04. Intro to Research Flashcards
Basic research
FOCUSED ON DEVELOPING THEORY; Understand, explore,develop theory; Describe & provide foundation; Process of collecting/analyzing info to develop theory
Applied research
FOCUSED ON TESTING A THEORY; Apply & test theory; Predict, compare & explain cause; Results either support or don’t support a theory; Action research
Nuremberg Code
1947; 10 standards to which physicians must conform when carrying out experiments; Require voluntary informed consent; Risk must be weighed against the expected benefit; Avoid actions that injure humans
National Research Act
1974; Belmont Report - a foundational document in the US for ethics; Respect for persons - Informed consent; Beneficence - Assessment of risks and benefits; Justice - Fair selection of subjects; Requires proposed research to be approved by an authorized group (IRB)
Discrete variable definition
Whole numbers; Possibilities within a variable are distinct within a certain range of values (e.g. children in a family)
Continuous variable definition
Any value withina given range (e.g. BP)
Types of qualitative research
Historical; Case study; Biography; Ethnography; Phenomenology
Reliability vs. Validity
Test CANNOT be VALID WITHOUT also BEING RELIABLE; A test can be RELIABLE WITHOUT BEING VALID.
Types of reliability
Stability (Test-retest); Equivalence; Equivalence & Stability
Stability
Type of reliability; Results consistent over TIME
Equivalence
Type of reliability; Results are consistent over DIFFERENT FORMS
Equivalence & Stability
Type of reliability; One version of test yields comparative results to an alternate version after a period of time
Types of validity
Content Validity; Construct Validity; Criterion-related Validity
Content validity
Measures the intended CONTENT AREA; Judge needed
Construct validity
Degree to which TEST ITEMS get at the construct the test is intended to measure
Criterion-related validity
SCORES are RELATED to a separate ALREADY VALID test; Extent to which test PREDICTS BEHAVIOR
Population
Large group of subjects
Sample
Group of subjects selected from a population
Parameter
Numerical value that describes a POPULATION
Statistic
Numerical value that describes a SAMPLE; Tool to ORGANIZE DATA and DRAW CONCLUSIONS
Descriptive statistics
Procedures used to summarize, organize, and simplify data
Interferential Statistics
Procedures that ALLOW CONCLUSIONS about a population to be drawn from sample data
Descriptive statistic categories
Central tendency; Dispersion (or Variation); Relative Position
Sampling error
CHANCE inaccuracies
Sampling bias
Inaccuracies that are ACTUAL ERRORS d/t the SAMPLE NOT BEING REPRESENTATIVE; Controllable; Results of study become INVALID
Measures of central tendency
Mean, median, & mode; Describe HOW SIMILAR
Mean
Average
Median
Score in the middle when everything arranged in ascending or descending order; best for data including EXTREME SCORES
Mode
Most frequent score; Best central tendency score for nominal or ordinal data
Measures of dispersion
Range, standard deviation, & variance; How DISSIMILAR, SPREAD OUT
sd
Standard deviation for a SAMPLE; Square root of the variance; (almost always what we use)
Range
Quick & easy, but not very stable and easily affected by extreme scores
Measures of relative proportion
Percentile ranks, standard scores (z- & t-scores); COMPARISON of one to others
Distribution
Assumption that samples were taken from populations with normal distributions; normally distributed populations will have all 3 measures of central tendency that are about equal
Positively Skewed Distribution
Peak at the left of the graph with long tail on the right
Negatively Skewed Distribution
Tail at the left of the graph with peak on the right
Major classifications of research
Non-experimental; Experimental
Non-experimental
Does not exert any direct influence
Types of non-experimental research
Qualitative; Descriptive (Quantitative); Correlational
Experimental research
Researcher exerts control over one or more variables
Steps of scientific method
1 - Problem; 2 - Plan; 3 - Analyze; 4 - Results, Conclusion & Implications
When is research not worth doing?
If there is not an unsettling problem that needs attention
What components are in methodology?
Design; Instrumentation; Participants; Variables; Plan for analyzing data
Quantitative Research Design
Highly structured; STRICT RULES
Qualitative Research Design
Fairly FLEXIBLE; Design can EVOLVE during study
