how to do research Flashcards
what is relative frequency?
Frequency of an event or number of times event occurs
relative frequency
most commonly used for nominal scale measurement
how do you calculate for relative frequency
number of times behavior has occurred divided by total observations. expressed by proportion or percentage.
interobserver reliability
degree of 2 or more independent observers agree
what is the formula to calculate agreement between 2 observers?
times 2 observers agree divided by # of opportunities to agree times 100
researchers report reliability that exceeds what percentage?
85%
When data is measured through ordinal scale they use what?
Spearman Rank Order Correlation
When observational data is measured on either a ratio or interval scale they use what?
Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient
What is correlation Coefficient?
NUmerical measure of some type of correlation, meaning a statistical relationship between 2 variables. The variables may be 2 columns of a given data set of observation, often called a sample or 2 components of a random variable with a known distribution.. Direction and magnitude of predictive relationship.
What is the heart of techniques?
Identification and Selection
What is a biased sample?
Characteristics of sample are different from characteristics of population
what is population?
Set of all cases of interest
What is a sampling frame?
List of items or people forming a populations from which a sample is taken.
What is a element?
Each member of the population.
What is selection bias?
procedures used to select samples which result in overrepresentation of some segment of the population
What are the 2 approaches to selecting a survey sample?
- Probability Sampling-(selecting randomly)
- Non-probability sampling-subset of population to represent whole population or to inform about the processes that are meaningful beyond the particular cases. ( Individuals or sites studies)
What are the 3 steps to drawing a random survery?
- define your population of interest.
- determine your sampling frame.
3 when a convenient list of management size is available a random sample can be taken to achieve a representative sample.
What is stratified random sampling
Sampling from a population which can be partiended into subpopulations.
When subpopulations vary what do researchers do?
researchers sample each subpopulation independently.
What are the 2 ways to draw the stratified random sampling?
- Draw equal sized from each subpopulation.
2. draw elements for samples on a proportional basis.
what is non-probability sampling?
It is the convenience of sampling individuals or the individuals willingness to participate in the survey, questionnaire etc….
What are the 4 survey methods?
- personal interviews
- telephone interviews
- internet surveys.
What are the 3 survey research designs?
- cross-sectional-1 or more samples drawn from population 1 at a time. Allows researchers to describe characteristics of population or differences. Correlation finding allows them to make predictions. It is the most used method.
- Successive independent sample- Different samples of people from populations. They do surveys over a long period of time. A problem that can arise is samples drawn are not representative of entire population.
- Longitudinal Design- Same people over long period of time. A problem with this method is It can not represent the original population from which the samples were originally drawn sometimes.
What is the primary research instrument used?
The questionnaire
What is demographic Variable
Describes characteristics of people surveyed. Examples” measure of race, ethnicity and age.
What is assessed in surveys?
THeir preferences and attitudes.
WHat are the 6 steps to prepare the questionnaire?
- Decide information to be sought
- decide how to administer the questionnaire.
- prepare a draft of the questionnaire
- re-examine and revise the draft.
- pretest the draft
- edit and specify procedures to be followed for the final draft.
what is a continuous dimension
an individual could fall at any point along dimension. Continuum can have various levels of characteristics
What is dichotomous?
Individuals does or does not possess characteristics. They do not have the specific characteristics they are looking for.
What is position preference?
consistent tendency to choose an option because of its location etc..
what is manifest content?
plain meaning of the words that actually appear on the page.
when a complete record of behavior can not be obtained, researchers seek to obtain a what?
representative sample of the behavior
The extent to which observations may be generalized (external validity) depends on what?
how the behavior is sampled
before researchers conduct an observing study they must decide what?
when and where the observing will take place
The behavior must be what?
sampled
the ______ is used to _____ a larger population
sample, represent
What type of finding can only be done observing the participants times, setting, and conditions similar to those in the study which observations were originally made.
generalized
What is external validity
THe extent to which results of study can be generalized to different populations settings and conditions.
What is validity
truthfulness
WHat is time sampling
choosing time intervals for making observations either systematically or randomly.
When researchers are interested in infrequent behaviors they choose what?
event sampling (nature disasters)
Researchers use combo of _____&______ to identify representative samples.
time sampling & situation sampling
What is time sampling
seek representative samples by choosing various time intervals for observing.
