Ch 6: Describing What People Do Flashcards
acquiescence/yea-saying
answering “yes” or “strongly agree” to every item in a questionnaire or interview; a type of response set
census
a set of observations that contains all members of the population of interest
cluster sampling
a sampling method in which researchers randomly select clusters of participants
convenience sampling
choosing a sample based on those who are easiest to access
faking bad
a situation that occurs when survey respondents give answers that make them look worse than they really are
fence sitting
a situation that occurs when respondents play it safe by answering in the middle of the scale for every question in a questionnaire or interview
forced-choice format
a question type in which respondents give their opinion by picking the best of two or more options
Likert scale
a scale containing multiple response options that are anchored by the terms ‘strongly agree’, ‘agree’, ‘neither disagree nor agree’, ‘disagree’, and ‘strongly disagree’. A scale that does not follow this format exactly may be called a Likert-type scale
masked study
a study design in which the observers are unaware of the experimental conditions to which participants have been assigned
multistage sampling
a method of sampling in which two random samples are taken from some population: a random sample of clusters and then a random sample of people within those clusters
nay-saying
answering “no” or “strongly disagree” to every item on a questionnaire; a type of response set
observational research
the process of watching people or animals and systematically recording what they are doing
observer bias
a bias that occurs when observers’ expectations influence their interpretation of the subjects’ behaviors or the outcome of the study
observer effects/reactivity
a term referring to people or animals changing their behavior (reacting) because they know another person is watching
open-ended questions
a question that allows respondents to answer in any way they see fit
oversampling
a variation of stratified random sampling in which the researcher intentionally overrepresents one or more groups
population
some larger group from which a sample is drawn, which the sample is intended to represent
probability sampling
the process of drawing a sample from a population of interest in such a way that each member of the population has an equal probability of being included in the sample (ex: randomly)
purposive sampling
the inclusion of only certain kinds of people in a sample
random assignment
the use of a random method (ex: flipping a coin) to assign participants into different experimental groups
response sets
a shortcut respondents might use to answer the items in a self-report measure with multiple items, rather than responding to the content of each item
sample
the group of people, animals, or cases used in a study
self-selection
a form of sampling bias that occurs when a sample contains only people who volunteer to participate
semantic differential format
a self-report response scale whose numbers are anchored with contrasting adjectives (ex: ‘easy’ and ‘hard’)
simple random sampling
the most basic form of probability sampling in which the sample is chosen completely at random from the population, perhaps by drawing names out of a hat
snowball sampling
a variation on purposive sampling in which participants are asked to recommend acquaintances for the study
socially desirable responding
(faking good) giving answers to a self-report measure that make one look better than one really is
stratified random sampling
a sampling method in which the researcher identifies particular demographic categories of interest and then randomly selects individuals within each of the categories
systematic sampling
a method of random sampling in which the researcher counts off to achieve a sample (ex: choosing every nth person in a population where n is a randomly chosen number)
unobtrusive observations
an observation made indirectly, through physical traces of behavior, or made by someone who is hidden or is posing as a bystander
