Ninth Edition CoverGraziano & Raulin
Research Methods (9th edition)

Michael Louis Raulin

Current Professional Activities

I moved to Ohio in 2003 and am devoting my time to textbook writing, research, teaching, and a variety of service activities.  I am an associate professor in the psychology department at Youngstown State University.

Textbook Writing

Research Methods. I completed work on the ninth edition of the Graziano and Raulin Research Methods textbook, now published by Pearson Higher Education. The text was released in August of 2019. A Canadian version of this text was released in the Spring of 2008 and an International version in the Spring of 2009. (This book includes an accompanying textbook website (which you are reading right now), a set of PowerPoint lectures, and an Instructor's Manual and computerized test-item file. 

Abnormal Psychology. I completed an Abnormal Psychology textbook with Allyn & Bacon a few years back. I was the sole author of that text, although I had two partners on the project (Scott Lilienfeld of Emory University and Ed Katkin of SUNY at Stony Brook). The partners were not responsible for writing, but reviewed everything that I wrote and offered suggestions as to organization, coverage, and content. The book includes a free Client Snapshots CD, on which are brief interviews that I conducted of clients discussing their symptoms. 

Other Writing (in progress)

Education Marketplace. In between other projects, I am working on a book on American Public Education. The premise of the book is that the current educational system is controlled by the schools of education and that these programs have failed to develop a science of learning in over a century of existence, and they show little current interest in doing so. Consequently, educational innovation consists of little more than politically-motivated fads, which do not improve learning. My position is that the system is far too entrenched to ever be reformed. In contrast, a competitive marketplace for education would quickly develop a science that improved learning and reduced cost because failing to do so would doom an educational corporation to bankruptcy.

Thinking Critically in Everyday Life. I have been working on this project off and on the past year. It builds on my most recent research on critical thinking and how to increase critical thinking in students. This line of research grew out of the Research Methods textbook. One can think of this research methods textbook as covering the use of critical thinking in the process of conducting research in psychology. The idea of this book is to indentify common situations in which critical thinking breaks down and show people how to detect that their thought process is weak. Then I provide strategies for bolstering that thought process and for checking to see if the resulting ideas withstand intellectual scrutiny. As the work of Kahneman and Tversky clearly demonstrated, we often are the most confident of the quality of our thinking when we are actually engaging is sloppy thinking, a fact that few people realize.

Teaching

I teach undergraduate courses at Youngstown State University and have taught graduate courses online through the University of Phoenix. Currently, I teach undergraduate courses in general psychology, abnormal psychology, abnormal psychology lab, field placement, statistics, research methods, psychology capstone course, and personality. I also teach a graduate course on psychopathology.  I taught a wide variety of courses in my 25 years at the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Research and Other Professional Activities

I have an active research program in two areas. I am continuing my research in risk factors for schizophrenia, primarily in collaboration with Thomas Kwapil at the University of Illinois. Recently, we developed a new multidimensional measure of schizotypy (the individuals thought to be at genetic risk for schizophrenia). This work built on 40 years of research using measures of schizotypal signs that I helped to develop early in my career. The new scales look extremely promising, and we have published several construct validation papers already.

I have expanded my research into new areas. My primary focus is on critical thinking, with the ultimate goal of developing more effective ways to teach students to think critically and to apply that critical thinking in everyday tasks. This has proved to be a more challenging research area than I had expected. Three fields study critical thinking extensively (Education, Philosophy, and Psychology), and virtually every discipline argues that critical thinking is absolutely necessary and that their education programs focus on teaching students to think critically. Critical thinking appears to be right up there with mom, apple pie, and the flag. But there are more than 200 different definitions of critical thinking, and most of the alleged measures of critical thinking do not correlate with one another. Clearly, there is no agreement on either the definition of critical thinking or how it should be measured. The construct is routinely treated in articles as if it is well understood and validated when in fact it is fuzzy at best, with little effort to break down the contributing factors in this process.

My current research on critical thinking is focusing on developing and validating measures that have a stronger conceptual basis than existing measures and to conduct studies that would help to clarify the nature of the construct. For example, most current models of critical thinking assume that it is an individual skill that is stable and reliable. However, there is sufficient research and anecdotal evidence that people are not consistent in their critical thinking. People can think critically in some areas of their life while not thinking critically in other areas. In fact, people can think critically at one time and a few hours later fail to think critically. Moreover, most models conceptualize critical thinking as an individual activity, but there are many examples of people who working together achieve a level of critical thinking that neither accomplished individually. In other words, we are considering the idea that some aspects of critical thinking may be a team sport.

I recently stepped down from the editorial board of the Journal of Abnormal Psychology after 12 years, and I review papers for other journals as time permits. I also occasionally review NIH grant proposals in my field. I have been invited by three journals in the past two years to join their editorial board, but I have resisted such invitations because of the enormous time commitment.

Clinical Work

I maintained an active private practice in Buffalo, New York until the summer of 2003. I moved at that time and am not planning to begin a new private practice at this time. My specialty was the treatment of anxiety disorders.

Current Personal Activities

When not working, I can be found golfing, bowling, biking, or attending Rotary meetings. My golf game needs considerable work, but I have given up on the idea that I will ever make it onto the Champion's Tour, unless they let me use my large handicap. I bike regularly when the weather permits, and I belong to a gold league in the summer and a bowling league in the winter.

I am an active member of the Rotary Club of Canfield, Ohio, and served as president in 2011-2012. I am responsible for their website (www.CanfieldRotary.org) and am the Foundation chair. In the past, I have served in just about every capacity in the club, including newsletter editor, photographer, membership chair, club chair, vocational chair, and representative to our high school Interact club. I was recently district governor (in 2017-2018), representing 46 clubs across approximately 20% of the state of Ohio. I was involved in the Rotary Global History Fellowship and was the webmaster of one of their websites (www.WhatPaulHarrisWrote.org). I am still active at the district level in several way, including serving as a lead facilitator for our district's RYLA program (Rotary Youth Leadership Award), contributing to the All Ohio President-Elect Training program each year, and serving as webmaster for the district website (www.rotarydistrict6650.org). I currently serve on or chair several district committees.