students were specially selected from the Harvard University classes of 1942, 1943, and 1944 for being among the most well-adjusted members of those classes (in other words, selected for their relative LACK of variability). Yet, over the years the life trajectories diverged incredibly. One member (John F. Kennedy) became president while another died after falling down a set of stairs, drunk.

Psychology is complex and individuals who may seem similar at one point in their lives may diverge from each other later for a wide variety of reasons. Finding those reasons is a goal of research.

APA Publication Manual 6th Edition Out in July

In case you have not yet heard, the new Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association will be released in July.

One of the big changes from the 5th edition is coverage of issues related to computer technology:

• dealing with supplemental data
• referencing electronic sources
• a new APAstyle Web page

Table of Contents

1. Writing for the Behavioral and Social Sciences

2. Manuscript Structure and Content

3. Writing Clearly and Concisely

4. The Mechanics of Style

5. Displaying Results

6. Crediting Sources

7. Reference Examples

8. The Publication Process

Appendices

Journal Article Reporting Standards (JARS)

Meta-Analysis Reporting Standards (MARS)

Flow of Participants Through Each Stage of an Experiment or Quasi-Experiment

References

Index

The new Publication Manual includes changes in:

Ethics

Simplified Heading Styles

Updated guidelines for reducing bias in language

New ways to report inferential statistics and revised table of statistical abbreviations

Ways to handle data sets and media

Displaying electronic data

Emphasis on DOI (Digital Object Identifier)

The Publication Process

Pre-order the Publication Manual HERE

Race/Ethnicity: Operational Definitions?

A recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education highlights the research of Inkelas, Soldner, and Szelenyi. They tested three approaches other researchers use to classify race or ethnicity.

The three approaches tested were:

• Classify as biracial or multiracial
• Classify multiracial persons as the least common of categories selected
• Classify according to OMB categories

Their findings indicated that how researchers classified race or ethnicity could profoundly affect the results.

To us, this type of classification is an example of the importance of the operational definition. Recall our discussion of operational definitions on pp. 95-97 in chapter 4. On page 97, we write:

• In the Know: Perhaps the most important step you can take if you want to move from confusion to confidence about a scientific topic is to find out how the concepts are measured. Knowing how schizophrenia, intelligence, or subjective well-being is measured gives you a big boost toward understanding the topic.

To that, we add that race and ethnicity are not easy to operationally define. Thus, one should be very cautious when comparing studies on those variables. Be sure YOU know what operational definitions the authors are using for race and gender.

Common APA Style Errors

Every semester I see students make the same APA style errors over and over. Of course, I expect these errors but I also expect students to learn from my corrections; trial-and-success learning works.

In my classes (and as we note in chapter 11), I have students first write the Method section. I also have them include the Title Page. Here are some suggestions inspired by this semester's first drafts:

• It's a plan; it should be written in the future tense.
• The Title Page should follow the example in the APA Style Manual (p. 306)
• Citations in text should follow examples in the APA Style Manual (p. 84)
• All pages should be numbered and a short title included on the upper right header
• The page numbers and short title should be added using the word processor's header function
• Double space entire document
• Use the spell checker
  
• Use No Bold
• Use No underline
• Don't cross subsections
• Participants subsection should only describe participants
• Apparatus subsection should only describe equipment that will be used
• Procedure section should only describe how data will be collected

Finally, will someone who is not familiar (e.g., friend, roommate, parent, etc.) with your proposed research understand what you wish to do?

Posters

In chapter 12 we write about posters and how they have become the dominant method for conveying research results at psychology meetings. Today I put together a poster for the upcoming meeting of the Southwestern Psychological Association (SWPA) to be held in San Antonio, TX next week.

I had a conversation a few months ago with a colleague from the English Department. She's in charge of our school's first faculty research day to be held next Fall. The idea is to provide a hometown setting in which faculty who have published or presented research elsewhere to do it again on campus. She asked me about posters, apparently because they are rare at meeting of English faculty. So, I volunteered to handle the poster session for her (after sending her some pages from chapter 12, that is :-).

Here is the main graphic on the poster:



I compared the American Psychological Association's (APA) list of convention topics to the similar list of convention topics of the Association for Psychological Science (APS). The 39 topics in the green area above are the ones common to both lists. The 18 in the greenish-yellow area are the ones unique to the APA list and the 7 in the gray are unique to the APS list. Also on the poster are the APA and APS lists in alphabetical order as are an abstract (see below) and the topics that used before 1998 and the topics they use now.

