Discussing research Flashcards
Locations of a study
a) Laboratory
b) Naturalistic setting (Field study)
Advantage of a laboratory setting
a) Controlled situation
b) No influence on variables by outside factors
Advantage of field study
a) Observing behaviors in real life
Types of a study based on its nature
a) Retrospective
b) Prospective
Retrospective study
Asking participants about past behavior (data)
Limitations of a retrospective study
a) Reliance on participants’ memory
b) Not possible to verify the shared information.
Prospective study
Measures a variable at the beginning of a study and watches its effect over time.
Limitations of a prospective study
a) Takes a lot longer to carry out
b) Too many participants will drop
Longitudinal research
Repeated observations of the same variables over long periods of time
Advantage of longitudinal research
Analysis of the same individuals over time, reducing participant variability
Cross sectional research
A researcher analyzes the collected data from a population at a specific point in time
Advantage of cross sectional research
High efficiency
a) Less time to carry out
b) Low risk of participants dropping
Application
How a theory or empirical study is used
a) Therapy
b) Education
c) Crime
d) Sport
Validity
Whether a research does what it claims
Types of validity
a) Internal
b) External
c) Construct
Internal validity
Credibility
How well an experiment is done (Methodological quality of an experiment)
Factors of internal validity
a) Control of extraneous variables
b) Defined varibles (IV/DV)
Construct validity (Generalizability to theory)
Quality of experiment operationalization
Factors of construct validity
a) Agreed upon definition of the phenomenon
b) Can be measured
External validity
Extent to which the results can be generalized to other situations and people
Types of external validity
a) Population
b) Ecological
Population validity
Generalizability to other people
How well the sample used can be generalized to a population as a whole
a) Sampling technique
b) Representativeness
Ecological validity
Generalizability to other situations
a) How much the environment influences behavior
b) Extent to which findings can be generalized from the experiment to other settings
Factors of ecological validity
a) Mundane realism
b) Generalizability of the study to other settings outside the lab
Mundane realism
Level to which the situation represents a real life situation
Reliability
Results can be replicated
Factor of reliability
Standardization of the procedure
a) Same results
