545- Research Design & Program Eval Flashcards
construct
Who: Counselors must understand and utilize constructs to help conceptualize and understand why the patient maybe struggling. Constructs may be derived from theory, research, or observation. Tests generally are designed to measure an internal construct
What: A construct refers to a concept or idea that helps to understand and explain an individual’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Constructs are often used as frameworks or tools to assess and guide therapeutic processes.
Why: Constructs are important because they provide a framework for understanding, they help guide assessment, inform interventions, facilitate conversations, measure progress and enhance insight.
Example: A counselor administered a paper assessment measure that solicited responses related to fidgeting, excessive worry, difficulty concentrating-all representing the construct of anxiety. Anxiety can be measured indirectly by assessing the prevalence of these behaviors.
correlational research
Who: Correlational research is commonly used in fields like psychology, education, and social sciences to identify relationships that can guide further research or inform practical applications.
What: Correlational research is a type of research design used to examine the relationship between two or more variables without manipulating them. Instead of establishing cause-and-effect relationships, correlational research looks at how variables are associated or correlated with each other. It is also important to note the correlation does not equate causation.
Why: Correlational research is important because it helps identify relationships, guide further research, gives us practical applications, and real world insights. Correlational research serves as a foundational tool for understanding complex relationships and guiding future research and practice.
Example: A researcher wants to examine the relationship between frequency of exercise and levels of anxiety among college students. Their hypothesis is that as exercise levels increase, anxiety levels will decrease. This is considered a correlational research design as it examines the relationship of two variables.
criterion-referenced scoring/tests
Who: CRTs can be useful when the goal is to determine whether an individual has reached a specific level of functioning or knowledge, rather than how they compare to others.
What: Criterion-referenced tests (CRTs) in psychological research and assessment are designed to measure an individual’s performance against a specific set of criteria or learning standards, rather than comparing it to the performance of a group of people (as in norm-referenced tests).
Why: Criterion-referenced tests (CRTs) play a crucial role in psychological research and practice due to their unique ability to measure specific competencies, skills, or behaviors against predefined criteria. This focus on mastery and standards makes them valuable in various settings.
Example: An example of a criterion-referenced test in psychological research is the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) used to assess levels of depression. The BDI includes a set of criteria for what constitutes different levels of depression (e.g., minimal, mild, moderate, or severe depression).These cutoff points serve as criteria to determine the severity of an individual’s depression. The test is criterion-referenced because it measures whether an individual’s symptoms meet the specified threshold for each level of depression severity, rather than comparing their score to the scores of others.
cross-validation
Who: This process helps researchers ensure that their results are not overly dependent on a particular dataset and can be applied more broadly.
What: Cross-validation in psychological research is a statistical method used to assess the reliability and generalizability of a model or set of findings. It involves dividing data into subsets to validate the performance of a model on different samples.
Why: Cross-validation is a valuable tool in psychological research for validating models and ensuring that findings are robust and applicable in real-world contexts. Cross-validation is important because it ensures that findings are specific to a single sample population, provides estimates of how models will preform on unseen data, as well as overfitting prevention.
Example: A researcher is studying the effectiveness of a new intervention to reduce symptoms of depression. The researcher uses cross-validation to assess whether the intervention effectively predicts reductions in depression symptoms across different subsets of participants.
cross-sectional design
Who: Cross-sectional designs are particularly useful when researchers want a broad, descriptive understanding of relationships between variables and the characteristics of a population, without needing to study changes over time.
What: A cross-sectional design in psychological research is a type of study design in which data is collected at a single point in time from a group of participants, allowing researchers to examine variables and their relationships without needing to follow participants over time. This design is often used to assess the prevalence of certain characteristics or behaviors, and it can provide a snapshot of a population at a specific moment.
Why: Cross-sectional designs are an important tool in psychological research due to their ability to provide quick, broad, and meaningful insights into various psychological phenomena. They offer a practical way to understand associations between variables, describe population characteristics, and lay the groundwork for more in-depth research.
