Intro Flashcards
what are strategies for literature search?
- start with relatively recent articles
- start with reviews or meta-analyses
- narrow down the topic
- distinguish relevant from irrelevant articles
how can you estimate relevance?
- How related is the article to your topic?
- In which journal was it published?
- How often was it cited?
- Who has published the article?
why is knowing the literature important? it can help you …
- to generate a research question
- to evaluate the relevance of a research question
- to figure out whether a research question has already been investigated
- to place the research question in the existing literature
- to determine the optimal methodology to investigate the research question
how to generate a research idea from the literature
- test a suggestion made in the discussion section of an article
- test the explanation offered by authors that was not tested yet
- test whether the conclusion of an article generalizes to a different domain or
group - adapt the methodology to a different research problem
what defines a good research question? (6)
- Focused on a single problem
- Specific and not too broad
- Complex enough to be informative (not only yes/no)
- Feasible to be answered in a given time frame and with the available resources
- Researchable
- Original
what to avoid regarding research questions?
- motivating a research question primarily by the method
- being too ambitious
- mistake a hypothesis for a research question
what is a theory?
coherent explanation or interpretation of one or more phenomena
what does a theory go beyond?
goes beyond the phenomenon it explains
what does a theory include?
variables, structures, processes, functions or organizing principles
4 things a theory does
(a) best summarizes existing empirical knowledge of the phenomenon
(b) organizes this knowledge in the form of precise statements of relationships
among variables (i.e., laws)
(c) proposes an explanation for the phenomenon
what is a hypothesis?
a specific prediction about a new phenomenon that should be
observed if a particular theory is accurate
when is a sample representative?
a sample is representative if it reflects the attributes of the target population
when is a sample biased?
a sample is biased when it does not reflect the attributes of the target population
what are examples of a self-report measurement?
- Questionnaire
- Conversation
- Interview
- Text/ narratives
what are example of a behavior measurement?
- Reaction time
- Errors
- Kinematics
- Eye movements
- Traces of behaviour in
environment or text
what are examples of a physiology measurement?
- Activity of central nervous system
- Autonomous activity
- Somatic activity
- Hormonal activity
what is reliability?
the consistency of a measure
what is measurement?
the assignment of numerals to objects or events according to rules
what is validity?
a measure is said to be valid if it measures what it is designed to measure
with what can we determine the quality of a measurement?
validity and reliability
what is reliability a direct function of?
the measurement error
what is a direct function of the measurement error?
reliability
what is the measured value a combination of? (reliability)
the measured value is a combination of a hypothetical true value
and the measurement error
what does test-retest reliability measure?
test-retest reliability measures the consistency of results when you repeat the same test on the same sample at a different point in time
which measures is test-retest reliability good for?
good for measures that are assumed to be relatively stabile over time
what is essential for test-retest reliability and why?
timing is essential:
* if too long, the measured construct might have changed
* if too short, participants might remember how they answered at T1
what are forms of reliability?
- test-retest reliability
- split-half reliability
- inter-rater reliability
what is split-half reliability?
- split measure into two halves and compute the correlation
- measures the internal consistency of a test
- is quick and easy to apply
when is split-half reliability good?
good if all items measure the same construct and there are many items
what does inter-rater reliability measure/asses?
interrater reliability (also called interobserver reliability) measures the degree of agreement between different people observing or assessing the same thing
- assesses the external consistency of a test
what does content validity ask?
*Does the content of a measure make sense in terms of the construct being measured
what is face validity concerned with?
- Concerns whether the measure seems valid to those who are taking it
- Not very essential from a measurement perspective.
- Sometimes one even wants to avoid it (e.g. implicit measures)
what does criterion validity determine?
determines whether the measure is related to some behavioural outcome or criterion that has been established by prior research
what does predictive validity determine?
whether the measure can accurately forecast some future behavior
what does concurrent validity determine?
whether the measure can accurately predict present criteria
what does construct validity determine?
determines whether a test adequately measures some construct
how has construct validity to be established and why?
because constructs cannot be observed directly, construct validity has to be
established indirectly
what is convergent validity?
scores on a test measuring some construct should relate to scores on other tests that are theoretically related to the construct
what is discriminant validity?
test measuring some construct should not be related to scores on other measures that
are theoretically unrelated to the construct
