Lecture Notes Flashcards
Naturalism
Observing people in small social settings over small or large periods of time
Aspects of Naturalism
(4 things)
- no statistics
- face-to-face interactions
- less structured
- focus groups
Ethnography
Describing a culture from your own perspective
Aspects of Ethnography
(3 things)
- its an interpretive school
- study of common sense
—> micro situations
Strengths of Field Research
(4 Things)
- more interesting
- more valid
- more thourough
- generalizable
Weaknesses of Field Reseach
(3 things)
- subjective biaes
- reseachers are typical people
- tunnel vison
Expiremental design
A structured process used to plan and conduct experiments, allowing researchers to manipulate variables and measure their effects to test hypotheses
Selection bias
findings may be attributed to pre-existing differneces
Threats to internal validity
(6 things)
- history
- selection
- maturation
- expiremental mortality
- testing
- instrumentation
Field Expirements
Experimental research in a natural setting
Labratory Experiment
experimental reseach in artificial setting, experimentor has great control
Natural Experiment
Type of quasi experiment
- reseacher examines impact of policy change (or somehting similar) in social systems
- compares outcome if interest before and after
Classical Experimental Design
(5 things)
- has random assignment
- a control group
- experimental group
- pre-test
- post-test
Pre-Experimental Designs
(3 things)
- lacks random assignment
- uses shortcuts
- weaker than classical designs
One-Shot Case Study
(2 things)
- an experimental group
- only post test
Static Group Comparison
(3 things)
- two groups
- no random assignment
- only a post-test
Quasi-Experimental Designs
(3 things)
- stronger than pre-experimental designs
- are variations of the classical experimental designs
- used in specific situations - when the experimentor has limited control over independsnt variable
Interrupted Time Series Design
Dependant variable measured periodically across time points
Random Assignment
Division of subjects at beggining of experimental research
–> groups treated equally
Random Sampling
Researcher selects small subset of cases from larger pool
Floater
A survey respondant who provides an answer despite lacking knowledge and/or a firm opinion on the topic
Why Floaters Matter
(2 things)
- distort survey results
- effects data quality (can mask true public opinion)
Ways to Manage Threat of Floaters
(3 things)
- Include ‘I don’t know’ options
- screening
- clear phrasing
