1. Find a research idea; 2. form a hypothesis; 3. define and measure variables Flashcards
4 sources of research ideas?
practical problems
past research/literacy search
observations
common sense
define basic research
research aimed to gather knowledge or address theoretical questions
define applied research
research aimed to solve practical problems
3 properties of a good theory
- PARSIMONY (theory adopts the simplest explanation)
- predictions are PRECISE
- theory withstands RIGOROUS TESTING
4 properties of a good hypothesis?
testable
positive
logical
refutable
do you know IV, DV, EV, CV etcyes
yes
define: quasi-independent/subject variabls
variables that are pre-existing and unable to be manipulated by the researcher - eg. age, sex
nominal, ordinal, interval, ratio scales of measurement
nominal: names variable
ordinal: names and ranks variable
interval: names and ranks variable, with equal distances between intervals (personality test scores, temperature)
ratio: names and ranks variables, equal distance between intervals, absolute zero (weight, height)
define: content validity
when a measure’s items cover a representative range of behaviours being measured
define: face validity
when a measure appears to measure what is claiming to
define: concurrent validity
when a new measure is consistent with more established measures of the same variable
define: predictive validity
when the measure predicts what its meant to
define: construct validity
when measurements behave the same way as the variable itself
define: split halves reliability
if the measure is split in half, the results are consistent between two halves
define: parallel/equivalent forms reliability
consistency between two forms of a test that are designed to be equivalent
