03 - Research Strategies Flashcards
What are three types of research methods?
- Experimental
- Correlational
- Descriptive
What is a scientific theory?
Explains through integrated set of principles that organizes observations and predicts behaviors or events.
What is a hypothesis?
A testable prediction, after implied by theory.
What is on operational definition?
A statement of the procedures used to define research variables. For example, human intelligence may be operationally defined as what on intelligence test measures.
What is replication?
Repeating the essence of a research study, usually with different participants in different situations, To see whether the basic finding extends to other participants and circumstances.
What is a descriptive research method, What is its basic purpose, how is it conducted (examples), and what is its weakness?
- To observe and record behavior.
- Do case studies, surveys, or naturalistic observations.
- No control of variables; single cases may be misleading
What is the correlational research method, What is its basic purpose, how is it conducted, and what is its weakness?
- To the text naturally occurring relationships; to assess how well one variable predicts another.
- Compute statistical Association, sometimes among survey responses
- Does not specify cause and effect
What is the experimental research method, what is its basic purpose, how’s it conducted, and what are its weaknesses?
- To explore cause-and-effect
- Manipulating one or more factors; use random assignment
- Sometimes not feasible; results may not generalize to other contexts; not ethical to manipulate certain variables
What are 3 types of descriptive research methods?
Naturalistic observation
the case study
the survey.
What is the case study?
An observation technique in which one person is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles.
What is the survey?
A technique for ascertaining the self reported attitudes or behaviors of a particular group, usually by questioning a representative, random sample of the group.
What are aspects of the survey that we must keep in mind?
Wording effects Random sampling (Population and random)
What is naturalistic observation?
Observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying to manipulate and control the situation.
What is a correlation?
A measure of the extent to which two factors very together, and thus of how well either factor predicts the other.
What is the correlation coefficient?
A statistical measure of the relationship between two things (from -1 to +1) - the extent to which two factors vary together. how well either factor predicts the other.
What is an independent variable?
The experimental factor that is being manipulated. The variable whose effect is being studied.
What is a dependent variable?
The variable being measured. The experimental factor that may change in response to manipulations of the independent variable.
What is the experimental condition?
The condition of an experiment that exposes participants to the treatment, that is, to one version of the independent variable.
What is the control condition (group)?
The condition of an experiment that contrasts with the experimental treatment. (Placebo.)
What is the double-blind procedure?
Both the research participants and the research staff are ignorant about whether the research participants have received the treatment or a placebo.
What is the placebo effect?
Experimental results caused by expectations alone.
What are four facts we can gather from data alone?
Frequency, duration, strength, latency.
What are two types of psychological data?
Behavioral data (Observable) Electrophysiological data
What does the electrophysiological method of gathering data measure?
Measures autonomic nervous system activity (Heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, pupil size, stress hormones)
