Foster E Michael, Kalil Ariel
Department of Maternal and Child Health, School of Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7445, USA.
Dev Psychol. 2008 Mar;44(2):301-4. doi: 10.1037/0012-1649.44.2.301.
Two forces motivate this special section, "New Methods for New Questions in Developmental Psychology." First are recent developments in social science methodology and the increasing availability of those methods in common software packages. Second, at the same time psychologists' understanding of developmental phenomena has continued to grow. At their best, these developments in theory and methods work in tandem, fueling each other. Newer methods make it possible for scientists to better test their ideas; better ideas lead methodologists to techniques that better reflect, capture, and quantify the underlying processes. The articles in this special section represent a sampling of these new methods and new questions. The authors describe common themes in these articles and identify barriers to future progress, such as the lack of data sharing by and analytical training for developmentalists.
有两股力量推动了这个特别版块“发展心理学新问题的新方法”的诞生。首先是社会科学方法论的最新发展，以及这些方法在通用软件包中越来越容易获取。其次，与此同时，心理学家对发展现象的理解也在不断加深。理论和方法上的这些发展，在最佳状态下会协同发挥作用，相互促进。更新的方法使科学家能够更好地检验他们的想法；更好的想法促使方法论者采用能更好地反映、捕捉和量化潜在过程的技术。这个特别版块中的文章展示了这些新方法和新问题的一个样本。作者们描述了这些文章中的共同主题，并指出了未来进展的障碍，比如发展心理学家缺乏数据共享和分析培训。
