Chapter 2: Research Methods Flashcards
scientific method: what are the two methods?
- formulate a hypothesis based on a theory
- use replicable techniques to collect, study, and analyze data in an effort to test a hypothesis or answer a research question
What are the 4 steps researchers complete for the scientific method?
- Choose a research method (correlational, experimental, case study, etc)
- Pick a research design
- Find a research sample
- Devise a data-collection strategy to test hypotheses in an effective and ethical way
Research starts with ideas derived from what?
Theory
Previous Research
Observations
Define Operationalization
defining a construct so that it is observable and measurable
What is a construct
an idea concept, especially a complex one
Define Correlation Method
Involves determining whether two variables are related to each other in a systematic way and how strongly they are related
- correlation does not equal causation
Define Correlation Coefficient
A numerical estimate of how closely two variables are related to each other and the direction of the relation
- Range from +1.0 to -1.0
- 1/+1 significant correlation , 0 non-significant
What is a negative correlation?
for every increase in one variable there is a systematicdecrease in the other
What is a positive correlation?
for every increase in one variable there is a systematic increase in the other
Why do we use correlational research?
- We cannot always design a suitable experiment to study our question
- Some variables of interest cannot be studied in a controlled way
- Ethical concerns sometimes prohibit using experiments
- Understanding causal processes are not the only goal of the research
- Simplest and least expensive
- Avoiding ethical concerns
What is the primary way to study the causal connection between variables?
Laboratory Experiments
- help to show causation
- can equate for possible factors
Define Experimental Group
participants exposed to the proposed causal factor
- exposed to the treatment
Define Control Group
participants not exposed to the proposed causal factor
- the baseline for treatment
Define Random Assignment
rules out the possibility that the people in the groups differ from one another in some systematic way that could distort the results of the experiment
Define Independent Variable
the factor that researchers deliberately manipulate in an experiment
Define Dependent Variable
the factor that researchers expect to change as a function of the change in the independent variable
Define Ecological Validity
Laboratory experiments lack the actual representation of what happens in the natural environment
- laboratory experiments may not accurately represent real world events or processes
Define Laboratory Analogue Experiment
An alternative to the laboratory experiment that attempts to duplicate in the laboratory features or events that occur naturally in everyday life in order to increase the ecological validity of the results
Define Field Experiment
Experiments in which researchers deliberately create a change in a real-world setting and they measure the outcomes of their manipulation
Define Intervention
Program provided to improve a situation or relive psychological illness or distress
Experiment in which researchers measure the results of events that occur naturally in the real world (e.g., effects of a hurricane, adoption, residence change)
Natural Experiment (Quasi-Experiment)
What is a Correlational Design?
- a researcher seeks to understand what kind of relationships naturally occurring variables have with one another
- may be a good starting point in an area not well known
- they follow up with an experiment to test causal relations
What is a Case Study?
A form of research in which investigators study an individual person or group intensely
What are the Advantages of a Case Study?
- Allows exploration of rare phenomena
- Facilitates intensive investigation
- Provides rich details
- May serve as a precursor to follow-up studies using alternative designs and methods
What are the Limitations of a Case Study?
- the impossibility of generalization
Define Cross-Sectional Design
Design in which researchers compare groups of individuals of different age levels at approximately the same point in time
What are the limitations of a Cross-Sectional Design?
- Design yields no information about the causes behind age-related differences
- No information about stability or change of individuals across age
- could reflect age-related change or historical change
Define Longitudinal Design
Examination of cause of change by studying over a long period of time
What are the limitations of a Longitudinal Design?
- Loss of participants over the course of the study
- Lack of flexibility in terms of updating methods of measurement
- Practice effects
- Cohort effects
- More time consuming and expensive
Define Sequenctial Design
A way of studying change over time that combines features of both cross-sectional and longitudinal design
What are the advantages of a Sequential Design?
- Helps to overcome results from cohort effects (can compare effects between groups)
- Can examine age-related changes in children’s behaviour and look at the stability of individuals differences
- Can examine cohort or generational effects
Define Representative Sample
A research sample in which participants are drawn from strata or categories (e.g., social classes or ethnic groups) in the same proportions as they are found in the larger population
What are the advantages of a Representative Sample?
- Avoids problems associated with biased or skewed samples
- Allows for generalization
Define The National Survey Approach
Researchers select a large, nationally representative group participants
- E.x., Statistics Canada Surveys
What are the andvantages of the National Survey Approach?
- Allows researchers to draw conclusions that apply to entire populations and subpopulations
What are the disandvantages of the National Survey Approach?
- Costly in terms of time and labour
- Surveys are not well suited to answering questions about the psychological processes underlying social development
Define Metal-Analysis
A statistical technique that allows the researcher to summarize the results of many studies on a particular topic and to draw conclusions about the size and replicability of observed differences or associations
- Yields and overall estimate, or effect size, of the magnitude of the difference between experimental and control groups of the strength of associations between factors in correlational studies
Note: that the accuracy of the estimate is limited by the samples in the individual studies and the quality of the designs
Define Cross-Culture Design
Selecting samples from different cultures can be a valuable research strategy
- Behaviour pattern similar across cultures> universal
- Behaviour patterns differ across cultures> specific environmental variables play a significant role
What are the disadvantages of Cross-Culture Design?
- Difficult and expensive to conduct
- Potential problems of researcher bias
Gathering data from children: Self-report
Children’s self-reports- information child provides about themselves by answering the researcher’s questions
What are the disadvantages of Self-report?
- May not be developmentally appropriate
- Children may be less attentive, slower to respond, and have more trouble understanding the questions that researchers ask
Describe the self-report, puppet Interview technique
Using a puppet to ease the process of self-report for children. Allows children to self-report psychological symptoms or constructs.
