Lecture 1: Introduction to Research Methods

Question 1

What is the aim of applied research?

Answer 1

Applied research strives to find solutions to practical problems; focuses on using information to find solutions or to make changes

Applied research is the interpretation of knowledge for change or purpose

ex:

Question 2

What is the aim of Basic Research?

Answer 2

Basic research focuses on enhancing /gaining the general body of knowledge

focuses on collecting knowledge for the purpose of increasing the amount of knowledge on the topic of interest

ex: capacity of human memory

Question 3

What is translational research?

Answer 3

its a bridge between applied and basic research.

Question 4

What is a theory?

Answer 4

a set of statements that describes general principles about how variables relate to one another

ex: contact comfort is the basis of infant attachment to mothers

Question 5

What is a hypothesis?

Answer 5

a statement that predicts a specific phenomenon or behavior

ex: babies would spend more time on the cloth monkey than the wire monkey

Question 6

What is empirical research?

Question 7

Do researchers work to prove theories?

Answer 7

no they instead work to support the notion

this is because you cannot test nor know 100% of the possibilities

Question 8

What are operational definitions? and when are they used?

Answer 8

operational definitions are ones that turn constructs into measurable variables; how it is measured in the study

operational definitions are used when researchers are testing their hypothesis.

ex: construct: life satisfaction –> the extent to which an individual agrees with the statement “I am satisfied with my life”

Question 9

What is descriptive research?

Answer 9

Research that focuses on the description of thoughts, behaviors, or feelings of a group of individuals

critical that this type of research is done as objectively and systematically as possible (no interference)

Question 10

What is correlational research?

Answer 10

research that investigates relations among variables

tells how two variables relate, and the degree to which they relate. However, it does not inform one on the cause and effect between those two variables.

Question 11

What is experimental research?

Answer 11

Experimental research tests whether a change in an independent variable leads to changes in a dependent variable

It allows researchers to determine cause and effect between two variables

Question 12

Quasi- experimental research is…

Question 13

There are two types of statistical analyses, describe the purpose of descriptive stats?

Answer 13

descriptive stats are used to organize summarize and describe behaviors of the participants and are usually expressed as means, averages, or percentages

Question 14

There are two types of statistical analyses, describe the purpose of inferential stats?

Answer 14

inferential stats are used to draw conclusions about the reliability and generalizability of research findings = t tests and f-tests

Question 15

Variance

Answer 15

quantifies the degree to which scores in the sample spread out around the mean

Calculating variance:
1. calculate the mean
2. 2. calculated SD
3. square the deviation scores
4. calculate the sum of the squared deviation scores
5. divide by n-1

Question 16

standard deviation

Answer 16

captures how far each score in a data set is from the mean

the larger the SD the greater variability in the data set

the smaller the SD the smaller the variability = better findings bc data is more clustered around the mean

SD is score- mean