Chapter 6 Clinical Psychology

Chapter 6: Conducting Research in Clinical Psychology

Why Do Clinical Psychologists Do Research?

  • Treatment outcome
  • Assessment methods
  • Diagnostic issues
  • Professional issues
  • Teaching and training issues

Research on Treatment Outcome

  • Efficacy
    • The extent to which an intervention produces a beneficial effect under ideal conditions.
  • Effectiveness
    • The extent to which the intervention produces a beneficial effect in real-world conditions.

Research on Assessment Methods

  • Examples can include:
    • Validation or expanded use of assessment tools.
    • Establishing normative data for assessment tools.
    • Comparing multiple assessment tools to each other.

Research on Diagnostic Issues

  • Examples can include:
    • Examine reliability or validity of diagnostic constructs.
    • Examine relationships between disorders.
    • Investigate prevalence or course of disorders.

Research on Professional Issues

  • Examples can include psychologists':
    • Beliefs
    • Attitudes
    • Components of Attitude:
      • Results
      • Behaviours
      • Attitudes
      • Beliefs
      • Values
    • Cognitive: Your thoughts and beliefs about the subject.
    • Attitudes can be based on beliefs.
    • Emotional: How the object, person, or event makes you feel.
    • Attitudes based on feelings.
    • Behavioural: How the attitude influences your behaviour.
    • Attitudes based on behaviour.

Research on Teaching and Training Issues

  • Examples can include:
    • Training philosophies.
    • Specific coursework.
    • Opportunities for specialized training.
    • Outcome of training efforts.

How Do Clinical Psychologists Do Research?

  • The Experimental Method
    • Observation of events.
    • Hypothesis formulation.
    • Define independent and dependent variables.
    • Empirically test the hypothesis.
    • Alter hypothesis as necessary based on results.

How Do Clinical Psychologists Do Research?

  • Quasi-experiments
    • Used when practical, ethical, or other issues limit manipulations in true experiments.
    • Less scientifically sound than true experiments, but common in clinical psychology.

How Do Clinical Psychologists Do Research?

  • Study Designs
    • Between-group design
    • Participants in different conditions receive entirely different treatments.
    • Within-group design
    • Compare participants in a single condition to themselves at various points in time.
    • Mixed-group designs
    • Combination of between-group and within-group designs.

How Do Clinical Psychologists Do Research?

  • Analogue designs
    • Used when actual clinical populations or situations cannot be accessed.
    • An approximation or simulation of the “real thing.”

How Do Clinical Psychologists Do Research?

  • Correlational designs
  • Case studies
  • Meta-Analysis
  • Cross-sectional vs. longitudinal designs

Ethical Issues in Research in Clinical Psychology

  • Numerous APA ethical standards specifically address research:
    • Obtain informed consent.
    • Do not coerce participation.
    • Use deception only when justified and necessary.
    • Minimize harm to participants.
    • Do not fabricate or falsify data.
    • Assign authorship appropriately.
    • Share data with other researchers for verification.