Chapter 2 - Research Methods

Question 1

Naturalistic Setting

Answer 1

Studies in which researchers observe infants in their usual surroundings, such as their own home or their regular childcare centre.

Question 2

Naturalistic Observation

Answer 2

Studies in which researchers remain relatively passive observers in the sense that, apart from being physically present, they do not interfere in or try to influence the situation.

Question 3

Narrative Records

Answer 3

A detailed description of the range of behaviours researchers observe.

Question 4

Event Sampling

Answer 4

A technique in observational research in which a small number of behaviours are identified and the researcher makes a note each time they occur by making a mark on a prepared checklist.

Question 5

Operational Definition

Answer 5

A clear, concrete verbal description that enables researchers to measure target behaviours and outcomes accurately.

Question 6

Observer Bias

Answer 6

The phenomenon in which researchers’ expectations or beliefs influence the way they record or interpret behaviour

Question 7

Ethnographic Researcher

Answer 7

A technique for exploring the interaction of culture and biology, in which researchers from a Western culture male observations or conduct interviews in everyday settings in non-western cultures.

Question 8

Laboratory Setting

Answer 8

A specially designed researched research space that enables researchers to control or eliminate the influence of irrelevant or distracting factors.

Question 9

Independent Variable

Answer 9

Aspects of a research setting that researchers identify or vary, such as the presence or absence of an infant’s mother, in order to determine their effect on behaviours of interest.

Question 10

Dependent Variable

Answer 10

The main behaviour or response of interest in a study; this is the researchers’ measure of the impact of the independent variable.

Question 11

External Validity

Answer 11

The degree to which the findings of one study can be extended, or generalized, to other samples and settings.

Question 12

Case Study

Answer 12

Also referred to as the clinical method, this is an in-depth examination of a single individual.

Question 13

Baby Biography

Answer 13

Observational records made by parents or other caregivers of an infant’s early development.

Question 14

Single-subject research

Answer 14

A variation of the case study, in which researchers intervene or study the effects of an experimental manipulation within a single participant.

Question 15

Quasi-Experimental Design

Answer 15

A design in which researchers collect information about groups of participants that are already formed before the study begins.

Question 16

Experimental Design

Answer 16

A design that examines the influence of an independent variable on a dependent variable.

Question 17

Random Assignment

Answer 17

The equivalent of flipping a coin, this technique is used to ensure that each child has an equal chance of being placed into the different groups being compared on a specific dependent variable. As a result of this precaution, potentially important differences across children are distributed across the different groups.

Question 18

Longitudinal Research

Answer 18

A developmental design in which investigators study the same sample of participants over time, taking measures of their behaviour or ability at specified intervals.

Question 19

Measurement Equivalence

Answer 19

Correspondence between the measures, or dependent variables, used at two different points in time

Question 20

Practice Efforts

Answer 20

Improvement in participants’ performance as a result of the repeated exposure to the measures of those abilities

Question 21

Cohort

Answer 21

A particular group of generation of participants, such as infants born in the same year.

Question 22

Cross-Sectional Research

Answer 22

A developmental design in which two or more age groups of participants are compared in terms of their behaviour or ability at the same point.

Question 23

Cohort Effects

Answer 23

A problem in cross-sectional research, in which age differences may actually stem from generational, or cohort, differences.

Question 24

Microgenetic Research

Answer 24

A developmental design in which participants are observed over a period of time, perhaps 10 or more sessions, with the researchers gathering a rich set of data on which fine-grained analyses can be performed.