Methods in Developmental Research

Question 1

Some changes are sudden and profound because of a critical period, which is either when something ____ occur to ensure normal development or the only time when an abnormality might occur.

Answer 1

must

For example, the human embryo grows arms and legs, hands and feet, fingers and toes, each over a critical period between 28 and 54 days after conception. After that, it is too late.

Question 2

True/False:

Life has few dramatic critical periods.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Often, however, a particular development occurs more easily– but not exclusively– at a certain time. This is called a _______ period.

Answer 3

sensitive

Question 4

What’s an example of a sensitive period?

Answer 4

Language development

Question 5

The __________ _____, abbreviated SES, reflects income and much more, including occupation, education, and neighborhood.

Answer 5

socioeconomic status

Question 6

For social scientists, ______ is “the system of shared beliefs, conventions, norms, behaviors, expectations and symbolic representations that persist over time and prescribe social rules of conduct.”

Answer 6

culture

Question 7

A _________ perspective allows us to see how different cultures view the same phenomenon– either as an asset or as a deficit.

Answer 7

multicultural

Question 8

The term “_______” denotes two complementary aspects of development:

1) human traits can be ______ (as plastic can be).
2) people maintain a certain ________ of identity (as plastic does).

The concept of plasticity in development provides both “hope” and “realism”– hope because change is possible, and realism because development builds on what has come before.

Answer 8

plasticity

molded
durability

Question 9

Correlational research aims to explain ________ _______ in variables. ex: aggression.

Answer 9

individual variance

Question 10

Development is multi-contextual…

There is increasing awareness that…

1) ______ _______ operate together influencing development.
- -systemic theories (ex: ecological-systems approach; Bronfenbrenner)

2) ________ _______ affects development.
- -age cohorts differs in historical/societal times & conditions
- –impact experiences, circumstances and thus also development

3) At best, developmental research is ____________.
- -we need knowledge from different fields to understand the complexity of human development (ex: social-developmental, clinical and/or social psychology)

Answer 10

Multiple systems
Historical context
multidisciplinary

Question 11

Plasticity emphasizes that people ___ and __ change, that predictions are not always ________.

Answer 11

can and do change

accurate

Question 12

Three insights gained by developmentalists have advanced the benefits of prediction…

1) ______ and _______ always interact.
2) Certain periods of life are particularly ________ for particular developments.

Answer 12

Nature and nurture

sensitive

Question 13

Cool fact:

Developmentalists now know that education from birth to age ____ has profound influence on later learning.

Answer 13

four

Question 14

___________: Numerous academic fields– especially psychology, biology, education, and sociology, but also neuroscience, economics, religion, anthropology, history, medicine, genetics, and many more– contribute insights.

Answer 14

Multidisciplinary

Question 15

__________: Human lives are embedded in many contexts, including historical conditions, economic constraints, and family patterns.

Answer 15

Multicontextual

Question 16

________: Every individual, and every trait within each individual, can be altered at any point in the life span. Change is ongoing, although it is neither random nor easy.

Answer 16

Plasticity

Question 17

In technical terms, experimenters manipulate an _________ variable, which is the imposed treatment or special condition (also called the experimental variable). They note whether this independent variable affects whatever they are studying, called the ________ variable (which depends on the independent variable).

Answer 17

independent

dependent

Question 18

The quickest and least expensive way to study development over time is with ____-________ research, in which groups of people of one age are compared with groups of people of another age.

Answer 18

cross-sectional research

Question 19

__________ research is a research design in which the same individuals are followed over time and their development is repeatedly assessed.

Answer 19

longitudinal research

Question 20

What is one problem with longitudinal research?

Answer 20

Participants may become increasingly aware of the goals of the study– knowledge that makes them less typical, and thus the results become less valid

Question 21

____-________ research is a hybrid research design in which researchers first study several groups of people of different ages (a cross-sectional approach) and then follow those groups over years (a longitudinal approach).

Answer 21

Cross-sequential research

Question 22

• A _________ is a number that indicates the degree of relationship between two variables, expressed in terms of the likelihood that one variable will (or will not) occur when the other variable does (or does not).
• A ________ indicates only that two variables are related, not that one variable causes the other to occur.

Answer 22

correlation

Question 23

True/False:

Correlation indicates cause.

Answer 23

FALSE

Question 24

What’s the difference between methods and design?

Answer 24

Methods: surveys/interviews that we can use under correlational and experimental design.

Design: how it’s set up, regarding data treatment

1) correlational design
2) experimental design

Question 25

Which research method is most widely used, super convenient, and cost effective?

Answer 25

Surveys

Question 26

Correlational design…

• -> Assessing _________ among variables.
• -> Cross-sectional and longitudinal studies.

Answer 26

connections

Question 27

What are the four ways to conduct longitudinal research?

Answer 27

1) Extensive assessment periods (from years to several decades).
2) Short-term surveillance times (ex: 6th month measurement intervals).
- much more time efficient than extensive assessment periods.
3) Cross-sequential design
4) Microgenetic perspective (intensive surveillance of a critical stage in development).

Question 28

Which do most people use?

1) extensive assessment periods
2) short-term surveillance times
3) a cross-sequential design
4) a microgenetic perspective

Answer 28

2) short-term surveillance times

Question 29

___________ design…

• Experimental manipulation (experiment and control groups).
• Dependent & independent variables.
• Laboratory & field experiments.

Answer 29

Experimental