Chapter 4: Research Methods in Psychopathology Flashcards
What is a theory?
a formally stated and coherent set of propositions that explain and logically order a range of phenomena, generated testable predictions or hypotheses; the focus of testing is on disproving rather than proving a theory
What is a hypothesis?
specific expectation or prediction about what should occur or be found if a theory is true or valid
What is science?
the systematic pursuit of knowledge through observation
What is a case study?
the collection of historical or biographical information on a single individual, often including experiences in therapy
What are some limitations of case studies?
- lack control and objectivity of other research methods
- cannot provide causal evidence because alternative hypotheses cannot be eliminated
- may be biased by observer’s theoretical viewpoint
- validity of information gathered in a case study is sometimes questionable
What are some advantages to case studies?
- provides a rich description of a new or unusual clinical phenomenon or treatment
- can disprove an allegedly universal hypothesis
- can generate hypotheses that can be tested through controlled research
What is the correlational method?
research strategy used to establish whether two or more variables are related w/o manipulating the independent variable (variables are measured as they exist in nature)
What is the correlation coefficient?
a statistic that provides an index of the strength and direction of a linear relationship between two variables - coefficient of 0 indicates no relationship and 1 indicates a perfect positive relationship; -1 indicates a perfect negative relationship
What is statistical significance?
a result that has a low probability of having occurred by chance alone and is by convention regarded as important - influenced by the number of participants in the study
What is clinical significance?
whether a relationship between variables is large enough to matter
What are some limitations of correlational studies?
- do not allow the determination of cause-effect relationships
- directionality and third variable problems can interfere with determining causality
- directionality problem
What is the directionality problem?
a difficulty that arises in the correlational method of research when it is known that two variables are related but it is unclear which is causing the other
What is longitudinal design?
investigation that collects information on the same individuals repeatedly over time, perhaps over many years, in an effort to determine how phenomena change; but can sometimes be expensive and low benefit
What is a cross-sectional design?
studies in which different age groups are compared at the same time
What is the high-risk method?
research technique involving intensive examination of people, such as offspring of people w/ schizophrenia, who have a high probability of later developing a disorder
What is a third-variable problem?
difficulty in the correlational method of research whereby the relationship between two variables may be attributable to a third factor
What is another name for a third factor?
confounds
What is epidemiology?
the study of the distribution of disorders in a population
What are the three features of a disorder that epidemiological research focuses on?
- Prevalence
- Incidence
- Correlates
What does prevalence refer to?
the proportion of people with the disorder either currently or during their lifetime
What does incidence refer to?
the proportion of people who develop new cases of the disorder in some period, usually a year
What are correlates?
variables that are correlated with the presence of the disorder
What is behavior genetics?
estimates genetic predisposition for disorder by considering whether relatives demonstrate similarity in their patterns of disorder
What is the family method?
a research study in behavior genetics in which the frequency of a trait or of abnormal behavior is determined in relatives who have varying percentages of shared genetic background
What is concordance?
the similarity in psychiatric diagnosis or in other traits within relatives
What is an index case?
the person who is in a genetic investigation bears the diagnosis or trait in which the investigator is interested
What is a proband?
the person who is in a genetic investigation bears the diagnosis or trait in which the investigator is interested
What is the twin method?
research strategy in behavior genetics in which concordance rates of monozygotic and dizygotic twins are compared
What are monozygotic (MZ) twins?
genetically identical twins who have developed from a single fertilized egg
What are dizygotic (DZ) twins?
birth partners who developed from separate fertilized eggs and who are only 50% alike genetically (fraternal twins)
What is the adoptees method?
research method that studies children who were adopted and reared completely apart from their parents, thereby eliminating the influence of being raised by disordered parents
What is the cross-fostering method?
research method that studies offspring who were adopted and reared completely apart from their biological parents, where the adoptive parent has a particular disorder but the biological parent does not, thereby introducing the influence of being raised by disordered parents
What is an experiment?
most powerful research technique for determining causal relationships; involves the manipulation of an independent variable, the measurement of a dependent variable, and the random assignment of participants to the several different conditions being investigated
What is random assignment?
a method of assigning people to groups by chance; helps ensure that groups are similar on variables other than the independent variable
What is an independent variable?
the factor, experience, or treatment that is under the control of the experimenter and that is expected to have an effect on the dependent variable
What is a dependent variable?
the behavior that is measured and is expected to change with manipulation of the independent variable
What are the four basic features of experimental design?
