Chapter 2 - Research Methods Flashcards
Quantitative research methods
Data that is measured
Numbers
ex. height, weight, volume, etc.
Qualitative research methods
Data that is observed (beauty, smell, texture, etc)
Deals with descriptions
What is a Case Study?
- In-depth background from single person
- Exceptional cases (serial killers, special abilities, etc)
Example of case study?
Phineas Gage - went from normal to impulsive and rude when an iron bar damaged his left frontal lobe
Case studies: advantages/disadvantages
Advatages:
- Existence proofs
- Ability to study rare phenomena impossible to recreate in lab
- Insights for later study
Disadvantages:
- Doesn’t answer why something occurred
- Difficult to generalize to other people (anecdotal)
What is Naturalistic or Direct Observation
-Observing in natural setting
Naturalistic Observation Advantages/Disadvantages
Advantages:
-High external validity
Disadvantages:
- Low internal validity
- Reactivity (when subject knows they’re being observed)
Naturalistic Observation: 3 Types
- Participant observation: observer is one of the crowd, with subjects’ knowledge
- Unobtrusive observation: without subjects’ knowledge
- Laboratory observation: controlled but not natural; reactivity potential so potentially lower external validity, higher internal validity so can infer cause/effect
What are Questionnaires and Surveys?
- Another type of self-report
- Phrasing must be accurate (no leading questions, etc)
Questionnaires and Surveys: advantages and disadvantages
Advantages:
- Inexpensive and fast collection of large amount of data
- Anonymity
Disadvantages:
- Sample bias- hard to obtain truly random sample
- Response sets: positive impression management and malingering
What are malingering and positive impression management?
- ”Response sets”, or tendencies to distort answers to surveys/questionnaires
- Malingering: making oneself seem psychologically disturbed, with a clear goal
- Positive impression management: making ourselves look better than we are
What are Standardized Tests?
- IQ, personality, memory/cognitive functioning
- Type of self-report method
What is Reliability (ie, test reliability)?
- Consistency; same results every time, everywhere
- Must be demonstrated first (before validity)
Test-Retest Reliability
-Questionnaire yields similar scores over time
Inter-rater Reliability
-Extent to which different people (psychologists, observers?) make similar behavioural observations
What is Validity (ie, test validity)?
- Measures what it claims to measure
- External/internal, ecological, etc
- Must be demonstrated second, after reliability
Between-subject vs Within-subject design?
- Between-subject design: participants assigned to either test (independent variable) group, or control (placebo) group
- Within-subject design: participants act as their own control group; measurement taken before and after independent variable
What is population? (in experimental design)
- Designated by uppercase “N”
- Total group you want to study
- ex, homeless teenagers, retirees, etc
What is a population sample? (in experimental design)
- Participants of study/experiment
- Denoted as lowercase “n”.
- Randomly selected, representative subset of N/total population
What are the two characteristics of an experiment?
- Random selection and assignment of participants to an;
- Independent variable manipulated by researcher
What is an independent variable?
A variable that an experimenter manipulates
What is a dependent variable?
The variable that the experimenter measures to see whether manipulation has an effect.
ex, school grades, health, conviction rates, etc
AKA “outcome variable”
Internal validity vs external validity
Internal validity: extent to which we can infer cause and effect
- Low in naturalistic, case studies, correlational design
- High in experimental design
External validity: extent to which we can generalize findings to the real-world
- Can be low in experimental design
- High in naturalistic design
Advantages of experiment
- Manipulate variables
- Show cause and effect
- Conclude that any difference in DV was caused by IV
Disadvantages/pitfalls of experiment
- Placebo
- Nocebo
- Hawthorne effect (reactivity)
- Rosenthall effect (experimenter expectancy=biased outcome)
When would one use a correlational instead of an experiment?
- unethical (pepsi in pregnant women)
- impossible
What is positive correlation?
When both variables move in the same direction (UP or DOWN)
What is negative correlation?
When variables move in opposite directions
What is the range of r values?
-1.0 to +1.0
What are the strengths of some correlations?
(in absolute values + or -) 1 perfect 0.8 strong 0.5 moderate 0.3 weak 0 none
Can you infer cause and effect from correlational studies (IV or DV influence each other)?
No. But it’s possible if the correlation is strong enough.
What are some guidelines for research ethics?
- Informed consent (explanation of purpose, duration, risks, etc)
- Right to withdraw (without conditions)
- Debriefing
- Anonymous and confidential
- Suggest resources
Define “mean”
- Type of central tendency:
- Average (sum, divided by n)
- Influenced by outliers
Define “median”
- Type of central tendency:
- Middle score in an ordered data set; 50th percentile
Define “mode”
- Type of central tendency:
- Most frequent score in the data set
Low variability vs high variability?
Low var. = values clustered around middle
High var. = values spread out toward extremes
What are range and standard deviation?
- Ways of calculating variability
- Range: difference between lowest and highest value
- Standard deviation: Average distance from mean
What is statistical significance?
- Typically a calculation based on on number of values (n) and standard deviation (SD)
- ex, “95% confidence” “p < 0.05”
