Research and Design Flashcards
Extraneous
extra variables outside of what is being exained
confound
external variables that are IV that impact the study eg age
history
environmental threats
Maturation
change in participant
instrumentation
the test changes overtime difference in pretest and posttest
testing
pretest influences the postetst
regression towards mean
if given the test more than once scores may decrease or increase.
Assignment biased
Reactivity
if participants are placed in a context they haven’t experienced or behaviour change
Differential attrition/experimental mortality
when you have two groups and people decide to leave one group throwing off the experiment and balance
Demand characteristics
cues that might indicate the aim of a study to participants( rumors)
Experimental bias-
Compensatory equalisation
comparison groups not obtaining the preferred treatment are provided with compensations that make the comparison groups more equal than originally planned.
Contamination effect/diffusion
Participants may share information with each other thus affecting and contaminating/diffusing your experiment
Selection issues
selection hat does not accurately represent the population
Representative sample
a subset of a population that seeks to accurately reflect the characteristics of the larger group
similarity of participants
Ecological validity
measures how generalizable experimental findings are to the real world
Sampling vs assignment
random sampling refers to how you select individuals from the population to participate in your study. Random assignment refers to how you place those participants into groups (such as experimental vs. control).
Carryover effect/differential transfer
an effect of being tested one condition on participants’ behaviour in later conditions ( give time between conditions for influence to wear off)
Progressive errors
scored affected by experiences gained or lost during the study
Practice effect
(gain) reading words twice (1st b&W background then with water droplets) increases ones general ability to read words. ( allow practice before introducing research conditions)
Fatigue effect(loss)
reading words for a long time leads to boredom
Make the research task brief and interesting
Fatigue effect(loss)
reading words for a long time leads to boredom
Make the research task brief and interesting
Counterbalancing
general methods to control for testing effects/order effects
Quasi-experiments
studies that aim to evaluate interventions but that do not use randomization. Similar to randomized trials, quasi-experiments aim to demonstrate causality between an intervention and an outcome.
true experiment
used to describe all studies with at least one independent variable that is experimentally manipulated and with at least one dependent or outcome variable.
Non-pre-experimental designs
include research designs in which an experimenter simply either describes a group or examines relationships between preexisting groups.
incomplete counterbalancing
You could use the sequence on 6 groups, 12 groups, 18 groups…and so on, as long as you had a multiple of six (so that each sequence is run the same number of times). If you don’t have enough participants to do this (let’s say you had 17 groups instead of 18), it’s called partial counterbalancing.
complete counterbalancing
a process of arranging a series of experimental conditions or treatments in such a way that every possible sequence of conditions is given at least once during the study.
priming -
- activation of knowledge structures (e.g. traits) due to a situational
context - occurs when an individual’s exposure to a certain stimulus influences his or her response to a subsequent stimulus, without any awareness of the connection.
random groups design
between groups designs where participants are placed in groups via random allocation
balancing
having equity of participants across conditions
simple randomisation
uses a single sequence to assign participants (e.g., flip a coin)
restricted random assignment
randomisation was done so that predetermined characteristics (e.g., sex, academic major) in each condition of the independent variable
Matched Group Designs
an independent measures design where comparable testing
groups are created
Internal consistency reliability
measure of reliability used to evaluate the degree to which different test items that probe the same construct produce similar results.
Test-retest reliability
measure of reliability obtained by administering the same test twice over a period of time to a group of individuals.
Parallel forms reliability
is assessed by sequentially administering both test forms to the same sample of respondents.
Inter-rater reliability
a measure of consistency used to evaluate the extent to which different judges agree in their assessment decisions.
Content validity
appropriate content, measure content based on theory
Face validity
does the test appear to test what its meant to test, face value
Construct validity
measure what its suppose to, does the test relate to underlying theoretical concepts
criterion validity
relationship to other measures
concurrent/convergent validity
does the test relate to a similar test or give similar scores
Predictive Validity
predicts significant differences among groups, predicts later performance on the related criterion
Internal validity
Nonequivalent groups design
the researcher chooses existing groups that appear similar, but where only one of the groups experiences the treatment.