- The investigator manipulates an independent variable
- Participants are allocated to the two conditions by random assignment
- The researcher measures a dependent variable that is expected to vary with conditions of the independent variable
- Differences between conditions on the dependent variable are called the experimental effect
What is internal validity?
the extend to which the experimental effect can be attributed to the independent variable
What is the control group?
group that does not receive the experimental treatment and is needed to claim that the effects of an experiment are due to the independent variable
What is external validity?
the extent to which results can be generalized beyond the study
What is single-case experimental design?
a design for an experiment conducted w/ a single subject - typically, behavior is measured within a baseline condition, then during an experimental or treatment condition, and then within the baseline condition again - high internal validity
What is a reversal (ABAB) design?
an experimental design in which behavior is measured during
- a baseline period (A)
- during a period where treatment is introduced (B) 3. during the reinstatement of the conditions that prevailed in the baseline period (A)
- finally during a reintroduction of the treatment (B)
- commonly used in operant research to isolate cause-effect relationships
What is a drawback of single-case designs?
potential lack of external validity
What is treatment outcome research?
studies that assess whether or not a treatment works
What criteria should a treatment study include?
- a clear definition of the sample being studied
- a clear description of the treatment being offered
- inclusion of a control or comparison treatment condition
- an experimental design that involves random assignment of clients to treatment or comparison conditions
- reliable and valid outcome measures
- a large enough sample size
What are randomized controlled trials (RCTs)?
studies in which clients are randomly assigned to receive either active treatment or a comparison; experimental treatment studies where the independent variable is the treatment type and the dependent variable is the client outcome
What are empirically supported treatments (ESTs)?
approaches/therapies whose efficacy has been demonstrated and documented through research that meets standards for research on psychopathology
What is a placebo?
any inactive therapy or chemical agent, or any attribute or component of such a therapy or chemical, that affects a person’s behavior for reasons related to his or her expectation of change; allows researchers to control for expectations of symptom relief
What is a double-blind procedure?
a method fro reducing biasing effects of the expectations of research participant and experimenter; neither is allowed to know whether the independent variable of the experiment is being applied to the patient
What is the placebo effect?
a physical or psychological improvement that is due to a patient’s expectations of help rather than to any active ingredient in a treatment
What is cultural competence?
the capacity of a therapist to understand the patient’s cultural framework and its implications for therapeutic work
What is efficacy?
how well a treatment works under the purest of conditions
What is effectiveness?
how well a treatment works in the real world
What is dissemination?
the process of facilitating adoption of efficacious treatments in the community, most typically by developing guidelines about the best available treatments along with the training for clinicians on how to conduct those treatments
What is a main criticism of randomized control trials (RCTs)?
the external validity of these trials because so many people are excluded or do not take part in these studies
What is an analogue experiment?
an experimental study of a phenomenon different from but related to the actual interests of the investigator (ex: animal research used to study human disorders or research on mild symptoms used as a bridge to clinical disorders) - can obtain results w/ good internal validity
What is replication?
a research study that duplicates the findings of a previous study - findings are considered reproducible and more believable when other researchers have independently replicated them
What is publication bias?
the tendency to publish only positive results
What are some issues in research methods that can contribute to replication failures?
- small samples
- findings less likely to replicate if unreliable measures are used
- replication failures more likely when methods of original study are not described well
- differences in methods between studies
What are questionable research practices?
selective presentation of analyses that support one’s hypotheses while not disclosing analyses that fail to confirm hypotheses
What is confirmation bias?
when researchers tend to be biased to believe the findings that fit their hypotheses and disregard the negative results
What is p-hacking?
a problematic research practice in which researchers run multiple types of analyses in their quest to identify a significant result
What is being done to combat dishonest research practices?
- scientists are required to register their hypotheses
- once a study is completed, researchers make their data publicly available
- editors demand scientists use large sample sizes
What is meta-analysis?
a quantitative method of analyzing the results of a set of studies on a topic by standardizing the results
What is effect size?
way of standardizing the differences in improvement between therapy and control group so that the results of multiple studies can be averaged
