Chapter 3: Research Strategies and Methodology

Question 1

sample

Answer 1

a subset of the target population who participate in a research study

Question 2

population

Answer 2

the entire set of people, animals, events, or things that make up the group to which a researcher is interested in applying the results of her research

Question 3

random sample

Answer 3

the term used for a sample of the target population that has been drawn using a sampling technique that gave every member of the target population an equal and independent chance of being selected. It is therefore a representative sample of the target population rather than a biased sample.

Question 4

experiment

Answer 4

the research method that can identify cause and effect relationships between variables. Two elements of an experiment are control and manipulation. An independent variable is manipulated while extraneous variable are controlled. A dependent variable is used to measure the affect of the independent variable manipulation.

Question 5

independent variable

Answer 5

the variable that is manipulated in an experiment. It is the hypothesized cause in the cause and effect relationship being tested.

Question 6

dependent variable

Answer 6

the variable that is measured after the manipulation of an independent variable in an experiment. It is the hypothesized effect in the cause and effect relationship being tested.

Question 7

manipulation

Answer 7

a key characteristic of experiments. The experimenter varies the independent variable so that it is present under one condition in the experiment but not present in the other condition(s). The experimental group receives the independent variable but the control group does not

Question 8

field experiment

Answer 8

an experiment conducted in a natural setting rather than in a controlled laboratory setting. It is less artificial than a lab experiment, but also has less control than a lab experiment.

Question 9

correlational research

Answer 9

research conducted in order to describe relationships between two variables measured in a large sample of participants.

Question 10

correlation coefficient

Answer 10

a measure of the strength and direction of a relationship between 2 variables. The coefficient can range from 0 to 1.00, and can be either negative (scores on the two variables tend to go in opposite directions) or positive (scores on the two variables tend to go in the same direction).

Question 11

descriptive or observational research

Answer 11

research that is conducted in order to describe characteristics of people, places, or things. Methodologies used include case study, naturalistic observation, interview, and survey

Question 12

naturalistic observation

Answer 12

a method used in descriptive research to collect information about a person or event. Overt behavior is observed and recorded in a natural setting

Question 13

case study

Answer 13

a method used in descriptive research to intensively study a unique situation or person

Question 14

survey research

Answer 14

a method used in descriptive research to collect a lot of information from a large sample of participants

Question 15

interview

Answer 15

a method used in descriptive research to collect information

Question 16

birth cohorts

Answer 16

people born in or around the same year

Question 17

cross-sectional research design

Answer 17

a research method that involves comparing samples of different aged people at the same time. This method can measure differences between people of different ages, but confound age difference with birth cohort differences.

Question 18

longitudinal research design

Answer 18

a research method that involves studying a sample of people over a long period of time in order to measure changes that occur with age

Question 19

sequential research design

Answer 19

a research method that combines the cross-sectional and longitudinal designs. This method can measure changes that occur with age, differences between people who are different ages at one point in time, and can also quantify birth cohort effects.