My fingers are still sticky from the spray glue I used to assemble the poster. I'll be presenting it next week and hope to have some conversations with passersby about how these lists help us define psychology today.

Memory Cues

My memory is an interesting thing. While I can remember events in the distant past, I often struggle to remember what I need to do day by day. Of course, Skinner (1983) covered this ground too.

Here I share some of the memory management techniques I use now that I have reached the ripe old age of 60. Skinner, by the way, was 78 when he delivered the talk that became the article referenced below. So, I'm getting a head start on Dr. Skinner.

Electronic devices, of course, are a boon to the memory impaired. Unfortunately, they require discipline and training in order to be effective. I possess one of the original PDAs, a USRobotics Palm Pilot. Unfortunately, I have long since ceased to use it. My simple Motorola cell phone has largely taken its place. On the cell phone, I can, should I chose to do so, set reminders and alarms for important appointments. I don't do so regularly, I must confess. Those who know me best, my colleagues and my children, either force me to set such an alarm; or, better yet just ask me for my phone and set the alarm themselves. That last technique is the one usually employed by my 11 year-old daughter. I am diligent, however, about capturing and storing other's telephone numbers on my cell phone. That, though, is a double edged sword; if I don't have my cell phone then there's no chance that I'll remember that stored number.

Routine is bliss for me, especially when it comes to not forgetting important things like my wallet, glasses, and keys. Thus, I have trained myself to hang my keys on a hook in my closet, place my wallet, checkbook, and small notebook all in the same shelf in that same closet. About once a month, nevertheless, I find myself sans wallet or checkbook because I have left them in the wrong place. Before I leave the house, I pat myself five places to check for wallet, pen, checkbook and notebook, keys, cellphone, and glasses. That self pat down usually saves me. For some yet-to-be understood reason, I leave my truck keys in the ignition about once a month. I rarely lock my truck, so that's not much of a problem. (No one is likely to steal my beat-up, green, 1976 Chevy.) Once, I did lock the truck with the keys in it, not good.

I nearly always wear a shirt with a breast pocket. That's were I nearly always carry my checkbook, notebook, and pen. I've managed such a degree of consistency that my family members all expect me to carry a pen at all times. The little notebook that I carry is a hard-back Moleskine (see www.moleskine.com). On it, I record all kinds of useful (to me, that is) information, such as the names of my girl's teachers. That way when I go to pick her up early from school I only need look in my notebook for their names. More transitory information I record on my fleshy "palm pilot" or the meaty part of my left hand under my thumb. There, for instance, go my golf scores and other short term notes. I transfer my golf scores to a calendar that I keep in my truck for more permanent storage.

Hopefully, these techniques will delay me hearing the words, "You are not really going old." (Skinner, 1983, p. 244). Of course, we are all growing older every day. The trick is to cope, somehow, with the ravages of time on memory.

Reference

Skinner, B. F. (1983). Intellectual self-management in old age. American Psychologist, 38(3), 239-244.

Science in the Modern World-After 37 years

I am re-reading Whitehead's Science in the Modern World. As I thumbed through my copy, bought for Dr. Bill Wagman's history of psychology course at the University of Baltimore, I came across an old bookmark. It was an IBM library punchcard (you know, the ones that said: "DO NOT FOLD, SPINDLE OR MUTILATE) I had taken from another library book. The due date was July 13, 1972.

That was probably the last time I had looked at Whitehead's book. I recall it being particularly dense reading back then. Thus far, I have only re-read the first two chapters. I was struck this time, however, by sentences like: "There is no reason to doubt the intrinsic capacity of individual Chinamen (emphasis added) for the pursuit of science." (p. 6).

A few years after I had graduated, I visited Wagman and we talked about the book. He said then that he had stopped using it in his history class. Students no longer had the ability to comprehend it, he said.

Now, I'm reading it again. In a few weeks I'll report back on how MY comprehension fares.

Breaking Down Research Designs

After a less-than-stellar set of test grades on chapters 7 and 8, I decided to re-explain the characteristics of research design. The test question was:

What is a design? What are its components?

In chapter 2, we state (p. 44): "The design of a research project includes the number of groups, how they are treated, and how the behavior is measured. The dependent variable, the independent variable, levels of the independent variable, and how extraneous variables are controlled are all aspects of research design."

In chapter 7, we introduce between-subjects designs and the extraneous variables of selection, differential attrition, and diffusion of treatment. In chapter 8, we introduce within-subjects designs and the extraneous variables of testing, instrument change, history, maturation, and regression (to the mean).

