Lecture 2 Research methods Flashcards
Social Analysis
seeks to understand the Hows & whys of human social behaviour by theory development and repeated experiments
2 categories of research
applied: field research
basic: test tube lab research
Ways of Knowing
Intuition Tradition Authorities Logic Scientific method
5 steps of the Scientific Method
identify research problem generate hypothesis collect and analyze data interpret findings generate conclusions
3 types of Scientific research
Descriptive (in-depth portrayals)
Predictive (directional relationships and generalize future events)
Explanatory (provides why or how with theory like a blueprint)
Cognitive Theories
individual is a thinking person
internal states
variable
attributes or characteristics that change or vary taking on more than one value
independent variable
manipulated variable that explains or causes the study outcomes
dependent variable
phenomenon of interest expected to change because of manipulating the independent variable
extraneous variable
variable other than IV that could influence DV
Hypothesis
educated guess regarding outcome of research study
Null Hypothesis
no relationship between variables under study
Alternative Hypothesis
educated guess regarding independent variable
causality
process of identifying agents that when manipulated bring about desired changes in DV’s of interest
3 conditions of causal inference
IV correlated with DV
IV before DV
all possible extraneous variables must be ruled out
measurement
assigning numbers to variables
nominal measurement
assigning numbers to variables only as labels
ordinal measurement
assigning numbers to variables so that it can be rank ordered
interval measurement
numbers to variables so that distances are equal (actual measurement)
ratio measurement
so that a true zero exists
Psychometrics
assessment of psychological variables using numbers
observed score =
true score + measurement error
2 types of validity
internal (cause & effect)
external (generalizability)
test validity:
content: representing well
criterion: do test scores reflect construct
Face validity
does it make sense
3 types of research design
Randomized experimental design (randomly assigns participants to different conditions and manipulates independent variable)
Quasi-experimental designs (does not randomly assign participants to different conditions)
Non-expirimental
