Foundations of Psychological science

Question 1

name the types of non-experimental research methods

Answer 1

1. Person-by-treatment quasi-experiment
2. natural experiments

observational designs:

3. cross-sectional
4. longitudinal
5. case-control

Question 2

what is the difference between experimental and non-experimental research methods?

Answer 2

in experimental designs (true experiments);
-all IVs are manipulated, and they’re manipulated systematically.
-Participants are randomly assigned to different levels of the IV while other variables are kept constant
-a control group is present

in non-experimental designs;
-not all IVs are manipulated.
-participants may not be randomly assigned.
-a control group may not be present

Question 3

define person-by-treatment quasi-experiments

Answer 3

-there is at least 1 IV
-one IV is manipulated (treatment effect)
-one IV is measured but not manipulated (person effect).

Question 4

define observational designs

Answer 4

-IVs are measured, but not manipulated by the researcher, rather by nature.

Question 5

identify hybrid designs and define them

Answer 5

1.longitudinal RCT
2.cross-sequential

Question 6

define natural experiments

Answer 6

-IVs aren’t measured, they’re observed.
-IVs are manipulated by nature (no random assignment)
-groups are compared in every other sense.

Question 7

define cross-sectional designs

Answer 7

-provides a snap-shot in time comparing two groups. (smokers vs non-smokers)

Question 8

define longitudinal designs

Answer 8

-the same cohort is tracked through time. (smokers time1 vs smokers time2 vs smokers time3)

Question 9

define case-control designs

Answer 9

-cohorts are compared retrospectively (look back in time) (look at the history of smoking is compared between G1-people with lung cancer and G2-people with no lung cancer.)

Question 10

name the types of sampling and give examples

Answer 10

1.population surveys (all VIC Uni students)
2.convenience sampling (all VIC Uni students nearby/easily accessible)
3.simple random sampling (random sampling across all VIC Uni students)
4.cluster sampling (randomly select x Unis, then sample from those schools)
5.stratified sampling (sample students from within a ‘stratum’. this could be proportional to irl proportion of these variables.)