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This chapter presents the reprinted article “Toward Jeffersonian Research Programmes in Ergonomics Science” by Kim Vicente. Here, Vicente presents and advocates a Human-tech research approach and agenda grounded in the tenets of Jeffersonian and representative democracy. The key message in this chapter is that a Human-tech research approach necessarily requires a broad, catholic perspective on viewing and selecting one's research methods and techniques.

This chapter discusses the conduct of education research, as well as some methodological innovations that have been proposed and used. A simple general approach to research is described; including a ‘sieve’, or a set of criteria, used to assist in the estimation of trustworthiness of any research study and the number of counterfactual cases needed to disturb a finding (NNTD). The chapter describes these and other innovations to generate evidence used in the following chapters; such as the mean absolute deviation and the Gorard segregation index. Furthermore, it presents an outline of additional research methods used in the following chapters.

The solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) model evolved out of the brief family therapy (BFT) approach between 1978 and 1984, long before the words evidence-based practice became an integral part of the medical and mental health vocabulary. At the beginning, the team at the Brief Family Therapy Center (BFTC) utilized a research approach that relied on clinical observations and client data to discover which therapeutic techniques would most effectively facilitate behavioral change. Only recently has SFBT been studied through the lens of efficacy research and evidence-based practice. This chapter chronicles how the original team members actually used an evidence-based process to develop the model; how the approach evolved from a brief family therapy model to a therapeutic approach that focuses on future solutions; and the specific theory and interventions that made SFBT both similar to and different from other therapies.

This chapter considers the uptake of selected articles representative of the different behavioral research approaches by studying citation patterns, the reporting of behavioral research in mass-media and “middle-brow” publications, and the reviews of general-interest books by researchers. The goal was to obtain a more complete picture of the transmission of ideas, both within the research context and between the research context and nonspecialist readers. It shows that apart from isolated confrontations staged by journal editors or conference organizers, there is little interaction among proponents of different research approaches. Second, the research itself is unevenly reported in the popular media. In both quantity and interpretation, genetic research is represented as the major and most productive line of investigation. Third, the framing of behavioral research in terms of the nature-nurture debate suggests that the main question about behavior concerns individual behavior and individual differences in behavior.

This introductory chapter sets out the book's purpose, which is to examine a set of research approaches that are in one way or another engaged with the debate over human behavior to understand their epistemological structure (investigative methods, assumptions, basic concepts), the kinds of knowledge they provide, and the pragmatic aims they can be seen to advance. The book outlines the evidential and argumentative structure of empirical research on human behavior that either employs one or another biological approach or is claimed to present an alternative to such approaches. It argues for and elaborates three principal theses, one epistemological, regarding the character of knowledge generated in this research; one ontological, regarding the object of knowledge; and one social, regarding the differential uptake and diffusion of knowledge. The organization and structure of the book is also described.

This chapter reviews the five approaches discussed in Chapters 2–6. These are quantitative behavioral genetics; social-environmental approaches; molecular behavioral genetics; neurobiological approaches; and integrative approaches (developmental systems theory/dynamic systems, gene x environment x neurosystem interaction, and multifactorial path analysis).

This chapter focuses specifically on service users' involvement as peer research interviewers. It points out that this approach, while part of a wider methodological commitment to challenging the objectification of service users within research, represents just one method of doing so, and is notably distinct from ‘user-led’ research. It draws on two studies undertaken within the social housing sector to outline the rationale, methods and ethics of peer interviewing, and to assess its strengths, as well as its risks. It argues that through this research approach, benefits can accrue to the peer interviewer, the service user being interviewed, and the ‘quality’ of the research process and data gathered. It suggests that the benefits associated with peer interviewing are contingent on the effective management of the risks involved. It provides useful guidance on how best to minimise risk and maximise the benefits of peer interviewing, while also advocating further evaluation of the research approach.

This chapter offers some conclusions based on the preceding chapters about the reach of scientific understanding of behavior. It extends the analysis of assumptions to underscore what the approaches have in common and what differentiates them from one another. It argues that, as presently constituted, the approaches can neither be integrated nor reduced to one by elimination or reductive assimilation. Each characterizes its domain in a unique way that precludes the reciprocal evaluation suggested by their polemics.

