Beth Morling

Teaching Research Methods: Surprising Effects of Germany's Basic Income Study Revealed Teaching Research Methods: RCT on basic income

A pair of posts to ponder...In one study, adding income to infants didn't affect child development outcomes over 2 years. In another, adding additional income to adults did improve several variables 🤷‍♂️ (Plus, please enjoy our new blog design!)
everydayresearchmethods.com/2025/10/does...

@pewilliams.bsky.social has great explainers--I've used almost all of them in my undergraduate RM course!

Thanks in advance for contributing! For more information, and to submit your proposal, go to www.nitop.org. If you have questions, reach out to Steve Chew (slchew@samford.edu).

If you have developed an innovative teaching idea or activity that you can express in a few minutes, consider submitting it as a Teaching Slam. If you have an innovative activity that works well with your students, consider a Demo Demo. We’ve extended the submission deadline to September 10.

Are you going to NITOP 2026? We still have room for more Demo Demo and Teaching Slam proposals! We’ve received some excellent proposals but still have an opening or two in both the Teaching Slam and Demo Demo presentations.

The NITOP deadline for Demo Demo and Teaching Slam proposals is coming up: September 1!
I bet you have something amazing to share!
nitop.org/Proposals

Social anxiety and loneliness over time (cross-lag design) The study used a cross-lag panel design to establish temporal precedence. Photo: Roman Samborskyi/Shutterstock People who are socially anxious are often lonely, too. But which comes first? Loneliness ...

New cross-lag example! Great if you are teaching Chapter 9! www.everydayresearchmethods.com/2025/08/soci...

Potential grad applicants: I'm hoping to take 1-2 new students this cycle!

There's no need to email me in advance unless you have specific questions that aren't answered on the lab or psych department's website - everyone's applications will be considered equally.

u.osu.edu/mattlab/2025...

Adopt A Station - Rescue Public Media Help preserve independent journalism and community programming across America by adopting a public media station. Congress has voted to rescind public media's funding.

This site helps people find radio stations hit by the public media funding cuts--in addition to your home outlets, people might consider donating to rural stations as they will be hit much harder than urban public radio
adoptastation.org

Repairing past research injustices (a joint post with Jess Hartnett!) This is a joint blog post by two W.W. Norton & Co. authors (and pals): Beth Morling and Jess Hartnett. We first “met” through our blogs and social media years ago (Beth's blog on teaching RM, which yo...

Joint blog post by @bmorling.bsky.social and @notawfuljess.bsky.social! Find tips to teach ethics, methods, and self-correction using the story of 19 Black New Orleanians’ skulls stolen in the 1880s for racist pseudoscience
www.everydayresearchmethods.com/2025/07/repa...
#PsychSci #AcademicSky

Repairing past research injustices (a joint post with Jess Hartnett!) This is a joint blog post by two W.W. Norton & Co. authors (and pals): Beth Morling and Jess Hartnett. We first “met” through our blogs and social media years ago (Beth's blog on teaching RM, which yo...

Guess what? @notawfuljess.bsky.social and I did a joint blog post 😀 You can use it to teach ethics, scientific self-correction, NHST, human rights violations, & more.
We both hope you find it useful.
www.everydayresearchmethods.com/2025/07/repa...

We're hiring!

academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/30219

The Cornell Department of Communication is hiring an Assistant Professor in Science, Environment, and Risk Communication!

Applications received by September 15, 2025, will be given full consideration.

Claim: Using smartphones on the toilet increases hemorrhoid risk The study found that people who use their smartphone on the toilet are more likely to have hemorrhoids. How strong is their evidence? Photo: Svitlana Hulko/Shutterstock Is there any relationship betwe...

Thanks to Steve Chew (@schewpsych.bsky.social) for sharing the best examples. This story--on the link between smartphone use and hemorrhoids--can help you teach Ch 8 or 9 (bivariate and multivariate correlation) or even Ch 14 (potential p-hacking):
www.everydayresearchmethods.com/2025/07/clai...

Placebo controls: When are they necessary? When are they ethical? Many public health officials raise ethical concerns about requiring placebo controlled tests of slight revisions to existing vaccines. PPhoto: PeopleImages.com - Yuri A/Shutterstock Placebo effects ha...

The latest US national news on placebo-controlled studies provides an excellent opportunity to talk about both placebos and ethics in your RM class. Here are some ideas to frame that discussion:
www.everydayresearchmethods.com/2025/06/the-...

University of California, Riverside - Jobs UCR is hiring for this great opportunity!

I'm looking for a new Lab Manager to join me, my amazing incoming PhD students @isabellafavalos.bsky.social and @maceygrisso.bsky.social, and our fantastic undergraduate RAs in the Emotional Lives Lab at UC Riverside.
Sharing would be much appreciated!
jobsportal.ucr.edu/jobs/35754189

Touchscreens, buttons, and dials: What's best for drivers? Survey, observational, and qualitative research can all support carmakers' decisions about how to design a dashboard. Photo: insta_photos/Shutterstock Here's a story about automobile dashboards! After...