Let's break down design even further.

RESEARCH Type

• Experiment
• Quasi-experiment
• Field Study
• Naturalistic Observation
• Participant Observation
• Case Study
• Interview
• Focus Group
• Oral History
• Archival Study
• Small N Study
• Other
  

NUMBER of Groups (N)

• One
• Two
• Three
• Four
• More

GROUPS

• Between Subjects
• Within Subjects
• Mixed

VARIABLES

• Independent (number, levels)
• Dependent (number, quantitative or qualitative, continuous or discrete)
• Extraneous (how controlled or not)

EXPLORATORY DATA ANALYSIS & STATISTICS

• Graphs
• Descriptive Statistics
• Correlations
  
• Confidence Intervals
• NHST Tests and Significance (e.g., t-test, ANOVA, chi-square)
  
• Nonparametric Tests (e.g., Mann-Whitney, Wilcoxon Matched-Pairs Signed Ranks, Spearman correlation coefficient)
  
• Effect Sizes

CONTROLLING EXTRANEOUS VARIABLES

• Via design
• Via procedures

ETHICS

As we note in chapter 3, any design that fails to properly follow the current ethical standards is, by definition, a bad design.

So, there are many aspects to research design. Careful researchers devote much time toward perfecting their design and then pilot testing it before collecting data for real.

Are there laws of psychology?

One of the factors that led Mjøset (2001) to differentiate social science from physical science was that the latter had succeeded in formulating laws of nature such as the second law of thermodynamics. (Those laws are undisputed, universal statements about how nature works.) He noted that many early psychologists hoped to formulate similar laws of nature within psychology. Unfortunately, no such laws have yet been discovered, nor may they ever be. In some ways, then, the physical sciences have far surpassed the social sciences because of the presence and reality of physical laws. The situation is somewhat similar between the biological sciences and the physical sciences too. It is impossible to find biological laws either. Some social scientists, notably Merton (1949), simply decided to continue practicing science and forgo any hope of discovering universal laws. In psychology, a similar story exists. It is impossible to find results that apply in any situation. Instead, results must be carefully couched within a disciplinary, subdisciplinary, or finer-grained contexts. There are no laws of psychology.

All is not lost however. Some results have stood the tests of time and of multiple replications. While the examples to follow fail to reach the criterion of a scientific law they serve to illustrate real and reliable psychological data. The first example is Ebbinghaus’ research on human memory. His 1885 book, Über das Gedächnis (Concerning Memory) caused a sensation when first published. He was the first to show the relationship between memory and the passage of time. Simply put, we forget much more quickly soon after learning and forget much more slowly thereafter. The figure below shows the relationship between memory and time.

Ebbinghaus’ discovery does not rise to the level of a scientific law because other conditions (e.g., practice) can alter the relationship between memory and time. So, the relationship is real and reproducible but it does not apply to all types of memory. A second example is Shepard and Metzler’s (1971) mental rotation research. In a laboratory setting, they projected pairs of geometric stimuli to human participants. While the stimuli were projected in two dimensions, they were designed to convey information in all three dimensions. Participants had to decide quickly whether the two stimuli were alike or different. The stimuli which were alike were presented from 0° up to 180° of rotation from each other in any plane. Like Ebbinghaus, they discovered a remarkably straightforward relationship between the amount of rotation and the time it took to decide. As the rotation approached 180°, participants took longer to decide. Moreover, the relationship was linear. See the figures below for examples of the stimuli used and the results Shepard and Metzler found. Pigeons, too, have been tested for their abilities to



mentally rotate objects. Unlike humans, pigeons are able make accurate mental rotations from various points of view (Köhler, Hoffman, Dehnhardt, & Mauck, 2005). Humans perform mental rotations best while in a normal, upright position. Pigeons, on the other, hand perform mental rotations equally well regardless of their spatial relationship to the stimulus. Flying, apparently, affects how pigeons make mental rotations. Thus, the results show that different species make mental rotations differently. Again, while the results of mental rotation experiments are replicable, they are not universal. The species tested makes a difference.

References

Köhler, C., Hoffmann, K. P., Dehnhardt, G., & Mauck, B. (2005). Mental rotation and rotational invariance in the rhesus monkey. Brain, Behavior, and Evolution, 66(3), 158-166.

Merton, R. K. (1949). Social theory and social structure. Glencoe, IL: Free Press.