- Which puppet he/she is most like
- What personality of the puppet remind you of a certain individual
Gathering data from children: self-report, photo-voice technique
Another form of self-report,
- participants given a camera to “answer” questions
- What do you like most/least in your school
- Who are your favourite/least favourite people
Gathering data on children: Reports by Parents
Parent reports are generally based on many observations made over time in a variety of situations
What are the disadvantages of parent reports?
- Family member reports are not always reliable.
What are the advantages of parent reports?
Family member reports are not always reliable. However, even if not totally accurate, parents’ perceptions, expectations, beliefs, and interpretations of events and behavior may be just as important as objective reality
What are the two main ways of collecting data from children and their subsections
- Children Self-Report
- puppet
- photo-voice - Reports by others
- parents
- teachers
What are teacher reports based on
Teachers reports are generally based on many observations made over time in a variety of situations
What are the advantages of teacher reports?
Assess child differently than parents
What are direct observational studies?
Researchers go into real settings or bring participants into the laboratory to observe behaviours of interest
What are naturalistic observational studies?
Observations collected in the child’s natural settings without interfering with the child’s activities
What are structural observational studies?
Observation in which researchers create a situation so that behaviours they wish to study are most likely to occur (e.g., clean-up tasks to assess child compliance)
Observational Studies-Naturalistic Disadvantages
- Problems with infrequently occurring behaviour
- Problems of reactivity: the change in a person’s behaviour due to the fact that he or she is being observed
- Observer bias: an observer’s tendency to be influenced by knowledge about the research design of hypothesis
What are the advantages of structured obersvations
Avoids problems with infrequently occurring behaviour- arrange for situations to occur
Gathering Data: Observational Studies-Structured disadvantages
concern with ecological validity
What is a Specimen Record (behaviour observations)?
researchers record everything a person does within a given period of time
What are Non-verbal Measures
Analyzing information/cues/acts based on visual reasoning
Particularly important in the study of babies and young children
Examples:
- Sucking response
- Visual preference
- Smiling, vocalization, crying
What are Internal Responses
Measurement of psychophysiological responses- physiological bases of psychological processes measured by brain activity, brain waves, and heart rate
- E.x., Hormone levels in babies
Analyzing Data: Qualitative Study
- Using non-statistical analysis of materials to gain an in-depth understanding
- Not trying to confirm or falsify a hypothesis
- Instead trying to answers a research question
- Summary of findings may be the final step of may precede designing a follow-up quantitative study
- Answers the research questions in words and/or visuals
Analyzing Data: Quantitative Study
- Research involving statistical analysis of numerical data
- Summarize numbers using descriptive statistics
- Analyses can range for simple statistics (e.g., regression, t-test) to more complex approaches that examine multiple variables simultaneously (e.g., SEM)
- Determine whether findings are statically significant or merely due to change
What is Ethnography
The use of intensive observations and interviews to gather data about the belief, practices, and behaviours in a particular context or culture.
Define Ethnography: Participant Observations (a research strategy of ethnography)
The research strategy used to gain familiarity with a group of individuals (e.g., religious, subcultural group) by means of intensive involvement in their activities, usually over an extended period of time
What are the disadvantages of an Ethnography?
- Practices of the group may be disrupted by an outside observer
- Limited generalizability if the only community or group is observed
Define Habituation
Babies, the same as adults, get bored with a repeated stimulus. An individual reacts with less and less intensity to a repeatedly presented stimulus until he or she responds only faintly or not at all
A chemical substance produced by the cell of certain body organs, which has a regulatory effect on the activity of certain other organs
Hormones
a hormone secreted by the adrenal glands in response to physical or psychological stress
Cortisol
EEG
- what is it
- advantages
- disadvantages
What.
- Electroencephalography
- a record of the brain’s spontaneous electrical activity over a short period of time by means of multiple electrodes placed on the scalp
Ad.
- detects very rapid changes in electrical activity allowing analysis of stages of cognitive processing
Dis.
- provides poor spatial resolution of the source of electrical activity
PET and SPECT
- what is it
- advantages
- disadvantages
What.
- (PET)Positron-emission tomography
- (SPECT) single-photon emission tomography
- a visual image of an injected radioactive substance showing blood flow or glucose use reflecting change in neuronal activity
Ad.
- provides spatial resolution better than EEG but less then MRI
Dis.
- cannot follow rapid changes (>30 sec.)
- requires low levels of radioactivity
MRI and fMRI
- what is it
- advantages
- disadvantages
What.
- (MRI) magnetic resonance imaging
- Is used to provide high spatial resolution of brain anatomy
- (FMRI) functional magnetic resonance imaging
- Is used to provide images of changes in blood flow that indicate specific anatomical details and changes in neural activity
Ad.
- provides high temporal resolution
- required no exposure to radiation
Dis.
- high cost to operate
TMS
- what is it
- advantages
- disadvantages
What.
- transcranial magnetic stimulation
- shows which brain regions are necessary for given tasks by changes after TMS is applied to a location
Ad.
- temporarily disrupts a specific region of brain by exposing it to intense magnetic energy
Dis.
- long-term safety not well established
What are the 8 Children’s Right in Social Research
- the right to be fully informed
- the right to give informed and voluntary consent
- the right not to be harmed in any way
- the right to withdraw voluntarily from research
- the right to be informed of the results
- the right to confidentiality
- the right to full compensation
- the right to beneficial treatment
What are the ways to increase accuracy of parent reports?
Ask only about very recent events
Ask parents to keep a structured diary
Ask about “family stories”
What is event sampling (behaviour observations)?
researchers record participants’ behavior only when an event of particular interest occurs
What is time sampling (behaviour observations)?
researchers record any of a set of predetermined behaviors that occur within a specified period of time
