What’s still wrong with psychology, anyway? Twenty slow years, three old issues, and one new methodology for improving psychological research.

Woods, Bradley Dean2011-05-272011-05-272011http://hdl.handle.net/10092/5208http://dx.doi.org/10.26021/7279Recent retrospectives of classic psychology articles by Meehl (1978) and Wachtel (1980), concerning problems with psychology’s research paradigm, have been viewed by commentators, on the whole, as germane as when first published. However, no similar examination of Lykken’s (1991) classic criticisms of psychology’s dominant research tradition has been undertaken. Twenty years on, this thesis investigates whether Lykken’s criticisms and conclusions are still valid via an exposition of three contentious issues in psychological science: the measurement problem, null hypothesis significance testing, and the granularity of research methods. Though finding that little progress has been made, Observation Oriented Modelling is advanced as a promising methodological solution for improving psychological research.enCopyright Bradley Dean Woodsresearch methodsnull hypothesis significance testingpsychological measurementintraindividual variationinterindividual variationobservation oriented modellingWhat’s still wrong with psychology, anyway? Twenty slow years, three old issues, and one new methodology for improving psychological research.Theses / Dissertations