Mjøset, L. (2001). Theories: Conceptions in the social sciences. In N. J. Smelser & P. B. Baltes, (Eds.). International encyclopedia of the social and behavioral sciences. 23, 15,641–15,647.

Shepard, R. N., & Metzler, J. (1971). Mental rotation of three-dimensional objects. Science, 171(3972), 701-703.

Psychology's Borders

Gray (2008) notes that psychology fits neatly in the middle of nearly every academic discipline. The figure below shows how Gray places psychology in a central position with the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities arrayed around it. He adds, “It would be impossible for people from any other department to draw a diagram nearly as elegant as mine that put their discipline in the center.” (p.30) I agree. The centrality of psychology creates borders between it and many nearby disciplines. Four disciplines: sociology, biology, computer science, and philosophy have especially intimate borders with psychology. Over time those borders have moved as well. Those border realignments are historically important to understanding 21st century psychology.

Psychology's central position in the academy is probably one reason why psychology courses and the psychology major are so popular.

Gray, P. (2008). The value of Psychology 101 in liberal arts education: A psychocentric theory of the university. Observer, 21(9), 29-32.

Zeitgeist of the Middle Ages

I spent the Christmas holiday working on a book proposal and playing golf (also a little tennis). One of the things I'm sending publishers is a description of what it might have been like to live in the Middle Ages. The textbook is for the history of psychology course, in case you are wondering.

For those who do not know, zeitgeist is a German word that describes what it feels like to live in a particular time and place.

Here goes:

The Zeitgeist of the Middle Ages

Religion was probably the most important difference between then and now. For during the medieval period, religion thoroughly permeated every aspect of life to a degree almost unimaginable today. Yet, at the same time, daily life contradicted those same religious principles. Violence was endemic and justice uncertain. Life was seen as a temporary state, a trial leading to eternal salvation or damnation. Thus, efforts were few to reform social structures or to change behavior because, for the blessed, salvation awaited; and, for the wicked, damnation. Religion also stifled creative thought because God's plan had already been revealed. All human explanations had to account for Biblical truth and for religious dogma. The world and humankind were unique reflections of God's creation. The gradual sense of a loss of uniqueness caused later by Copernicus, Galileo, and Darwin were still far in the future.

Throughout the period, evidence of earlier Roman civilization still stood. Early in the period, a belief that the world was in decline must have been universal. Later, however, as new towns grew, and great cathedrals and castles were built such feelings probably abated some. However, our notions of constant and universal progress would probably have been unrecognizable. Instead of progress, stasis was a hallmark of the period. But, some technological change did take place, slowly. For example, the invention of the chimney allowed for the heating of individual rooms and served to separate the classes from the great common rooms before, where all huddled overnight around the only fire. Town clocks were built, and changed forever perception of time. In the service of war, metallurgy advanced.

Socially, the world was highly structured. The three estates consisted of the clergy, the nobility, and the rest of humanity. Within each estate, of course, large differences existed. The clergy had a special role given the religiosity of the period. The nobility are our main source of information about the period, because of their status. Comparatively little is known about the daily existence of peasants, but their lives can probably be safely assumed to reflect best the stasis of the period. Later in the period, as towns and commerce grew, a middle class developed. Jews, excluded from "proper" occupations, suffered throughout the period. Massacres, exiles, and discrimination were both common and viewed as righteous, given the Jews' alleged role as "Christ killers" and their subsequent refusal to adopt Christianity. In the same light, the Crusades seemed to make abstract sense, even though in a practical sense they were no testimony to Christian principles.

The universities of the Middle Ages were established to reconcile philosophy and theology. Early on in the history of universities, many of the religious orders opened houses of study. The course of study at the medieval university was much different than today's curriculum. The trivium, or introductory curriculum, consisted of three courses: grammar, logic, and rhetoric, while the quadrivium, or advanced curriculum, consisted of geometry, astronomy, arithmetic, and music. Books were all produced by hand and were, consequently, rare. Relatively few attended the university, and those came from the clergy or the nobility. (As an aside, the oldest universities are: Bologna, Paris, and Oxford)

So, life was far different during the medieval period than it is today. Yet, some of its vestiges still remain, such as superstitions and nursery rhymes. Zeitgeist yourself back to a medieval village. Imagine the smell of raw sewage flowing through the gutter in the center of the street. Think of the rigid class structure, the status of women, and the lives of children. Finally, examine how modern culture is descended from medieval culture, and what things have changed and what have not.