Psychologists are under increasing pressure to demonstrate the ecological validity of their assessment procedures--to show that the recommendations concluding their evaluations are relevant to urgent concerns in the legal and social policy arenas, such as predicting dangerousness, awarding compensation, and choosing a custodial parent. How much damage does a referred patient have? Who or what "caused" the damage? What impact will it have on his or her future life, work, and family? And what can be done to remediate the damage?
The purpose of this book is to provide "sound objective" methods for answering these questions. It integrates the knowledge of experienced practitioners who offer state-of-the-art summaries of the best current approaches to evaluating difficult cases with that of basic theorists who describe emerging methods in both predictive and inferential statistics, such as Bayesian networks, that have proven their value in other scientific fields. Arguably, the enterprise of psychological assessment is so interdependent with that of data analysis that attempts to make inferences without consideration of statistical implications is malpractice. "Prediction in Forensic and Neuropsychology: Sound Statistical Practices" clarifies the process of hypothesis testing and helps to push the clinical interpretation of psychological data into the 21st century. It constitutes a vital resource for all the stakeholders in the assessment process--practitioners, researchers, attorneys, and policymakers.

Psychologists are under increasing pressure to demonstrate the ecological validity of their assessment procedures--to show that the recommendations concluding their evaluations are relevant to urgent concerns in the legal and social policy arenas, such as predicting dangerousness, awarding compensation, and choosing a custodial parent. How much damage does a referred patient have? Who or what "caused" the damage? What impact will it have on his or her future life, work, and family? And what can be done to remediate the damage? The purpose of this book is to provide sound objective methods for answering these questions. It integrates the knowledge of experienced practitioners who offer state-of-the-art summaries of the best current approaches to evaluating difficult cases with that of basic theorists who describe emerging methods in both predictive and inferential statistics, such as Bayesian networks, that have proven their value in other scientific fields. Arguably, the enterprise of psychological assessment is so interdependent with that of data analysis that attempts to make inferences without consideration of statistical implications is malpractice. Prediction in Forensic and Neuropsychology: Sound Statistical Practices clarifies the process of hypothesis testing and helps to push the clinical interpretation of psychological data into the 21st century. It constitutes a vital resource for all the stakeholders in the assessment process--practitioners, researchers, attorneys, and policymakers.

This book focuses on one important aspect of psychological research -- the intensive study of people measured one or more at a time. Some important historical material is detailed in several chapters making a strong connection to previous material in psychology. Several contributors present important details on classical and novel methods to study behavior over time, and they do so in the context of appropriate statistical methods. This appropriately reflects the growing interest in examining "dynamic" behaviors by objective measurement. Key experimental design principles are expertly stated, reflecting the growing interest in studying the individual course of development for "invariants" in behaviors, including some unusual constructs such as cycles and punctuated equilibria. This book also deals with practical contemporary problems in psychology and documents the increased possibility of using clinical research tools. Taken as a whole, this volume is filled with interesting historical points, informative mathematical and statistical analyses, and practical methods. It is the only book addressing the issues of meta-analysis, cyclicity, and confounds to visual inspection of single subject data that considers ways in which statistical software can aid in overcoming these constraints.

This book focuses on one important aspect of psychological research -- the intensive study of people measured one or more at a time. Some important historical material is detailed in several chapters making a strong connection to previous material in psychology. Several contributors present important details on classical and novel methods to study behavior over time, and they do so in the context of appropriate statistical methods. This appropriately reflects the growing interest in examining dynamic behaviors by objective measurement. Key experimental design principles are expertly stated, reflecting the growing interest in studying the individual course of development for invariants in behaviors, including some unusual constructs such as cycles and punctuated equilibria. This book also deals with practical contemporary problems in psychology and documents the increased possibility of using clinical research tools. Taken as a whole, this volume is filled with interesting historical points, informative mathematical and statistical analyses, and practical methods. It is the only book addressing the issues of meta-analysis, cyclicity, and confounds to visual inspection of single subject data that considers ways in which statistical software can aid in overcoming these constraints.