Lecture 5 Flashcards
What are Variables?
Any characteristic of factor that can vary (e.g. height, blood pressure, etc.)
What are the common variables used in psychological research?
Overt Behaviour
Physiological Measures
Psychological Tests
What are examples of Overt behaviour?
Play patterns, reaction time, accuracy
What are examples of Physiological Measures?
Heart rate, pupil dilation, neural activity
What are Psychological Tests?
Neuropsychological, IQ, etc.
What is Operational definition?
Defining a concept or variable in terms of the specific procedures used to produce or measure it
What are the 3 broad levels of analysis?
Biological
Psychological
Social
What is Reliability in response to Variables?
Does the measure produce consistent results
What is Validity in response to variable?
Does the measure actually relate to what it is supposed
What are some considerations with variables?
- Measurement of variable can be considered more or less obtrusive
- Variables that have already been measured are called archival measure
What are Archival Measures?
Variables that have already been measured prior to the start of a projects
What are the 3 types of Research methods?
Correlational Studies
Experimental Methods
Descriptive Research
What does Correlational Studies examine?
Relationships among/between variables
What does Experimental Research examine?
Cause and effect relationship
What does Descriptive Research study?
Case studies
Naturalistic observation
Survey Research
What are Case Studies?
In-depth analyses of an individual, group, or event
What are the advantages to Case Studies?
- Gives the opportunity to study rare phenomenon that you might no otherwise have
- Can challenge the validity of a theory or widely held scientific belief
- Can be a source of new ideas/hypotheses
- Can illustrate effectiveness of experimental programs for particular population
What are the Disadvantages of Case Studies?
- Observers may not be objective in gathering/interpreting data
- Cannot establish cause and effect relationship
- May not generalize to other people/groups
What can case studies be used to test?
Can be used to test patients who already have damage to specific areas of the brain. This helps when it wouldn’t be ethical to actually damage a specific portion of someones brain
What is Localization of Function?
The idea that particular parts of the brain are specialized for specific functions/tasks/processes
What is Naturalistic Observation?
Where lab studies are difficult or less useful, researchers can observe subjects in their real-life environment
What is the Advantage of Naturalistic observation?
It provides a rich description and high ecological validity
What is the Disadvantage?
Cannot make inferences about cause and effect relationship
What is Survey Research?
Collecting data using questionnaires or interviews
What are the advantages to Survey Research?
- Efficient way to collect lots of data
* Can gauge changes across time
What are the Disadvantages to Survey Research?
- Cannot infer cause and effect
- Relies on self reports
- Possible issues with representativeness
What is a Sample?
A set of data that is collected
What is required of Samples?
They should be representative of the population being studies
Why should samples be representative of the population being studies?
To increase the probability that inferences made about the sample will generalize the population that is the target for research
What is shown in Random Sampling?
Everyone in the population has an equal chance of being samples
What happens in stratified random sampling?
Attempts are made to draw samples in pseudo-random fashion that takes into account various differences in the population. The sample is just more representative of the population
