Ch. 4: Research Methods in Psychopathology Flashcards
Science is the…
systematic pursuit of knowledge through observation.
The first step of science is to define a _______________ and related ______________. A good theory is precise and could be disproven.
theory, hypotheses
A good theory can be proven.
False
Elements of science:
______________: the practice of relying on systemic observation
_______________: Scientific findings presented to community for scrutiny
_______________: deals with specifiable problems
Empiricism, Public Knowledge, Solvable
The _________________, perhaps the most familiar method of observing human behavior, involves recording detailed information about one person at a time.
case study
This statistic may take any value between −1.00 and +1.00, and it measures both the magnitude and the direction of a relationship.
correlation coefficient
______________________ is defined by whether a relationship between variables is large enough to matter.
Clinical significance
Longitudinal design
Investigation that collects information on the same individuals repeatedly over time, perhaps over many years, in an effort to determine how phenomena change.
cross-sectional design
in which the researcher measures the causes and effects at the same point in time.
The _________________ overcomes this problem; with this approach, researchers study only people with above-average risk of developing schizophrenia.
high-risk method
Even if a longitudinal study identifies a variable that precedes schizophrenia, a researcher still faces the _________________
third-variable problem
________________ is the study of the distribution of disorders in a population.
Epidemiology
Epidemiologic research focuses on three features of a disorder:
____________: The proportion of people with the disorder either currently or during their lifetime
____________: The proportion of people who develop new cases of the disorder in some period, usually a year
____________: Variables that are correlated with the presence of the disorder
Prevalence, Incidence, Correlates
When relatives are matched on presence or absence of a disorder, they are said to be ____________
concordant
The starting point in such investigations is the recruitment of a sample of persons with the diagnosis in question. These people are referred to as _______________ or _______________.
index cases, probands
adoptees method
studies children who were adopted and reared completely apart from their biological parents
The _______________ is the most powerful tool for determining causal relationships. It involves the __________________ of participants to conditions, the manipulation of an ____________________, and the measurement of a ___________________.
experiment, random assignment, independent variable, dependent variable
Experimental effect
A statistically significant difference between two groups experiencing different manipulations of the independent variable.
___________________ refers to the extent to which the experimental effect can be attributed to the independent variable. For a study to have ____________________, the researchers must include at least one _____________.
Internal validity, internal validity, control group
__________________ is defined as the extent to which results can be generalized beyond the study.
External validity
In ______________________, the experimenter studies how ONE person responds to manipulations of the independent variable
single-case experimental design
Incidence refers to:
the number of people who develop a disorder during a given time period
Studies in which clients are randomly assigned to receive active treatment or a comparison (either no treatment, a placebo, or another treatment) are called __________________________. In this type of experiment, the independent variable is the treatment condition and the dependent variable is the client’s outcome.
randomized controlled trials (RCTs)
In medication trials, researchers use a __________________________. That is, the psychiatrist and the patient are not told whether the patient is receiving active medication or a placebo.
double-blind procedure
The ___________________ refers to a physical or psychological improvement that is due to a patient’s expectations of help rather than to any active ingredient in a treatment. Can be long lasting
placebo effect
RCTs, typically conducted in academic research settings, are designed to determine the _________________ of a treatment—that is, whether a treatment works under the purest of conditions.
efficacy
____________________—that is, how well the treatment works in the real world
effectiveness
_________________ is the process of facilitating adoption of efficacious treatments in the community, most typically by providing guidelines about the best available treatments, along with training for clinicians on how to conduct those treatments.
Dissemination
_______________________ studies are the most common form of experiment in the field of psychopathology. These studies focus on whether a given treatment works well.
Treatment outcome
____________________ provide detailed guidance about how to conduct each phase of a psychotherapy.
Treatment manuals
In a successful ___________________, findings from one research study hold up when that study is repeated a second time.
replication
The tendency to publish only positive results is referred to as ____________________.
publication bias
Researchers may also be motivated to continue to tweak their analyses or comb through their data until they arrive at a significant (and thus more publishable) result, a process known as _______________.
p-hacking
______________________ are the most common way to study the causes of psychological disorders, because we cannot manipulate most of the major risk factors in psychopathology, nor can we manipulate diagnosis.
Correlational methods
______________ experiments allow researchers to study a minor variant of a risk factor related to psychopathology, such as stressors.
Analogue
_______________ is an important tool for reaching conclusions from a group of research studies. It entails putting the statistical comparisons from single studies into a common format—the effect size—so that scientists can average the results of many studies.
Meta-analysis
Case studies can provide information about ___________________ or _________________. Can disconfirm a relationship that was believed to be ________________
novel cases, universal
___________: expectations impede improvement
Nocebo
DSM is not organized based on ______________
etiology
MMPI is an ____________ approach to item selection
atheoretical
Which government agency regulates and certifies that psychological treatments are effective and safe for people in the US?
There is no such regulatory agency
What approach to diagnosis does the DSM-5 use?
Prototypical
