Critical Thinking About Research: Psychology and Related Fields [Paperback]

Julian Meltzoff (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1998 | ISBN-10: 1557984557 | ISBN-13: 978-1557984555 | Edition: 1

Could the research you read be fundamentally flawed? Could crucial effects in methodology slip by you undetected? To become an informed, interactive consumer of research, you may need an attitude adjustment: from acceptance to inquiry, from reverence to skepticism. Critical Thinking About Research: Psychology and Related Fields equips you with those tools needed to identify errors in others' research and to reduce the m to a minimum in your own work.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Meltzoff applies an innovative approach to what many students consider a difficult, tedious subject and produces a readable, even entertaining, text on the basics of understanding, interpreting, and critiquing research design and methodology-Meltzoff addresses the need to be an astute consumer of research through a book that provides the reader with research knowledge and then opportunities to apply that knowledge using their critical thinking skills as they do research-critiquing exercises-the text is well planned and written in an interesting, entertaining style that may be useful in motivating students who are timorous about learning research and statistics. By combing fundamental content, contained in the first section of the book, with process exercises, the practice articles in the second part for developing research-critiquing skills, the text holds promise to produce good results. And, if Meltzoff's hypothesis is correct, the increase in research-critiquing skills should translate into increased critical thinking ability. -Rehabilitation Education: Official Journal of The National Council on Rehabilitation Education, Vol. 13, No. 2 A lively writing style and highly relevant material combine to make this book a winner. Dedicated completion of its contents will result in you becoming an excellent consumer of psychological research. If sufficient individuals are motivated to take this work seriously, the result should be a general increase in research quality. -Eye on Psi Chi, Winter 1998 This is truly a masterful piece of work. It is scholarly, broad ranging, and well thought through as a didactic effort. The research examples at the end are ingenious and creative. -Jerome L. Singer, Department of Psychology, Yale University --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 297 pages
• Publisher: Amer Psychological Assn; 1 edition (January 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1557984557
• ISBN-13: 978-1557984555
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 7.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #201,204 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Research Information for Students, August 6, 2003

By 

Chava79 (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Critical Thinking About Research: Psychology and Related Fields (Paperback)

If you want to learn to think critically about doing research and evaluating the research of others, this is a very useful book to read. It has many "research articles" (made up by the author) that have errors discussed in the book. Unlike many books that just talk about issues, this actually has extended examples that seem like real life scenarios.

It is probably most useful for students who already have an elementary understanding of research, but it could still be useful for *motivated* students who are new to the field. Overall, it is a very useful resource.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good book, August 21, 2006

By 

AMT "Music Bug" (Michigan) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Critical Thinking About Research: Psychology and Related Fields (Paperback)

This book is good for any student who is willing to learn the rudiments of critiquing an article. Meltzoff summarizes the important features in a clear way with numerous examples. The only problem is the articles are too short - I wish they were longer in order to give a much more comprehensive critique (but this is not a major problem)!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Have a good friend or teacher around to explain the jargon, the book does not do so well, November 17, 2010

By 

Prof. Corwin (U.S.A.) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Critical Thinking About Research: Psychology and Related Fields (Paperback)

Necessary for your library if you want to publish or create studies, not so clear on the defining of jargon so that you have to look elsewhere for help to translate the book.