Example: A researcher wants to study the relationship between age and anxiety levels in a population. They recruit participants from different age groups (e.g., 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s) and administer an anxiety questionnaire to all of them at the same time. The researcher then compares anxiety levels across these age groups to see if there are differences associated with age.
double-blind study
Who: By implementing a double-blind design, researchers aim to produce more trustworthy and scientifically sound results, which can better inform practice and further research.
What: A double-blind study is a research design commonly used in psychological and other scientific fields to eliminate bias and enhance the validity of results. In a double-blind study, neither the participants nor the researchers know which participants are receiving the treatment or intervention and which are receiving a placebo or control condition.
Why: Double-blind studies are important because they reduce bias, increase validity, and control placebo effects to help ensure that the results of the study are credible and can be confidently used to inform practice and further research.
Example: A researcher is studying whether a new antidepressant is more effective than a placebo in reducing symptoms of depression. The researcher gathers a group of people diagnosed with MDD and separate them into two groups. One group gets the placebo and another group gets the new antidepressant and neither the researcher or the participants know which one they got. This is a double-blind study to ensure the effectiveness of the new drug.
ecological validity
Who: Anyone involved in the application of psychological research to real-world situations would be interested in ecological validity to ensure that their work is grounded in realistic contexts and experiences. (researchers, clinicians, educators, policy makers, program evaluator, HR professionals, market researchers)
What: Ecological validity refers to the extent to which the findings of a psychological study can be generalized to real-world settings. It emphasizes the importance of the environment in which research is conducted and how closely it resembles everyday life.
Why: Ecological validity is crucial for ensuring that psychological research has practical relevance and can be effectively applied in real-world contexts. Ecological validity is important because its high generalization makes it more likely to be useful for practitioners and policymakers to help inform interventions and treatment programs that resonates with actual experiences and behaviors.
Example: A researcher wants to examine social behavior in a natural setting. They decide to investigate the factors that influence whether people intervene when they witness someone in distress. Because the study takes place in a real-world context, the findings are more likely to reflect actual human behavior in emergencies, increasing ecological validity.
experimental research
Who: Researchers use experimental research to examine cause-and-effect like relationships among psychological constructs, theories, and models.
What: Experimental research in psychological research is a scientific method used to investigate causal relationships between variables. It involves manipulating one or more independent variables to observe the effect on one or more dependent variables while controlling for extraneous factors. This approach allows researchers to draw conclusions about cause-and-effect relationships.
Why: Experimental research is important because it is one of the most effective ways to establish cause-and-effect relationships. It also lets researchers control extraneous variables leading to a more precise conclusion about relationships between variables. Lastly, it allows researchers to test psychological theories and models which helps advance the field.
Example: A researcher is investigating a new CBT technique on reducing anxiety. In the experiment the researcher defines an IV(type of therapy) and a DV (level of anxiety). They also randomly select a group of individuals with anxiety disorders as the sample. Anxiety levels are then measured before and after therapy sessions. This experimental design allows researchers to determine whether the new CBT technique is more effective at reducing anxiety compared to traditional methods.
hypothesis
Who: Hypotheses are used by researchers to determine what they want to research while participating in scientific methodology.
What: A hypothesis in psychological research is a specific, testable prediction about the relationship between two or more variables. It serves as the foundation for a study, guiding the research design and analysis.
Why: Hypotheses are important because they help guide researchers in the design of a study, narrow down the research questions to specific predictions, as well as provide a framework for interpretation. Overall, hypotheses are essential in psychological research, driving inquiry and facilitating the scientific process.
Example: A researcher wants to study the effects of mindfulness meditation on stress levels. A possible hypothesis for this might be, “college students who practice mindfulness meditation for 10 minutes daily will report lower levels of stress compared to those who do not meditate”. In this example the hypothesis is specific, testable, and predicts a particular outcome.
longitudinal design
Who: Longitudinal research designs are used by researchers to examine the effects of something over a long period of time.
