Chapter 3: Sex Research

Question 1

Direct Observation

Answer 1

A behavioral measure in which the scientist directly observes the behavior being studied.

Question 2

Eye-Tracking

Answer 2

A behavioral measure in which a device measures the participant’s point of gaze over time.

Question 3

Population

Answer 3

A group of people a researcher wants to study and make inferences about.

Question 4

Sample

Answer 4

A part of a population

Question 5

Random Sample

Answer 5

An excellent method of sampling in research in which each member of the population has an equal chance of being included in the sample.

Question 6

Probability Sampling

Answer 6

An excellent method of sampling in research in which each member of the population has a known probability of being included in the sample.

Question 7

Problem of Refusal or Nonresponse

Answer 7

The problem that some people will refuse to participate in a sex survey, thus making it difficult to study a random sample.

Question 8

Volunteer Bias

Answer 8

A bias in the results of sex surveys that arises when some people refuse to participate, so that those who are in the sample are volunteers who may in some ways differ from those who refuse to participate.

Question 9

Convenience Sample

Answer 9

A sample chosen in a haphazard manner relative to the population of interest. Not a random or probability sample.

Question 10

Purposeful Distortion

Answer 10

Purposely giving false information in a survey.

Question 11

Test-Retest Reliability

Answer 11

A method for testing whether self-reports are reliable or accurate; participants are interviewed (or given a questionnaire) and then interviewed a second time sometime later to determine whether their answers are the same both times.

Question 12

Computer-Assisted Self-Interview (CASI)

Answer 12

A method of data collection in which the respondent fills out questionnaires on a computer. Head-phones and a soundtrack reading the questions can be added for young children or poor readers.

Question 13

Informed Consent

Answer 13

An ethnical principle in research in which people have a right to be informed, before participating, of what they will be asked to do in the research.

Question 14

Justice Principle

Answer 14

An ethical principle in research that holds that the risks of participation should be distributed fairly across groups in society, as should the benefits.

Question 15

Cost-Benefit Approach

Answer 15

An approach to analyzing the ethics of a research study, based on weighing the costs of the research (the participants’ time, stress to participants, and so on) against the benefits of the research (gaining knowledge about human sexuality).

Question 16

Snowball Sampling

Answer 16

A method for acquiring a sample of people in which existing participants suggest names of future participants to be recruited. Also called respondent-driven sampling.

Question 17

Content Analysis

Answer 17

A set of procedures used to make valid inferences about text.

Question 18

Intercoder Reliability

Answer 18

In content analysis, the correlation or percent of agreement between two coders independently rating the same texts.

Question 19

Qualitative Research

Answer 19

A collection of naturalistic, holistic methods, including participant observation and in-depth interviewing, in which the results are conveyed not in numbers but in words.

Question 20

Ethnography

Answer 20

A research method used to provide a description of a human group, a social setting, or a society.

Question 21

Participant-Observer Technique

Answer 21

A research method in which the scientist becomes part of the community to be studied and makes observations from inside the community.

Question 22

Correlational Study

Answer 22

A study in which the researcher does not manipulate variables but rather studies naturally occurring relationships (correlations) among the variables.

Question 23

Experiment

Answer 23

A type of research study in which one variable (the independent variable) is manipulated by the experimenter while all other factors are held constant; the researcher can then study the effects of the independent variable on some measured variable (the dependent variable); the researcher is permitted to make causal inferences about the effects of the independent variable on the dependent variable.

Question 24

Causal Inference

Answer 24

Reaching the conclusion that one factor actually causes or influences an outcome.

Question 25

Meta-Analysis

Answer 25

A statistical method that allows the researcher to combine the results of all prior studies on a particular question to see what, taken together, they say.

Question 26

Mean

Answer 26

The average of respondents’ scores.

Question 27

Median

Answer 27

The middle score.

Question 28

Incidence

Answer 28

The number of new cases within a specified time period.

Question 29

Prevalence

Answer 29

The percentage of people in a population who have engaged in a certain behavior or have a certain condition at a specific point in time.

Question 30

Frequency

Answer 30

How often a person does something.

Question 31

Correlation

Answer 31

A number that measures the relationship between two variables.