methods Flashcards
methods of research
-descriptive, correlation, experimental
ways to do descriptive research
surveys, case studies, naturalistic observation
in surveys, you have to look out for a ____
wording bias
what is a wording bias?
when wording is confusing or misleading
what is correlation research?
studies where the relationships between 2 or more variables are measured but not manipulated
what is correlation measured by?
the correlation coefficient r
what does r tell us?
- strength
-0= no relationship (weak)
-1:1 = perfect relationship (strong) - type of relationship
-direction: positive/negative
what are illusionary correlations?
perception of a relationship where none exist
(ex: pitbulls and aggressive)
what is experimental research?
the main objective in the experiment is to discover the effect of an independent variable (IV) on a dependent variable (DV)
dependent variable
the aspect of a situation that is measured while the independent variable is changed (ex: measures of peace; scored on memory test)
- what is measured
independent variable
the aspect of a situation that is intentionally varied
(ex: prayer or quiet reflection; healthy diet or standard american diet)
experimental group
the group that is exposed to the “treatment” or Independent variable
-ex: group that prays; group that eats a healthy diet
control group
the group that is exposed to the same experimental environment, but is not given the “treatment”
-ex: group that sits quietly (doesn’t pray);
random assignment
technique for assigning research participants or subjects to different groups in an experiment using randomization, such as by a chance procedure
-ex: if you don’t use random assignments, you increase your chances of having a confounding variable
confounding variables
factors other than the independent variable that may cause a result
-ex: all exercisers in a Healthy Diet group