What: A longitudinal design in psychological research is a study method that involves repeated observations or measurements of the same variables over an extended period. This design allows researchers to track changes and developments in individuals or groups over time, making it particularly useful for understanding developmental trends, life changes, or the effects of interventions.
Why: Longitudinal studies are important because they give researchers developmental insights over time, show us the impact of interventions effectiveness over time, as well as helping identify potential causal relationships over time.
Example: A researcher is investigating the effects of childhood trauma on adult mental health. This process would look like selecting a group of child participants who have experienced trauma and collecting data on their mental health experiences at different ages. By analyzing data from when the child was 5, 10, 15, and 20 years old can the research examine the affect of abuse overtime. This longitudinal design allows for a deeper understanding of the long-term effects of childhood trauma on mental health, providing valuable insights for interventions and treatment strategies.
program evaluation
Who: Program evaluation is important for clinicians, researchers, and stakeholders so that they can have accurate information of how an intervention may work.
What: Program evaluation in psychological research is a systematic process used to assess the design, implementation, and outcomes of a specific program or intervention. The goal of program evaluation is to determine the effectiveness, efficiency, and impact of the program, helping stakeholders make informed decisions about its continuation, improvement, or scaling.
Why: Program evaluation is important because it allows those involved to make informed decisions, take accountability for the effectiveness and efficiency of a program,
Example: A psychologist wants to assess the effectiveness of mental health intervention program designed for at risk youth. The psychologist defines goals and objectives, selects specific evaluation methods, collects data, analyzes the data, reports their findings, and then gives recommendation for modifications to the program.
quasi-experimental research
Who: Quasi-experimental designs allow researchers to infer causal relationships, though with less certainty than true experiments.
What: A quasi-experimental design in psychological research is a type of study that seeks to evaluate the effects of an intervention or treatment but lacks random assignment of participants to groups. This design is often used in situations where random assignment is impractical, unethical, or impossible.
Why: Quasi-experimental research design is important because they are more feasible in real world settings, allows researchers to study interventions that may be unethical to assign randomly, and help with studying variables that are not easily manipulated.
Example: A researcher wants to study the impact of a new teaching method on student performance in different classrooms. They select two fifth-grade classrooms in a school and have one using the new teaching method while the other sticks to a traditional method. After assessing the students performance from standardized tests, the researchers examine and determine which method is better than the other. While this study provides insights into the effectiveness of the new teaching method, the lack of random assignment means that any differences in performance could be influenced by other factors, such as teacher experience or classroom dynamics.
random sampling
Who: Random sampling is used by researchers to ensure that their sample is a good representation of the population they intend to study.
What: Random sampling in psychological research is a technique used to select participants from a larger population in a way that each individual has an equal chance of being chosen. This method helps to ensure that the sample is representative of the population, minimizing bias and increasing the generalizability of the research findings.
Why: Random sampling is a fundamental aspect of research methodology in psychology, contributing to the rigor and credibility of findings. Random sampling is important because it reduces bias, enhances generalizability, and supports statistical validity.
Example: A researcher wants to study the effects of a new stress management program on college student’s levels of anxiety. The researchers compile a list of all enrolled students at a university and then use a random number generator to select a sample of 200 students from the list. This ensures that each student has an equal chance of being included in the sample, reducing bias.
scientific methodology
Who: Used by researchers in order to have an organized and intentional plan for investigating psychological inquiries.
What: Scientific methodology in psychological research refers to a systematic approach to investigating psychological phenomena. It involves a series of steps designed to ensure that findings are reliable, valid, and objective.
Why: Scientific methodology is essential for producing credible, actionable insights in psychological research, enabling practitioners and researchers to better understand human behavior and mental processes.
Example: A researcher wants to study the impact of sleep deprivation on cognitive performance. The researcher utilizes scientific methodology by: formulating a research question, doing a literature review, choosing a research design, data collection, data analysis, interpretation of results, peer review and publication, and the replication.
