Lecture 13- Confirmatory Research

Question 1

What two goals of science align with confirmatory research?

Answer 1

• Predict

- Control

Question 2

What type of research in confirmatory research (inductive or deductive)?

Answer 2

• Deductive/ top down (general to more specific)

- Theory, hypothesis, pattern then observation

Question 3

How many theories are we investigating in confirmatory research?

Answer 3

Usually 1, sometimes a couple

Question 4

Why do we still need description in confirmatory research?

Answer 4

Need to describe our results in a report so that people understand what trend they are looking at

Question 5

What things do we need to do when designing a confirmatory study?

Answer 5

• Control the context by choosing a dependent and independent variable
• Make a hypothesis by predicting a data pattern in the DV

Question 6

What do we do if our data shows there is a difference (due to our manipulation)?

Answer 6

• Reject null

- Support for alternative but can never prove because won’t ever rule out other possible reasons

Question 7

What type of variation do we want?

Answer 7

Systematic (as a result of manipulation) not random error/chance. We can never get rid of random error or chance completely though only quantity it in comparison to systematic error through inferential stats (ANOVA t-test).

Question 8

What are subject variables?

Answer 8

Can’t manipulate directly: participants basically assign themselves based on person characteristics

Question 9

What does a P value greater than 0.05 mean in an ANOVA?

Answer 9

Can’t say that we are seeing a real effect (insignificant) can’t reject the null