Developmental Methods Flashcards
Define variables, and the difference between independent/dependent variables.
a. Variable: anything that is different between people, time, context, situations, etc.
b. IV: what is being manipulated in an experiment; the thing that has an effect
c. DV: what is being measured in an experiment; what you expect to changed based on the IV
Identify and explain differences between correlational and experimental study designs, including conclusions may be drawn from each, and their strengths and limitations.
a. Correlational: broadly examine the associations between variables
i. Strengths: allows us to study relationships that we otherwise could not physically or ethically study by using experiments, such as FAS, cheaper
ii. Limitations: cannot conclude cause, can’t say with 100% certainty that A caused B, could be time consuming
b. Experiment: include random assignment to conditions, and experimentally manipulated independent variables to examine the effect on dependent variables
i. Strengths: can establish causal connections between variables, variables can be manipulated, can establish directionality
ii. Limitations: can be expensive, time consuming, need a large enough sample size, participant burnout, possibility of bias, subject to issue of a third variable
Describe several specific study designs used to understand adolescent development, and identity them in hypothetical research settings
a. Cross-sectional: at a single point in time, can compare groups
i. Do men and women differ in level of depression?
b. Longitudinal: follow participants over time to examine change; can get closer to directionality than cross-sectional
i. Do men and women show different trajectories of depression?
c. RCTs: used to randomly assign people to treatment or intervention (and control) groups
i. Does this bullying intervention work?
d. Meta analyses: statistical procedure for combining research finding across studies
i. Are women relationally aggressive than males?)
e. Cross-sequential: sampling multiple groups, following them up over time
f. Behavioral genetic: disentangling roles of genes and shared and non-shared environment in outcomes
i. Family or twin studies
Describe various ethical issues pertaining to research on adolescents specifically
a. Depending on age, the adolescent cannot give consent to participate
i. Parents may give consent for an adolescent to participate in a study they do not want to participate in
b. They may not fully understand parts of the study
c. May not fully understand that they can withdraw from the study at any time
d. Adolescents are a more sensitive population than adults and therefore require different treatment
