Exam 1 Flashcards
what are the 7 steps of the scientific method?
- identify the problem/question/idea
- read existing literature
- test hypothesis/experiment
- analyze results
- conclusion (do results agree with the hypothesis?)
- publication (review and evaluated by peers and editing)
- replicate or revisit hypothesis
reliable sources
peer reviewed journal articles
grey literature
not subject to peer review
e.g. chapters in edited books, full length books, book chapters, dissertations, theses
construct/concept
a singular complex idea that cannot be directly observed; abstract theoretical concept (e.g. friendship, success)
variable
a concrete, observable aspect of the construct or concept that is different across people or situations (e.g. construct: friendship; variable: pos relationship quality)
conceptual definition
the fields definition of the construct in question at a theoretical level (usually found in an article from literature research)
measure
the method of gathering data about the construct of interest (e.g. PN-SMD)
operational definition
the definition of the construct as it will be measured (e.g. PN-SMD is the measure; OD: pos quality rating of a platonic relationship)
qualitative variables
descriptions of behavior and mental processes that stay in narrative written form
pros: rich and personal info
cons: time consuming, difficult to replicate, has small samples
quantitative variables
descriptions of behavior and mental processes that turn into numerical form, scores, ratings, etc.
pros: replicable, has larger samples, can analyze with stats
cons: more restricted answers
how do you measure quantitative data
NOIR
Nominal
Ordinal
Interval
Ratio
categorical variables
places an individual into one of several groups or categories (e.g. gender: female, male, other)
continuous variables
obtained by measure or counting (e.g. test score, height/weight)
binary
for categorical variables, nominal (e.g. yes/no question)
ordinal (NOIR)
for categorical variables, groups have an order of hierarchy (e.g. grade in school)
nominal (NOIR)
for categorical variables, no order to the categories (e.g. ethnicity)
interval (NOIR)
for continuous variables, NO true zero, CAN be negative (e.g. temperature in fahrenheit)
ratio (NOIR)
for continuous variables, HAS a true zero, CANNOT be negative (e.g. age)
cross sectional study
observational study that analyzes data from a population at a single point in time
pros: less time consuming, larger samples, less resource intense
cons: almost only correlations possible
longitudal study
repeated measures study, more than one piece of data for a participant (e.g. Subject A is observed at age 5, 10, and 20)
pros: time effects, measure change
cons: time consuming, resource intensive, participant drop out
measured variable
observed/recorded as is (e.g. record the height of a plant as it grows)
manipulated variable
something is intentionally changed (e.g. record the height of a plant as it grows while giving it fertilizer, fertilizer is the manipulated variable)
sample
a group within the population
probability sampling
every individual in the population has an equal chance of being selected for a study (e.g. simple random sampling: put every member’s name of the population in a pool and randomly select a number- number is associated to a person)
non-probability sampling
all people in the population do not have an equal chance of recruitment (introduce bias)
e.g. self-selection, convenience sampling, purposive sampling
self-selection (non-probability sampling)
sample is made up of volunteers for the study
convenience sampling (non-probability sampling)
sample is made up of those that are easy to contact
purposive sampling (non-probability sampling)
only recruit the type of person you want to study
snowball sampling (non-probability sampling)
recruitment via social networks and word of mouth
science
empirical, based on observations
pseudoscience
theories, ideas, or explanations that are represented as scientific but not derived from science or the scientific method
what is the purpose of the abstract in a research paper?
it is a brief summary of the study
what is the purpose of the introduction in a research paper? what are its 3 key components?
it introduces phenomenon of interest, provides background research leading to the hypotheses
key components:
- literature review
- identify gaps in the literature
- research question
plagiarism and paraphrasing
all info should be paraphrased from sources with appropriate in-text citations (no quotes)
paraphrasing should be your own words, relevant to the ideas that you are talking about
validity
how well does the data represent the way things actually are?
construct validity
how well a construct is operationalized- does the operational and conceptual definition match? (e.g. mental health and mental health tally)
measurement reliability
measure results are consistent and can be trusted
3 types of measurement reliability
- test-retest reliability
- interrater reliability
- internal reliability
test-retest reliability (measurement reliability)
consistent scores every time the measure is used
interrater reliability (measurement reliability)
consistent scores no matter who administers the measure
internal reliability (measurement reliability)
researcher asks the same question multiple times in different ways- a consistent pattern of responses indicates that the participant is listening/paying attention
measurement validity
the measure accurately describes the variable
3 types of measurement validity
- criterion validity
- convergent validity
- discriminant validity
criterion validity (measurement validity)
relevance, is the measure related to a concrete outcome that it should be related to?
convergent validity (measurement validity)
a measure should correlate strongly with other measures of the same variable (e.g. comparing tests of stress and anxiety)
discriminant validity (measurement validity)
a measure should NOT correlate strongly with measures of different variables (e.g. diagnostic measures, ADHD diagnostic test compared to autism test)
external validity
generalizability, how well the results of a study represent the population
statistical validity
the extent to which the author’s interpretations of the data are reasonable and accurate
internal validity
the accuracy of the relationship between variables