This chapter discusses integrative approaches to studying human behavior, covering methods, scope, and assumptions. These approaches take understanding the multiplicity of factors and their interaction as the focus of their research. Among these are developmental systems theory, the GxExN integration approach, multifactorial path analysis.

This chapter focuses on research, which is one of the cores of higher education that raises questions of interest on scholarly agenda, curricular focus, pedagogical practice, and responsibilities to communities. This chapter focuses on the contributions of Cooper and Bethune on the definition and modification of research. Although both exhibited parallelism in their ideas of research, knowledge creation, and meaning because of their cultural identities, both also illustrated nuances that separated one from the other. This chapter discusses Cooper's rational approach to research, wherein she argues the logic of faith in God and Bethune's metaphysical research approach, and she claims to have visions and powers from her ancestors.

This chapter presents some concluding thoughts. It discusses three major points emerging from this study. The first concerns the interrelations of the various approaches to the study of behavior. The second concerns the conceptualization of the phenomena to be explained. The third concerns the communication of research findings within the research community and in the wider public arena.

This chapter discusses neurobiological approaches to studying human behavior, covering methods, scope, and assumptions. Neurobiological research seeks answers to the question: What role do neural structures and processes play in behavior? The study methods employed are retrospective, concurrent, and prospective. Retrospective methods include the use of autopsies to identify neurostructural correlates of behavioral patterns attributed to the individual and correlational studies of prison, clinic, and hospital records to identify associations between brain injuries or other trauma (e.g., birth complications) and later aggressive or criminal behavior. Concurrent methods include brain imaging or measuring changes in other physical parameters (heart rate) associable with exposure to particular cognitive or sensory stimuli. Prospective methods include animal experiments to identify the effects on behavior of organizational or activational exposure to bio- and psychoactive substances, and clinical trials in humans to ascertain physiological, psychological, and behavioral effects of such substances.

This chapter discusses social-environmental approaches to studying human behavior, covering methods, scope, and assumptions. Social-environmental approaches seek to understand the environmental contribution to the development and expression of various behaviors. The aim is to identify aspects of the social environment that may have an effect on the behavior of interest. Some studies focus on the familial environment, considering, for example, parents' attitudes and interactions with their children. Others look beyond to the school environment, and peer relations, or media exposure.

This chapter analyses the engagement of researchers with previous debates about ‘the underclass’ and notes that a recurring feature of such debates is the involvement of researchers. It examines the research approach within the Troubled Families Programme (TFP), highlighting the use, misuse, and abuse of research in a number of key areas. The chapter looks at a number of issues including the misrepresentation of data behind the Understanding Troubled Families report which helped support the case for the expansion of the TFP; the invention of a survey that allegedly proved the need for radical reform of services to help troubled families; the use of case studies in the troubled families narrative; and the criticism of researchers involved with the official evaluation of the first phase of the TFP.

This chapter discusses the quantitative behavioral genetics approach to understanding human behavior, covering methods, scope, and assumptions. Quantitative behavioral genetics is a study of phenotypic variation in populations, which aims to distinguish the (biologically) heritable portion from the nonheritable (or nonbiologically heritable) portion of that variation. This research approach has been controversial. While it can apportion the variance in expression of a trait in a population between biological and environmental variation, a number of criticisms reveal vulnerabilities in the program. These concern the overextension of heritability conclusions and assumptions about the accessibility of relevant variation in the environment to the observation methods of the behavioral genetic approach.

This chapter discusses the molecular behavioral genetics approach to studying human behavior, covering methods, scope, and assumptions. Molecular genetics promises to deliver more precise characterizations of the gene–behavior relation than is possible using the methods of classical population genetics. However, the cost of this precision has been a reduced number of behavioral dispositions that can be attributed without qualification to genetic configurations.

This chapter examines the neighbourhood life in these areas in the East End. The first is ‘West-City’ in Hackney, while the second is ‘East-Docks’ in Newham. The neighbourhoods are described in detail, and the research approach that is used to gather data in these locations. It shows how the families who had participated in the research process were found, and determines if these two neighbourhoods are different or not.