Offering an interdisciplinary balance between experimental and nonexperimental methods, this text organizes material around the core concept of validity, and incorporates a level of self-contained coverage on statistics. Topics discussed include: Needleman's work on the effect of lead on IQ; measuring reliability by kappa coefficient; recent measures such as MMPI-2 and PET; the Literary Digest Poll; new examples of inferential problems with correlational designs; qualitative methods and the ethics of unobtrusive research; meta-analytic review; and evaluation methods and the uses of evaluations to influence law and social policy.