This multiauthored textbook is directed to the psychiatric resident and
other professionals who are interested in the issues, strategies, and
methods of psychiatric research. Although the field of psychiatry has
not attained the scientific rigor and clinical sophistication of some of
its sister disciplines in the medical arena, considerable progress has
been made in the last decade or two, and a full understanding of the
types of articles that now appear in such publications as the American
Journal of Psychiatry, the Archives of General Psychi- atry, and the
Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
requires a fair amount of knowledge about research design and strategy.
Whereas articles in psychiatric journals 20 years ago dealt mainly with
psycho- dynamic topics and utilized nonexperimental observations, today
their counter- parts are concerned mostly with psychobiology, clinical
features, diagnosis, and treatment, and employ scientific experimental
designs. The trend of applying scientific methodology to research in
psychiatry is increasing and undoubtedly will continue to do so in the
future.