Chapter 3: Research Strategies and Methodology Flashcards
Psychological research is based on the _____.
scientific method
The scientific method consists of defining a research problem, proposing a hypothesis and making predictions, _______ and conducting a research study; analyzing the data, and communicating the results and building theories of _______.
designing
behavior
A _______ is a subset of a population selected to participate in the study.
sample
All of the participants in a research study make up the _______.
sample
A _____ includes all members of a class or set from which a smaller sample may be drawn and about whom the researcher wants to draw conclusions.
population
A ______ is one in which every member of the population being studied has an equal chance of being picked for inclusion in the study.
random sample
A ____ sample occurs when every member of a population does not have an equal chance of sign chosen.
biased
Researchers are better able to generalize their finding to the population of interest if a ______ sample is used.
random
Psychologists use experiments to determine cause and effect ______.
relationships
An ______ requires that the researcher systematically manipulate and control one or more variables and then observe how the research subjects or participants respond to this manipulation.
experiment
The variable that is manipulated is called the ______.
independent variable
The response that is measured after the manipulation of the independent variable is known as the ______ variable.
dependent
An expriment consists of at least two groups of _____.
participants
The _____ group is the group that is exposed to the manipulation of the independent variable.
experimental
Some experiments have more than one experimental group, meaning there are several manipulations of the ______.
independent variable
The ____ group of an experiment is not exposed to the independent variable.
control
Participants usually are assigned to groups in an experiment based on random assignment, which ensures that each participant had an ____ chance of being assigned to any one of the groups.
equal
A study is called a ____ if it is conducted in the participants natural setting rater than a laboratory.
field experiment
A field experiment is the preferred method when a researcher is concerned that the artificiality of the ____ setting might affect the experimental outcome.
laboratory
Subject bias occurs when research participants behavior changes because they know they are being studied or because of their ______.
expectations
A ______ is an inactive substance given in the place of a drug in psychological research.
placebo
To control both subject and observer biases, a _______ is used.
double-blind technique
______ methods of research do not include the systematic manipulation of variables by the researcher and thus cannot be used discuss cause and effect relationships.
nonexperimental
______ research involves measuring two or more variable in order to determine if they are related.
correlational research
In correlational research if the value of one variable increase in value as the other also increases in value, this is known as a _____.
positive correlation
A negative correlation occurs when there is an _____ relationship between variable measured; as the value of one increases, the value of the other decreases.
inverse
A ______ coefficient is a number that represents the strength of the relationship between the variable measured.
correlation
A correlation coefficient can range in value from ___ to ___.
0 to 1
A correlation coefficient of 0 indicates ______ between the variable measured.
no relationship
A correlation coefficient of 1 indicates a ___ relationship between the two variables.
perfect
The closer a correlation coefficient is to 1, the stronger the relationship between the variables measured, and the closer a correlation coefficient is to 0, the ___ the relationship.
weaker
Even if a strong correlational relationship is found, however, cause and effect conclusions ____ be made because there is no systematic manipulation by the researcher.
cannot
_______ research methods are used to obtain accurate records of behavior without manipulated or controlling any variables.
descriptive or observational
_______ is a descriptive research study that occurs in a natural setting that has not been manipulated by the researcher.
naturalistic observation
A _____ is a descriptive research method that is an in-depth study of a single subject. It can include interviews, observations, and ____.
test results.
______ research is another descriptive method that requires the researcher to ask a group of people about behaviors, thought or opinions.
survey
The ____ has the advantage over a questionnaire in the the interviewer can se the reactions of the person being interview and may also be able to ask follow up questions.
interview
Responding to questions in a way that is perceived to be more acceptable to the interviewer is called _____.
social desirability
Three research methods are well suited for answering research questions about development. These are the cross sectional, longitudinal, and ______.
sequential research designs.
The _____ research design is used to examine differences between different aged subjects at one point in time.
cross sectional
In ____ research a researcher receipts two or more samples of participants of differing ages and measures them on the variable of intrest.
cross sectional
_______ are also called generations.
birth cohorts
The strength of the cross sectional approach is that it is a quick and easy way to collect information on how different ____ differ at one point in time.
age groups
The _____ research design measures changes on a variable of interest in the same group of participants at several points in their lives.
longitudinal
Longitudinal research weaknesses include being expensive and taking a long time, but a strength is differences in performance can be interpreted as indicating changes that occur with _____.
age
The _____ research design was created by Schaie to examine development changes in intelligence in adulthood.
sequential
Sequential research design combines both cross sectional and longitudinal designs to examine _____ differences.
cohort
Researchers have been able to quantify birth cohort effects using _____ research design.
sequential
Strengths of experiment research methods can make cause and effect relationships and the researcher has control, but weaknesses are _____ and they are often hard to generalize to the real world.
sampling errors
Strengths of _____ research methods are that you can study real world behavior and determine relationships, but the weakness is you cannot determine cause and effect.
correlation
Strengths of ______ is that you can gather info in its usual setting as it naturally occurs, but weaknesses are that you cannot determine cause and effect and there could be observer bias.
naturalistic observation
Strengths of ______ are that the intensive information can be gathered about individuals, but they can be expensive, time consuming, cannot determine cause and effect, and bias is possible.
case study.
In a _____ large amounts of info can be gathered from many people in a relatively short period of time, but you cannot determine cause and effect, survey questions might not be reliable, bias samples and response bias are possible.
survey
In a ______ design you cannot show changes that occur with age, but data can show the differences between different aged people at one point in time and they are relatively quick and inexpensive.
cross sectional
In both longitudinal and sequential a weakness is ______.
subject drop out
