Lecture 2 - Basic Study Designs

Question 1

what does open-mindedness in research entail?

Answer 1

open-mindedness involves acknowledging that our beliefs may be incomplete, entertaining ideas without necessarily accepting them, and allowing a wide range of questioning and speculation

Question 2

why is rational skepticism important in research?

Answer 2

rational skepticism is important because it acknowledges that a belief or claim may be inaccurate and uses reasoning to test ideas and arguments

Question 3

define empiricism in the context of good research

Answer 3

empiricism in research involves using evidence to test ideas, claim, and beliefs, coming up with new ideas, desiring high-quality (objective) evidence, and taking into account all relevant evidence according to its quality

Question 4

what role does honesty play in conducting good research?

Answer 4

honesty involves knowing what support you have for your idea or beliefs, ideally also knowing the strongest arguments against them, and when presenting findings, describing the evidence, including how it was gathered and in what context, and making the evidence reasonably available to others.

Question 5

what are theories and what purposes do they serve in research?

Answer 5

theories are explanations for sets of findings. They serve to summarize observations, guide behavior (such as interventions, policies, everyday choices), guide the interpretation of evidence, and guide further research

Question 6

what qualities make for a better theory in research?

Answer 6

qualities of a better theory include falsifiability, testability, predictive power, accuracy, scope, breadth, simplicity and fruitfulness

Question 7

How do theories fit into the process of research?

Answer 7

Theories are based partly on evidence from formal research studies, guide the creation of questions, hypotheses, and predictions for new studies, are modified or discarded based on new evidence, and affect how evidence is interpretaed

Question 8

what are the desirable properties of studies in research?

Answer 8

desirable properties of studies include reliability, realism or relevance (construct validity and external validity), and causal interpretability (internal validity)

Question 9

define reliability in the context of research studies

Answer 9

reliability refers to the likely similarity of results if the study were repeated and the extent to which chance can be ruled out as an explanation for the results

Question 10

what does realism or relevance (construct validity and external validity) mean in research?

Answer 10

Realism or relevance refers to how well the study represents the topics and contexts of interest, including how the validity of measures and the realism of tasks and participants

Question 11

explain causal interpretability (internal validity) in research

Answer 11

causal interpretability refers to how well the study supports conclusions about cause and effect, depending on ruling out alternative causes of the outcome variable

Question 12

what are the four general explanations for association or correlation between variables?

Answer 12

the four general explanations are:
1. A causes B
2. B causes A
3. C causes both A and B
4. Coincidence (chance)

Question 13

how can researchers rule out reverse-cause and third-variable explanations for an association?

Answer 13

researchers can rule out these explanations by controlling the supposed causal variable completely themselves, as in experimental designs where they manipulate the variable

Question 14

what is an experiment in the context of research design?

Answer 14

an experiment in a study in which researchers intervene to change the state of a variable in order to see its effect on another variable

Question 15

what is the difference between between-groups and within-groups experimental designs?

Answer 15

In between- groups experiments, different groups receive different treatments, and each participant gets one treatment.
In within-group experiments, each participant receives more than one treatment at different times, and the outcomes is measured after each treatment

Question 16

what are observational (correlational) studies, and how do they differ from experiments?

Answer 16

Observational studies are those where researchers measure variables of interest without intervening to change their states and look for associations between them. Unlike experiments, they cannot rule out reverse-cause or third-variable explanations as effectively

Question 17

what are the main advantages and disadvantages of experimental designs?

Answer 17

advantages include better internal validity (causal interpretability)
disadvantages include potential issues with realism, feasibility and ethics

Question 18

what are the main advantages and disadvantages of observational designs?

Answer 18

advantages include better external validity (realism) and practical feasibility
disadvantages include difficulty ruling out reverse-cause and third-variable explanations

Question 19

explain the diagram showing the association between seatbelt use and car accident injury severity

Answer 19

the diagram likely illustrates a correlation where increased seatbelt use is associated with reduced injury severity in car accidents. However, it does not establish causation and could be explained by other factors such as safer driving behaviors

Question 20

describe the logic of a simple idealized experiment as shown in the lecture slides

Answer 20

the logic involves setting up two situations that are identical except for the state of the supposed causal variable, measuring the outcomes in both situations, and concluding that if the outcome differs, the supposed causal variable must be a cause