What does EAR mean
ELectronic activated recorder/natural environment
what is situation sampling?
increases external validity of observational findings.
what is subject sampling?
It is used when the researcher cant observe everyone in the room at the same time.
Observational methods
- Direct observation- observe w/o intervention or observe w/ intervention.
- If it is observe with intervention it can either be
(a) participant observation or
(b) structured observation or
(c) field experiment. - Indirect observation- unobtrusive (non-reactive)
will use physical traces and/or archival records.
what is participant observation?
observes behavior and participates actively in situation they are observing
What happened in Rosenhan’s study
Completed in 1973, researchers disguised participants who sought admission to mental hospital saying they had schizophrenia. Got to leave in between 7-52 days told they were in remission.
Clinical psychologist uses ____ to watch parent-child interactions.
structured observation
structured observation is middle ground between what?
passive non-intervention of naturalistic observance and systematic control/manipulation of independent variables
WHat is a field experiment?
manipulated 1 or more independent variables in naturalistic setting to determine the effect of behavior
What is unobtrusive measures
researcher does not intervene and the individuals are not aware
WHat are traces
physical evidence from use or non-use of items ex: cans in a recycle bin, pages highlighted in a book, wear and tear on a game controller
WHat are running records
public, private documents produced constantly ex” records for sport teams, fb, twitter entries
What are products?
creations, constructions, artifacts of behavior
ex: ancient rock paintings, MTV, harry potter figures
What are records for specific episodes?
documents for specific events
ex: birth certificate, marriage certificate
What is validity of physical traces?
considering possible sources of bias and by seeking converging evidence.
Ex; she could find husbands cook book bc it smells like garlic and has food stains on pages
What are physical traces?
remnants, fragments products of past behavior
examining of ______allows researchers to test hypothesis about behavior
products
what are problems of archival records
- selective deposit- some info is selected to be deposited in archives but other info is not.
- selected survival- records are missing or incomplete.
- possible of spurious relationships- evidence falsely indicates that 2 or more variables are associated when they are not.
What are natural treatments?
naturally occurring events that impact society or people
What is comprehensive date keeping?
researchers seek this description. Narrative records of written descriptions of behavior such as audio and recordings.
Researchers classify and organize data from ____records to test hypothesis and behavior
narrative
___ provide a more or less faithful reproduction of behavior as it is originally occurred. This is done after observations are made
Narrative
To create a narrative record researchers write descriptions of behavior or use audio and recordings. Once created observer can_____,____,_ to test their hypothesis
study, classify, and organize
What is nominal scale
label, no numeric values. Is the frequency of a behavior
lowest value
what is ordinal scale
order of values, non-numeric concepts, like mad, really mad, overly mad. Outcome of a race
What is interval scale
we know both the order and exact differences. In Between think of temperatures or measurements 5cm to 20 cm. how far apart 2 events are on a given dimension.
What is ratio scale
tells us everything and has an absolute zero
WHen researchers decide to measure and quantify specific behavior they must decide what ____ of measurement to use
scale
psychologist prefer to use what scale to measure behaviors?
Interval scale ( quantitative)
researchers either use ___ or _____ data to analyze results
quantitative or qualitative
When researchers use measurement scale they prefer data is
quantitative ( interval scale)
What is an important step in analyzing narrative and archival records?
Data reduction
Qualitive studies what setting?
naturalistic
what are the 3 steps to analyze content data?
- identify a relevant source.
- sample sections from the source.
- code units of analysis.
what is quantitive data analysis?
numerical data collected and transforms what’s collected or observed in to numerical data (length, mass, temperature, time)
What is descriptive statistics?
summary that quantitatively describes features from a collection of information.
What is relative frequency
most common to use for nominal scale/ To calculate this yo use the number of times a behavior occurs and it is tallied and divided by total observations. It is expressed by a proportion or perecentage.
What is interobserver reliability?
degree of 2 or more independent observers agree
what is the formula for interobserver reliability>
number of times 2 observers agree divided by number of opportunities to agree times 100
researchers report reliability that exceeds what percentage
85%
When data is measured through ordinal scale whey use what correlation?
spearman rank order correlation
when observation data is measured on either a ratio or interval scale they use what?
pearson product moment correlation coefficient/(r)
What is correlation coefficient?
quantitative index of direction and magnitude of predictive relationship
