midterm

Question 1

goals of behavioral science

Answer 1

• Describe behavior
• Predict behavior
• Determining causes of behavior
  ; Temporal precedence
  ; Covariation of cause and effect
  ; Alternative explanations
• Explanation of behavior

Question 2

basic versus applied research

Answer 2

Basic research focuses on the advancement of knowledge, rather than solving a problem. However, applied research directs its efforts toward finding a solution to a specific problem.

Question 3

research questions

Answer 3

a question that a study or research project aims to answer.

Question 4

hypothesis

Answer 4

A type of idea or question
 Makes a statement about something that may be
true
 Then test it

Question 5

predictions

Answer 5

anticipate that a certain outcome will occur

Question 6

method

Answer 6

 Participants
 Procedures
 Measures
- Equipment
- Assessments/Questionnaires
 What happened
 Description of types of analyses

Question 7

participants

Answer 7

 How many
 Who are they?
- Exclusion/inclusion criteria
- Demographics
- Where recruited from
- Informed consent/payment

Question 8

introduction

Answer 8

 Problem statement
- General problem needing (further) investigation
 Purpose of the study
 Operational definitions
- General constructs
- Specific methods/instruments
Relevant past research
- Building blocks (leggos)
 Theory/Hypotheses/Predictions
- Significance
 Why is this research important?

Question 9

abstract

Answer 9

 Read first/write last
 Should include brief information from every
section of article
 Approximately 100 to 300 words

Question 10

discussion

Answer 10

 General statement of findings
 Hypotheses/predictions vs. your results
 How do findings fit with past research?
 What do your results mean? Where do they
fit?
 Limitations
 Future research

Question 11

results

Answer 11

Descriptive statistics

paragraph for each dependent variable

Question 12

Procedures

Answer 12

 Instruments
- What are they?
- How are they scored?
- Psychometric properties
- Do they measure what they’re supposed to measure
accurately and in a consistent/reliable way?
- Validity
- Reliability
 What happened exactly
- When and how long did it take?
- Where measured
- Tested individually or in groups?
 Description of type of analyses

Question 13

theories

Answer 13

a systematic body of ideas about topic or phenomenon

Question 14

sections of a research article

Answer 14

 Abstract
 Introduction
 Method
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 Tables/figure captions/figures

Question 15

irb

Answer 15

Institutional Review Board (IRB)/
Human Subjects Committee
* Committees
* IRB training/ IRB approval for studies
– Proposals, pilots and experiments
– Exempt risk, minimal risk, greater than
minimal risk
* Do no harm

Question 16

research with animals

Answer 16

• Acquisition, care, use, and disposal under
  state and federal regulations
• All procedures supervised by trained
  personnel
• Discomfort minimized

Question 17

confidentiality

Answer 17

• confidentiality will be protected
• signature and witness to sign
• parent/guardian/ caregiver sign needed

Question 18

informed consent

Answer 18

• Name of investigator(s)
• Purpose and description of study
  – Including where conducted and how much time
  required to participate
• Participation is
  – Voluntary
  – Can be withdrawn at any time
• List of costs and benefits
• Name of someone who can answer questions
  about research

Question 19

risk in psychological experiments

Answer 19

– Physical Harm
– Stress & Distress
– Confidentiality &
Privacy
; the benefits must outweigh the risks

Question 20

ethics in treatment of human

Answer 20

• A: Beneficence and Non-maleficence
  – Do no harm
• B: Fidelity and Responsibility
  – Maintaining trust
• C: Integrity
  – No fraud, misrepresentation of facts
• D: Justice
  – Fairness, equity
  – Tuskegee experiment
• E: Respect for people’s Rights and Dignity
  – Rights to privacy, confidentiality, self-
  determination
  – Milgram experiment

Question 21

variables

Answer 21

• Variable
  – Event, situation, behavior or characteristic
  which varies
• Dependent variable
  – Outcome variable which is potentially altered
  by the independent variable(s)
• Independent variable
  – What you manipulate or compar

Question 22

operational definitions

Answer 22

Specifying how variable(s) will be
observed and/or measured in a study
– Cognitive performance
* Reaction time in ms to respond to stimulus
– Stress
* Self report questionnaire, BP, cortisol
– Weight
* Wt. in lb. using a spring scale with participants fully
undressed after 10 hrs. of fasting
Construct
– Memory
– Recovery/rehabilitation
* Instrument
– 10-item word list
– ADL/IADL
* Dependent variable
– Number of words correctly recalled
– Score

Question 23

operational definitions of variables

Answer 23

 Variable is an abstract concept that must be
translated into concrete forms of observation
or manipulation.

 A variable must be defined in terms of the
specific method used to measure or
manipulate it–this is called the operational
definition.

