Addresses problems found in Hesselbrock and associates' (1983) research on assessment of depression in alcoholics. Discusses several problems, including failure to accurately identify depression and lack of an alcohol-use status measure during assessment. A reply from Hesselbrock and associates clarifies methodology used and responds to the…

Describes areas in psychotherapy in which exploratory process research methods are used: therapist techniques, client behavior, covert processes, process models, therapist-client interactions, and therapy events. Suggests areas in which such methods would be useful for future research: links between client personality characteristics, therapy…

Discusses methodological problems involving use of MMPI by reviewing past literature. MMPI is so easily used that it is sometimes misapplied or data obtained from it are incorrectly analyzed by researchers unfamiliar with its limitations or peculiarities. Suggestions for improving research design are made. (Author/BEF)

Identifies common problems in research on the addictions and offers suggestions for remediating these methodological problems. The addictions considered include alcoholism and drug dependencies. Problems considered are those arising from inadequate, incomplete, or biased reviews of relevant literatures and methodological shortcomings of subject…

Reviews research on two measures of transference: Q-sort questionnaire measures and psychotherapy process measures. Q-sort, although reliable, lacks validity information. Psychotherapy process measures have reliability and validity. Considerable comparability was found between process measures and operationalized propositions from Freud's…

Delineates sources of problematic methodology in research designed to relate measures of sex-role orientation to indices of psychological well-being. Procedures in sex-role research are examined in relation to orthogonal scales of sex-role orientation that provide independent measures of masculinity, femininity, and androgyny. Directions for…

Although the National Institutes of Health Consensus Development Conference on the Treatment of Panic Disorder endorsed the effectiveness of cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT), D. F. Klein argues that fatal flaws in all but one CBT study undermine claims about the effectiveness of CBT for panic disorder. This article critiques Klein's arguments and…

Outcome research, despite progress in standardization of change measures and specification of therapeutic procedures, continues to fail to demonstrate significant differences in the effectiveness of these procedures for most conditions. Based on clinical impressions and scattered research findings, potentially promising research approaches to…

Describes common methodological inadequacies in research on treatment of obesity and suggests alternatives. Importance of multiple measurement of outcome is emphasized. Merits of alternative single-subject and between-groups experimental designs are discussed. Reasons for conspicuous lack of long-term follow-ups are analyzed. Recommendations for…

Examined methodological issues confronting psychologists who conduct research with correctional populations. Sections included intrusion of values; problems with trait-derived methodologies in correctional population research, including inadequate construct validity, ignoring environmental influences and ignoring subjects; naturalness and problems…

The choice of the clustering method, the similarity measure, the computer program, and the procedure for estimating the number of clusters should be clearly specified in any journal article using cluster analysis. Adequate evidence of a cluster solution's validity should be provided before the solution is published. (Author)

Contains seven articles discussing the application of meta-analysis to research on outcomes in psychotherapy. Provides a framework for understanding meta-analytic procedures and outlines major techniques. Reviews criticisms of integration of psychotherapy outcome research. Evaluates comparative therapy outcome research and discusses limitations of…

Single-case designs make available areas not easily studied in group research and make demands on an investigator that are not easily met in clinical situations. Single-case designs appear relatively straightforward, which may foster problems. Best guide for interpretation is recognition of logic of designs and common methodological problems.…

Reviews several assumptions commonly made about the grieving process: that depression is inevitable; that distress is necessary and failure to experience it indicates pathology; that it is necessary to "work through" a loss; and that recovery and resolution are to be expected following loss. Notes that available empirical work fails to support and…

Investigators are urged to plan factor analytic studies prior to collecting the data, to formulate a hypothesized factor structure, to develop several relatively pure measures of each factor expected, and to select an appropriate sample of at least 200 cases. Continuous variables should be used rather than dichotomous variables. (Author)