2.2 Scientific Research Designs Flashcards
Qualitative research
involves examining an issue or behaviour without performing numerical measurements of the variables
Research design
a set of methods that allows a hypothesis to be tested
Quantitative research
involves examining an issue or behaviour using numerical measurements and/or statistics
Case study
is an in-depth report about the details of a specific case
Naturalistic observation
they unobtrusively observe and record behaviour as it occurs in the subject’s natural environment
Self-reporting
a method in which responses are provided directly by the people who are being studied, typically through face-to-face interviews, phone surveys, paper-and-pencil tests, and web-based
Correlational research
measuring the degree of association between two or more variables ( -1 to 1)
Third variable problem
the possibility that a third, unmeasured variable is responsible for a well-established correlation between two variables
Illusory correlations
relationships that really exist only in the mind, rather than in reality
Random assignment
a technique for dividing samples into two or more groups in which participants are equally likely to be placed in any condition of the experiment
Confounding variable
a variable outside of the researcher’s control that might affect or provide an alternative explanation for the results
Independent variable
the variable that the experimenter manipulates to distinguish between two or more groups
Dependent variable
is the observation or measurement that is recorded during the experiment and subsequently compared across all groups
Between-subjects design
an experimental design in which we compare the performance of participants who are in different groups
Experimental group
is the group in the experiment that receives a treatment or the stimuli targeting a specific behaviour
