Research Methods in Clinical Psychology

Chris Barker is Professor of Clinical Psychology in the Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology at UCL, UK, where he was formerly the joint Research Director on the Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology.Nancy Pistrang is Professor of Clinical Psychology in the Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology at UCL, UK, where she was formerly the joint Research Director on the Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology. Robert Elliott is Professor of Counselling at the University of Strathclyde, UK, and Emeritus Professor of Psychology at the University of Toledo, USA. He is a former President of the Society for Psychotherapy Research and former co-editor of the journals Psychotherapy Research and Person-Centered Counselling and Psychotherapy.

• Preface to the Third Edition x1 Introduction: The Research Process 1The Research Process 32 Perspectives on Research 5Philosophical Issues 6What is Research? 6What is Science? 12Social and Political Issues 17Professional Issues 18The Intuitive Practitioner 19The Scientist-Practitioner 20The Applied Scientist 20The Local Clinical Scientist 21The Evidence-Based Practitioner 22The Clinical Scientist 22The Practice-Based Evidence Model 23Comparison of Models 23Implications for Clinical Training 24Personal Issues 24Why Do Clinical Psychologists Do Research? 25Why Don’t Clinical Psychologists Do Research? 26Weighing up the Pros and Cons of Doing Research 27Chapter Summary 27Further Reading 28Questions for Reflection 283 Doing the Groundwork 29Formulating the Research Questions 30Choosing the Topic 31Developing the Questions 32Hypothesis-testing versus Exploratory Research Questions 33Some Types of Research Question 34Literature Review 37The Proposal 41Funding 44The Politics of Research in Applied Settings 45Access 45Responding to Doubts 46Authorship 48Chapter Summary 48Further Reading 49Questions for Reflection 494 Foundations of Quantitative Measurement 50The Process of Measurement 52Domains of Variables 52Measuring Psychological Constructs 52Measurement Sources and Approaches 54Foundations of Quantitative Methods 54Positivism 55Psychometric Theory 58Definitions 58Reliability 60Reliability Statistics 62Validity 64Generalizability Theory 67Item Response Theory 68Utility 69Standards for Reliability and Validity 70Chapter Summary and Conclusions 71Further Reading 71Questions for Reflection 725 Foundations of Qualitative Methods 73Historical Background 75Philosophical Background 76Phenomenology 77Social Constructionism 79Families of Qualitative Approaches 84Thematic Analysis Approaches 84Narrative Approaches 87Language-Based Approaches 88Ethnographic Approaches 90Ways of Evaluating Qualitative Studies 91Conclusion: Choosing and Combining Methods 92Chapter Summary 94Further Reading 94Questions for Reflection 956 Self-Report Methods 96Mode of Administration 99Open-ended and Closed-ended Questions 100Qualitative Self-report Methods 101Types of Qualitative Interview 102Interview Schedule 103Interviewing Style 105Quantitative Self-report Methods 109Questionnaire Design 110Chapter Summary 118Further Reading 119Questions for Reflection 1197 Observation 120Qualitative Observation 122Participant Observation 122Text-based Research 126Quantitative Observation 128Background 129Procedures for Conducting Observations 130Reliability and Validity Issues 134Chapter Summary 135Further Reading 136Questions for Reflection 1368 Foundations of Design 137Nonexperimental Designs 138Descriptive Designs 138Correlational Designs 139Experimental Designs 142Cook and Campbell’s Validity Analysis 144Nonrandomized Designs 146Randomized Designs 152Conclusion: Choosing a Research Design 159Chapter Summary 159Further Reading 160Questions for Reflection 1619 Small]N Designs 162Historical Background 163Single-case Experimental Designs 165Procedure 165AB Design 166Reversal (or ABAB) Design 167Multiple-baseline Design 168Changing-Criterion Design 169Data Analysis 169Generalization 169Naturalistic Case-study Designs 170Narrative Case Studies 170Systematic Case Studies 171Time-Series Designs 175Conclusion 175Chapter Summary 176Further Reading 176Questions for Reflection 17710 The Participants: Sampling and Ethics 178Sampling 179The Target Population 181Bias and Representativeness 182Sample Size 183Alternative Approaches to Sampling and Generalizability 185Summary and Conclusion 187Ethical Issues 188Informed Consent 189Harms and Benefits 191Privacy and Confidentiality 192Ethics Self-study Exercise 193Ethics Committees 194Chapter Summary 196Further Reading 196Questions for Reflection 19711 Evaluation Research 198What is Evaluation? 199The Sociopolitical Context 201Preparation for Evaluating a Service 203Aims and Objectives 204The Impact Model 205The Target Population 205Estimating the Extent of the Target Problem in the Target Population 206Needs Assessment 207Delivery System Design 208Monitoring the Process of Service Delivery 209Coverage and Bias 210Service Implementation 211Outcome Evaluation 212Client Satisfaction Surveys 213Patient-focused Research and Outcomes Management 213Cost-effectiveness 214Chapter Summary 215Further Reading 216Questions for Reflection 21612 Analysis, Interpretation, and Dissemination 217Qualitative Data Analysis 218Within-case and Cross-case Analysis 219Preliminaries to Qualitative Data Analysis 219Processes in Qualitative Data Analysis 221Good Practice in Qualitative Analysis 224Quantitative Data Analysis 224Data Entry 224Data Checking 225Data Reduction 225Data Exploration 226Statistical Significance Testing for Answering the Research Questions 227Analyzing the Strength and Significance of Quantitative Effects 227Interpretation 232Contributions to Knowledge: Understanding the Meaning of the Findings 232Methodological Issues: Strengths and Limitations of the Study 233Scientific and Practical Implications 235Dissemination 236Writing up 237Publication 238Authorship Issues 239Utilization 240The End 240Chapter Summary 241Further Reading 241Questions For Reflection 24213 Epilogue 243Methodological Pluralism 243Appraising Research 244Combining Research with Practice 246Some Images of Research 247Questions for Reflection 248References 249Author Index 277Subject Index 287