Question 24

experimental methods

Answer 24

• One variable is manipulated and the other
  variable measured
• Eliminates the third variable problem
  (confounding)
• Experimental control
• Randomization (random assignment)

Question 25

non experimental methods

Answer 25

* Relationships studied using observations or measures of the variables of interest * Sometimes referred to as the correlational method * Problems with making causal statements using this method * Two problems with making causal statements 1. Direction of cause and effect 2. Third variable problem

Question 26

three validates

Answer 26

construct; the adequacy of the operational definitions internal; the ability to draw conclusions about causal relationships external; the extent to which the results can be generalized to other populations and settings

Question 27

add ecological validity how much does your study represent the real world

Question 28

reliability

Answer 28

The degree to which our measurements are consistent and contain a minimum of measurement error types; test-retest inter-rater

Question 29

validity

Answer 29

The extent to which a procedure/instrument measures what it is intended to measure types; Construct validity; the adequacy of the operational definition Internal validity; the ability to draw conclusions about causal relationships External validity; the extent to which the results can be generalized to other populations and setting

Question 30

levels of measurement

Answer 30

* Nominal * Ordinal * Interval * Ratio

Question 31

true score

Answer 31

the individual's score on a measure if there was no error

Question 32

measurement error

Answer 32

the difference between a measured quantity and its true value ex. if an electronic scale is loaded with 1kg of standard weight and the reading is 10002 grams, then the measurement error is = (1002 grams – 1000 grams) = 2 grams.

Question 33

reactivity

Answer 33

the condition in which a participant being observed is changed in some way by the act of observation. - Within an experimental setting, reactivity is viewed as a threat to internal validity because the change in behavior is not due to the experimental manipulation.

Question 34

descriptive statistics

Answer 34

purpose of descriptive statistics is to simplify the organization and presentation of data  Central Tendency  Variability  Distribution or shape of the data

Question 35

median

Answer 35

the value in the middle of a data set

Question 36

mean

Answer 36

the average of set values

Question 37

mode

Answer 37

set of numbers that appear most often

Question 38

central tendency

Answer 38

a summary measure that attempts to describe a whole set of data with a single value that represents the middle or centre of its distribution. mode. median. mean.

Question 39

variability

Answer 39

how far apart data points lie from each other and from the center of a distribution. measured by: Range: the difference between the highest and lowest values Interquartile range: the range of the middle half of a distribution Standard deviation: average distance from the mean Variance: average of squared distances from the mean

Question 40

shape

Answer 40

 Frequency Distributions  Normal Distribution

Question 41

correlation

Answer 41

a statistical measure that expresses the extent to which two variables are linearly related

Question 42

bivariate

Answer 42

involving or depending on two variables

Question 43

regression

Answer 43

a measure of the relation between the mean value of one variable (e.g. output) and corresponding values of other variables (e.g. time and cost)

Question 44

path analysis

Answer 44

a method to discern and assess the effects of a set of variables acting on a specified outcome via multiple causal pathways how to write: write names of variables in square boxes and connect the square boxes with arrows

Question 45

quantitative vs qualitative research

Answer 45

Quantitative data is numbers-based, countable, or measurable. Qualitative data is interpretation-based, descriptive, and relating to language.

Question 46

qualitative types

Answer 46

phenomenological, ethnographic, grounded theory, historical, case study, and action research.

Question 47

open ended

Answer 47

response to survey ex. How do you think we could improve these meetings?

Question 48

coding schemes

Answer 48

a set of codes, defined by the words and phrases that researchers assign to categorize a segment of the data by topic.

Question 49

naturalistic observation

Answer 49

qualitative research method where you record the behaviors of your research subjects in real world settings

Question 50

systematic observation

Answer 50

method of quantitative data collection that involves one or more observers, observing events, or behaviors, as they occur, and reliably recording their observations in terms of previously structured codes or numerical categories

Question 51

case studies

Answer 51

an in-depth study of one person, group, or event.

Question 52

archival research

Answer 52

research that involves searching for and extracting information and evidence from original archives

Question 53

content analysis

Answer 53

a research tool used to determine the presence of certain words, themes, or concepts within some given qualitative data

Question 54

constructing surveys

Answer 54

 Simplicity/clarity  Double-barreled questions  Loaded questions  Negative wording  Yea- vs. nay-saying

Question 55

Bar graph

Answer 55

a diagram in which the numerical values of variables are represented by the height or length of lines or rectangles of equal width

Question 56

effect size

Answer 56

measures the strength of the relationship between two variables on a numeric scale. - tells you the significance .2 .3 .5

Question 57

Histogram

Answer 57

a graph used to represent the frequency distribution of a few data points of one variable

Question 58

Partial correlation

Answer 58

a method used to describe the relationship between two variables whilst taking away the effects of another variable, or several other variables, on this relationship.

Question 59

Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient

Answer 59

a measure of the strength and direction of association that exists between two variables measured on at least an interval scale.

Question 60

Predictor variable

Answer 60

the name given to an independent variable used in regression analyses

Question 61

Range

Answer 61

the spread of your data from the lowest to the highest value in the distribution

Question 62

Scatterplot

Answer 62

a type of data display that shows the relationship between two numerical variables

Question 63

Standard deviation

Answer 63

a measure of how dispersed the data is in relation to the mean

Question 64

Structural equation modeling

Answer 64

a multivariate statistical analysis technique that is used to analyze structural relationships.

Question 65

Variability

Answer 65

- Range: the difference between the highest and lowest values. - Interquartile range: the range of the middle half of a distribution. - Standard deviation: average distance from the mean. - Variance: average of squared distances from the mean