Chapter 2: Reseach Methods Flashcards
Scientific method
The process of basing one’s confidence in an idea on systematic, direct observations of the world, usually by setting up research studies to test ideas.
Theory-data cycle
The process of the scientific method, in which scientists collect data that can either confirm or disconfirm a theory.
Theory
A set of propositions explaining how and why people act, think, or feel.
Hypothesis
A specific prediction stating what will happen in a study if the theory is correct.
Data
A set of empirical observations that scientists have gathered.
Replication
When a study is conducted more than once on a new sample of participants, and obtains the same basic results.
Journal
A periodical containing peer-reviewed articles on a specific academic discipline, written for a scholarly audience.
Variable
Something of interest that varies from person to person or situation to situation.
Measured variable
A variable whose values are simply recorded.
Manipulated variable
A variable whose values the researches controls, usually by assigning different participants to different levels of that variable.
Operational definitions
Specific ways of measuring or manipulating an abstract variable in a particular study.
Descriptive research
A type of study in which researchers measure one variable at a time.
Sample
The group who participated in research, and who belong to the larger group (the population of interest) that the research is interested in understanding.
Population of interest
The full set of cases the researcher is interested in.
Random sampling
A way of choosing a sample of participants for a study in which participants are selected without bias, for example, by dialing random digits on the telephone or pulling names out a hat.