Auto manufacturers are going back to using some buttons and dials (rather than all-touchscreen). This post shows how three concepts from Chapter 6 (surveys, observational studies, focus groups) all helped support this decision.
www.everydayresearchmethods.com/2025/06/touc...

Changing minds The article reported three evidence-based techniques for changing people's minds. Photo: Caftor/Shutterstock In our era of extreme political polarization, people's attitudes seem entrenched. However, ...

Both curiosity and personal connection can help us change minds.

www.everydayresearchmethods.com/2025/05/chan...

Emoji use predicts narcissism Were all the variables in this study measured? Were any manipulated? Photo: Caftor/Shutterstock Psychology Today columnist Sebastian Ocklenburg summarized a recent study under the headline, The Dark S...

Here's an easy-to-understand example for teaching correlational research:
www.everydayresearchmethods.com/2025/05/emoj...

Culture is Bound to Shape Motor Development Teaching: Introduce students to the concept of developmental cascades with this lesson plan about gahvoras, wooden baby cradles used in homes in Tajikistan.

A new Teaching Current Directions introduces students to the concept of developmental cascades with a lesson plan about gahvoras, wooden baby cradles used in homes in Tajikistan. @bmorling.bsky.social #Teaching #Psychology

Changing minds The article reported three evidence-based techniques for changing people's minds. Photo: Caftor/Shutterstock In our era of extreme political polarization, people's attitudes seem entrenched. However, ...

To review and apply reasoning in a RM course, students can read about experimentally-tested ways to change people's minds. (Maybe it will make the world a better place....)

www.everydayresearchmethods.com/2025/05/chan...

"The problem with optimism" Although optimism feels good, it's more effective to also anticipate what might go wrong. Photo: Jacob Lund/Shutterstock This article, entitled "the problem with optimism," discusses one of my favorit...

This article offers a simple experiment for teaching RM, with the secret feature of introducing students to a powerful theory of motivation in psychology. It improve students' ability to acheive their goals, and make a difference!

www.everydayresearchmethods.com/2025/04/the-...

Childhood physical activity and teen depression The study found that kids who spent more time in physical activity during ages 6-9 were less likely to be depressed at age 15. Photo: PeopleImages.com - Yuri A/Shutterstock The online magazine Study F...

Here's a nice new example if you're teaching multiple regression (Ch 9)!

www.everydayresearchmethods.com/2025/04/chil...

Replication update: Mueller-Lyer Illusion (Ch 14) Turns out this illusion is probably universal--not only in humans, but also in other species. Photo: Dr. Dorsa Amir One of the examples in Chapter 14 is about the Mueller-Lyer Illusion (pictured), spe...

I've posted a replication update about Chapter 14's example of the Muller-Lyer illusion: www.everydayresearchmethods.com/2025/04/repl...

Thanks to @hilarybarth.bsky.social for the heads-up!

Kristina Olson and I have a truly incredible advisee who won an NSF but had no luck on clinical psych PhD applications this round. Anyone able to consider another candidate this late in the process? Trust me, you won't regret it!

The Podcast of Magical Thinking Don’t fall for The Telepathy Tapes.

Facilitated Communication is not dead. In fact, in the popular podcast "the telepathy tapes," FC's major flaw is actually being interpreted as telepathy. Use this episode to introduce the difference between science and intuition when you teach Research Methods:
www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/arc...

Prick up your ears! (Oh, I forgot...you can't!) Most humans have only vestigal muscles that could help them prick up their ears like this cute pooch. Photo: Mary Swift/Shutterstock The adorable dog in the photo is paying attention. "Lifting the ear...

Do you teach research methods? Here's an example you can use to teach a repeated measures design:
www.everydayresearchmethods.com/2025/02/the-...

For teaching experiments (Ch 10) this term, you might consider this concurrent measures design on chimps and bonobos: www.everydayresearchmethods.com/2024/01/bono...

And also, if you're preparing to teach RM this spring, here is an updated list of empirical articles that are student-friendly!

www.everydayresearchmethods.com/2019/11/upda...

Are you preparing to teach research methods this spring? In case you haven't seen it, here's my annotated catalog of the Netflix show, 100 Humans--Clips you can use when you teach the course! Most are short and very engaging:
www.everydayresearchmethods.com/2020/06/teac...

Are you starting Chapter 12 this week (like I am?) If so, here's a nice example of a study that moves from a one-IV design to a factorial design: www.everydayresearchmethods.com/2023/11/it-m...
Features work by Deborah Ward, Zaviera Panlilio, and Lora Park