Chap 2 Reading

Question 1

What is serendipity?

Answer 1

The accidental discovey of something important. Serendipity involves stumbling across something by chance - often while looking for something else - and having the wisdom and curiosity to recognize that you may be on to an important discovery.

Question 2

What databases are available for research purposes?

Answer 2

PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES, MEDLINE and Google Scholar

Question 3

What is the definition of a hypothesis?

Answer 3

Hypothesis is a tentative proposition about the causes or outcome of an event, or more generally, about how variables are related. Hypotheses should be based on a reasoned analysis of existing evidence relevant to the question being studied.

Question 4

What is inductive reasoning?

Answer 4

Using specific facts to form a general conclusion or general principle. Facts can be considered findings from previous research. Inductive reasoning is seen in medical fields when doctors analyze a patient’s symptoms and make a hypothesis regarding their condition.

Question 5

What is a theory?

Answer 5

A theory is a set of formal statements that specifies how and why variables or events are related. Theories are broader then hypotheses.

Question 6

What is deductive reasoning?

Answer 6

Using a general principle to reach a more specific conclusion. If a tenative decision is made regarding an ulcer, a physician can reason that X is because of Y.

Question 7

What are aspects of a hypothesis?

Answer 7

Testability is a key criterion that a hypothesis must satisfy. By this principle, it must also be able to falsified.

Question 8

What is quantitative research?

Answer 8

Quantitative research relies primarily on numerical data and numerical analysis to describe and understand behaviour.

Question 9

What is qualitative research?

Answer 9

Qualitative research seeks to achieve a relatively holistic or thematic description and understanding of behaviour, primarily through the nonstatstical analysis of data.

Question 10

How can qualitative researchers examine data?

Answer 10

Qualitiatively oriented researchers may examine such data without using statistics such as by trying to identify and describe important patterns or themes that emerge.

Question 11

What is a content analysis?

Answer 11

An analysis of the different types of content found within or represented by a set of data.

Question 12

What is a mixed-methods research?

Answer 12

Mixed-methods research is the constituted combination of qualitative and quantitative thread

Question 13

What is the definition of an experiment?

Answer 13

The researcher manipulates one or more variables, attempts to control extraneous factors, and then measures how the manipulated variables affect participants’ responses.

Question 14

What is an independent variable?

Answer 14

The manipulated variable.

Question 15

What is a dependent variable?

Answer 15

The measured variable.

Question 16

Independent versus dependent is..

Answer 16

..manipulated versus measured.

Question 17

What is descriptive research?

Answer 17

Also called nonexperimental research, researchers measure variables but do not manipulate them.

Question 18

What is internal validity?

Answer 18

IV represents the degree to which we can confidently infer that our study demonstrated that one variable had a causal effect on another variable.

Question 19

What is external validity?

Answer 19

External validity concerns inferences about the generalizability of the findings beyond the circumstances of the present study.

Question 20

What is a field experiment?

Answer 20

A study in which researcgers manipulate an dependent variable in a natural setting and exercise some control over extraneous factors.

Question 21

What is a cross-sectional research?

Answer 21

People of different ages are compared at the same point in tme. Ex. Adolescents vs. Adults

Question 22

What is longitudinal reseach?

Answer 22

The same participants are tested across different time periods.

Question 23

What is sequential research design?

Answer 23

Several age cohorts are tested longitudinally.

Question 24

In relation to sampling, what is a population?

Answer 24

Consists of all the cases or observations of interest to us in a given study.

Question 25

What is the mode in measured studies?

Answer 25

The most frequently occurring score in a distriution. It occurs five times.

Question 26

What is the median in measured studies?

Answer 26

The midpoint of a distribution.

Question 27

What is the mean in measured studies?

Answer 27

The arithmetic average of a distribution of scores.

Question 28

What are factors to consider when designing a study?

Answer 28

Ethics, operationism, which design will be the best to answer the research question, who will comprise the sample, who will conduct the research, sampling

Question 29

What is the range in descriptive statistics?

Answer 29

The distance between highest and lowest scores.

Question 30

What is the variance in descriptive statistics?

Answer 30

The average squared divison of the range.

Question 31

What are descriptive statistics?

Answer 31

Organizing and summarizing a set of data.

Question 32

What is inferential statistics?

Answer 32

Using sample data to infer the nature of the population. Inferential statistics reveal the probability that our findings are due to chance.

Question 33

In drawing conclusions, what are two errors that can be made?

Answer 33

False alarm and missed opportunities; false alarms occur when we mistakenly infer that variables are associated when they have nothing in common and the reverse occurs in missed opportunities.

Question 34

What is parsimony?

Answer 34

Explanations should use the minimum number of principles necessary to account for the maximum number of facts.