Introduction to Research

Introduction to Research

         Part of the excitement of contemporary  is observing the speed at which the world around us changes. It was only one hundred years ago that people fi rst fl ew in an airplane. Today, astronauts spend months at a time in space. It was only a little over fi ve hundred years ago that Johannes Gutenberg printed the fi rst page of a book. Today, more printed text is sent via e-mail in a few seconds than could be published in a lifetime only a few years ago. A doctor who studied medicine one hundred years ago learned that most diseases were incurable—medicine could hope only to make the remaining life of a patient more comfortable. Today, doctors routinely give people new life by replacing the coronary arteries of the heart and preventing the growth of tumors through the use of chemical and radiation treatments. 

        Yet, despite the benefi ts that technological change has brought, many of the problems facing humanity appear to be as great as ever. There are still many children, in all parts of the world, who are hungry and who do not have adequate housing or health care. Physical violence is prevalent, including child and spousal abuse, gang violence in cities, ethnic confl icts within nations, and terrorism. Divorce continues to have an impact on the lives of thousands of children, and people continue to expose themselves to deadly viruses such as acquired immune defi ciency syndrome (AIDS), even when there are ways to avoid contracting these diseases. Although people are living longer and enjoy many of the comforts of technological achievement, the dramatic technological advances that have occurred over the past few decades have not generally been paralleled by advances in the quality of our interpersonal and social behavior. 

          It is this behavior, among both humans and animals, and the scientifi c research designed to study it that are the focus of this book. Indeed, the purpose of behavioral research is to increase our understanding of behavior and, where possible, to provide methods for improving the quality of our lives. The results of such research are becoming increasingly relevant to our perception of such human problems as homelessness, illiteracy, psychological disorders, family instability, and violence. Thus, it is not surprising that research is being used more and more frequently to help guide public policy. For instance, behavioral research has been used to guide court rulings on racism, such as in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education (1954), and sexism (Fiske, Bersoff, Borgida, Deaux, & Heilman, 1991), as well as on the use of lie detectors in criminal trials (Saxe, Dougherty, & Cross, 1985). Behavioral research is also being used to help us understand which methods of educating children are most effective, and teachers are being trained to make use of the most effective techniques. The federal government has recently created a center at my university to study the behavorial aspects of terrorism.

         Behavioral research also provides important information that complements other scientifi c approaches. For instance, in the fi eld of medicine, infectious diseases such as measles and polio were once major causes of death. Today, people’s own behavior is implicated in most of the leading killers, including homicide, lung cancer, heart disease, and AIDS. Furthermore, much of the productive capability of modern societies is now dependent not onlyon further technological advances but also on the availability of an educated and skilled work force. 

        In sum, behavioral research is used to study important human problems and provide solutions to them. Because research has such a signifi cant impact on scientifi c decisions and public policy, informed citizens, like you, are wise to understand it.