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PSY 4107 Adv. Research Methods: Clinical Psychology

Start with a Reference Book

Reference books (like the ones listed on the left) offer a concise overview of a topic and can help you narrow your topic.

The APA Handbook of Ethics in Psychology or the Handbook of Research Ethics in Psychological Science are great ones with which to start.

Take a look at some of the chapter titles:

Volume 1:

1. Ethical foundations of psychology
2. Ethics and ethics codes for psychologists
3. Social justice and civic virtue
8. Competence with diverse populations
9. Boundaries, multiple roles, and the professional relationship
10. Religion, spirituality, and mental health, etc.

 Volume 2:.

1. Treating children and adolescents
2. Ethical considerations in the psychological evaluation and treatment of older adults
16. The responsible conduct of psychological research: an overview of ethical principles, APA Ethics Code standards, and federal regulations
17. Research with vulnerable populations
18. Ethical issues in Internet research
19. Deception in research
20. Laboratory animal research ethics: a practical, educational approach

To access this type of APA eBook,

  • click on the book title from the SPU Primo record, and then scroll down to the View It section to select the volume you prefer.

SPU Primo record for the APA Handbook of Ethics in Psychology, showing the view full text links for each volume

  • Then select Book TOC [Table of Contents]: Chapter PDFs from the box on the right:

main page for APA Handbook of Ethics in Psychology, showing Book TOC/Chapter PDF links on top right of page

  • Scroll down to see the chapter listed for that volume. Clicking on the title will show you the chapter description, and choosing the PDF option will display the full text for that chapter. You can choose to save the PDF for later if you prefer.

sample chapters of the APA Handbook of Ethics in Psychology, with PDF link circled

Find books/media

Library homepage search box

SPU Library Resources is the library's discovery system to search for books and media.  

The default search is SPU Library + Summit (which searches all Orbis Cascade Alliance libraries), but you may change the drop-down menu to SPU Library to narrow your search to SPU only or Articles, Books, and More to broaden your search to include SPU, Summit, articles, and some free online content.

Sign in to request books and media unavailable from the SPU library through Summit (3-5 business days) or visit the affiliated library in person to check out materials. Learn more about Summit. 

Learn more about searching SPU Library Resources.

Find Ethics and Human Research Encyclopedias

SPU Library Resources search for self-regulation handbooksEncyclopedias can provide an overview of your topic, while handbooks offer detailed chapters, often literature reviews, that can be excellent scholarly sources. 

Search SPU Library Resources to find encyclopedias or other reference sources on your topic by searching for your topic combined with

  • encyclopedias,
  • dictionaries, or
  • handbooks.

Browse the references of each article to find further resources on the subject.