Powerpoint 2: Measurement Issues

Question 1

what is narrative recording

Answer 1

minute by minute account of target child’s behaviour

Question 2

what is time sampling

Answer 2

observing/recording specific behaviours on a checklist for a specific time period

Question 3

what is event sampling

Answer 3

recording during specific events - only when target behaviour occurs

Question 4

what are issues that come up with observational techniques

Answer 4

observer influences (problem with being watched)
observer bias

Question 5

how to counteract observer influence in observational research

Answer 5

observer in enviro for a period of time before they record (ex: Jane Goddall)

Participant observatino (someone in environment codes)

Hidden observer (one-way mirrors)

Question 6

what are some ways to counteract observer bias?

Answer 6

score behaviours as specifically as possible

blinding

inter-observer reliability

Question 7

Explain Convering operations as a concept in experimental design

Answer 7

all methods of study of the same concept should produce the same results… if they don’t you might be studying something else

Question 8

What is measurements of equivalence

Answer 8

when people age, a measure might no longer be suitable ex: asking child to give up candy at 4 is much different than someone at 20… maybe their car would be more of an equivalent measurement

Question 9

what is a nominal scale

Answer 9

categories ex: boys and girls

Question 10

what is an ordinal scale

Answer 10

ordered scores ex: never, sometimes, always

Question 11

what is an interval scale

Answer 11

ordered, equidistance ex: thermometer (0 doesn’t mean nothing, but distance from 5-10 is the same as 20-25)

Question 12

what is a ratio scale

Answer 12

ordered, equidistance, zero point ex: test out of 10

Question 13

internal consistency reliability?

Answer 13

consistency between different items on the same test that test the same concept

Question 14

if a test tests what it claims to test then that test is ____

Answer 14

valid

Question 15

content validity?

Answer 15

if its good - a test of a measure will adequately test every part/facet of that measure ; all abilities of subject tested

Question 16

criterion validity

Answer 16

measure developed relates to other measures of same construct

Question 17

concurrent validity?

Answer 17

the test has good concurrent validity if the measure tested has similar results to the same measure tested in another test (usually a well-established one)

Question 18

predictive validity?

Answer 18

if the test gives results that correspond to performance in another way ex: testing cognitive function predicts job performance

Question 19

construct validity

Answer 19

good if the test measures what you think it is ex: DCCS task - cognitive flexible ability or motor seperation/inhibition)

Question 20

convergent validity

Answer 20

correlation with other theroretically related tasks

Question 21

divergent/discrimminant validity

Answer 21

lack of correlation with measures of different things

Question 22

floor effects?

Answer 22

most of partiicpants do so poorly there is very little variability because most fail task

Question 23

ceiling effects

Answer 23

measures way to easy - everyone will do almost if not perfect - no variability

Question 24

internal validity

Answer 24

testing what is suppose to be testing

Question 25

can internal and external validity both be high?

Answer 25

not usually , if one is high the other is low usually - a trade-off

Question 26

what is selection bias

Answer 26

when nonequivalent participants are assigned to different groups so they start off different

Question 27

what is selective drop out

Answer 27

when we lose some participants in a study more than others ude to non-random reasons

Question 28

what is differential drop out

Answer 28

when you lose more participants inone condition than you do in another condition

Question 29

what isselective data loss?

Answer 29

more experimenter errors with most “difficult” or with youngest children so we have loss information on them

Question 30

what are history effects?

Answer 30

effcts of external events on a study

ex: 9/11, hurrican katrina, christmas

Question 31

what is experimenter drift?

Answer 31

when over time the varibales or methods change so you aren’t analyzing/scoring the data in the same way

Question 32

what is a “good” participant

Answer 32

a participant who does what they think you want them to do

Question 33

what is a “bright” participant?

Answer 33

a participant who responds to look smart

Question 34

what are some respond sets?

Answer 34

yes biase
last name option (counterbalance this)
positional responding
alternate ansering to same question

Question 35

what is overstandardizing

Answer 35

whena researcher, in hops of standardizing to make data look “cleaner”, limits their pool of participants; data becomes very biased, only represents a single sample

ex: no females in study bc of hormones

Question 36

differences in independent variable in lab vs field

Answer 36

lab: good control, increases internal validity, not as generalizable, decreases external validity
field: little control, generalizaable, good external validity

Question 37

differnet in dependent variable in lab vs field

Answer 37

lab: ease in measurement, reactivity, reponse sets to look out for
field: ecologically valid measuremeds, difficult to measure

Question 38

how do we make sure we have consent in developmental research

Answer 38

Assent from kids -
they cans top at any time
their needs are the most important

Question 39

confidentiality in developmental research

- how many pieces of information does someone need to identify a participant?

Answer 39

cant let parents have access to things you think children wouldnt want their parents to know

• this could also impact the results of your study
• have to tell parent they they are not allowed in consent form if they are not allowed
• careful with rare populations - easy to breach confidentialy
  3 pieces: location, gender, birthdate

Question 40

shoudl we use peer nominations and evaluations ind evelopmental research

Answer 40

can be useful, but can also be harmful

- make sure questions are asked in positive form and see whose missed in repsonses