Expansion of lectures delivered in the spring of 1947 to the postgraduate engineering students at the Naval Postgraduate School, Annapolis.

This is the first comprehensive guide to the range of research methods available to applied psychologists. Ideally suited to students and researchers alike, and covering both quantitative and qualitative techniques, the book takes readers on a journey from research design to final reporting. The book is divided into four sections, with chapters written by leading international researchers working in a range of applied settings: Getting Started Data Collection Data Analysis Research Dissemination With coverage of sampling and ethical issues, and chapters on everything from experimental and quasi-experimental designs to longitudinal data collection and focus groups, the book provides a concise overview not only of the options available for applied research, but also of how to make sense of the data produced. It includes chapters on organizational interventions and the use of digital technologies, and concludes with chapters on how to publish your research, whether it’s a thesis, journal article or organisational report. This is a must-have book for anyone conducting psychological research in an applied setting.

The peculiarly ambiguous character of applied psychology at the present time makes it appropriate to preface this book with an explicit statement of its purpose. The current development of the subject shows two widely divergent tendencies. The field covered by the subject is already large and is expanding rapidly, hence it has seemed best to limit the contents of the book to fundamental principles and the significant results attained in the three divisions of the field which have been most thoroughly explored, namely education, psychotherapy, and the psychology of industry, together with numerous illustrations drawn from other departments. The critical statement of principles is the most important part of the book, since it is by its misunderstanding of these that popular applied psychology usually goes astray. Throughout I have tried to keep the exposition as close as possible to common experience. Here psychology often succeeds only in giving precise form to what wise persons have long known, or reasons for what they have always done; but it is none the less desirable to have such exactitude and rationality scientifically established. This is perfectly genuine "applied psychology," though the fact is sometimes obscured in the atmosphere of experimental investigation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2005 APA, all rights reserved).

First Published in 1993. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Print+CourseSmart

Features the International Association of Applied Psychology (IAAP), which focuses on establishing contact between individuals who devote themselves to scientific work in the various fields of applied psychology. Highlights its constitution, membership, activities, congresses, and conventions.

Includes established theories and cutting-edge developments. Presents the work of an international group of experts. Presents the nature, origin, implications, and future course of major unresolved issues in the area.