Regression discontinuity
- Many potential treatments that researchers wish to study are designed around an essentially arbitrary cutoff, where those above the threshold receive the treatment and those below it do not.
- all potentially relevant variables besides the treatment variable and outcome variable be continuous at the point where the treatment and outcome discontinuities occur.
Natural experiments
In both laboratory and field experiments, researchers normally control which group the subjects are assigned to. In a natural experiment, an external event or situation (“nature”) results in the random or random-like assignment of subjects to the treatment group.
Time series designs
subcategory of longitudinal research designs which feature analyses on “large series of observations made on the same variable consecutively over time”.
Hawthorne effect
modification of behavior by study participants in response to their knowledge that they are being observed or singled out for special treatment.
A matched pairs design
a type of experimental design wherein study participants are matched based on key variables, or shared characteristics, relevant to the topic of the study. Then, one member of each pair is placed into the control group while the other is placed in the experimental group
Interrupted Time-Series Design
if the intervention is not manipulated by the researcher but rather occurs naturally
POSTTEST-ONLY NONEQUIVALENT GROUPS DESIGN
participants in one group are exposed to a treatment, a nonequivalent group is not exposed to the treatment, and then the two groups are compared.
PRETEST-POSTTEST NONEQUIVALENT GROUPS DESIGN
there is a treatment group that is given a pretest, receives a treatment, and then is given a posttest. But at the same time there is a nonequivalent control group that is given a pretest, does not receive the treatment, and then is given a posttest.
PRETEST-POSTTEST DESIGN WITH SWITCHING REPLICATION
nonequivalent groups are administered a pretest of the dependent variable, then one group receives a treatment while a nonequivalent control group does not receive a treatment, the dependent variable is assessed again, and then the treatment is added to the control group, and finally the dependent variable is assessed one last time.
SWITCHING REPLICATION WITH TREATMENT REMOVAL DESIGN
the treatment is removed from the first group when it is added to the second group.
The Latin Square Design
It assumes that one can characterize treatments, whether intended or otherwise, as belonging clearly to separate sets. These categories are arranged into two sets of rows.
Block design
a type of research study in which participants are divided into relatively homogeneous subsets (blocks) from which they are assigned to the experimental or treatment conditions
Order effects
refer to differences in research participants’ responses that result from the order (e.g., first, second, third) in which the experimental materials are presented to them.
Mixed Factorial Design
It is named the ‘Mixed Factorial Design’ because it has at least one Within Subject variable and one Between Subject variable
main effect
effect one independent variable has on the dependent variable without taking other independent variables into account.
Interaction effect
effect one independent variable has on another independent variable, and how that effect translates to the dependent variable.
Complex designs
one in which more than one variable is manipulated at the same time.
Directional Hypothesis:
A hypothesis that is built upon a certain directional relationship between two variables and constructed upon an already existing theory, is called a directional hypothesis. To understand more about what is directional hypothesis here is an example, Girls perform better than boys (‘better than’ shows the direction predicted
one tailed test
statistical test in which the critical area of a distribution is one-sided so that it is either greater than or less than a certain value, but not both
two-tailed test
test both if the mean is significantly greater than x and if the mean significantly less than x.
Non-directional Hypothesis:
- It involves an open-ended non-directional hypothesis that predicts that the independent variable will influence the dependent variable; however, the nature or direction of a relationship between two subject variables is not defined or clear.
- There will be NO difference between the number of cold symptoms experienced in the following week after exposure to a virus for those participants who have been sleep deprived for 24 hours compared with those who have not been sleep deprived for 24 hours.
correlational research
a correlation is a computed value that has 2 elements
observational research design
a descriptive research strategy used when you want to describe behaviour
Participant observation
when the observer becomes a part of the group that is being studied. This type of observation allows the observer to get a closer look at the group and their behaviour
Non-participant observation
when the observer remains outside the group and simply watches their behaviour.
Single Case research design
Applies experimental control to study a single ( or few) subjects
- can provide a viable alternative to large group studies such as randomized clinical trials. Single case studies involve repeated measures, and manipulation of and independent variable.
Changing criterion design
Series of treatment periods with different goals set for each period
- a researcher studying the effectiveness of money in reducing caffeine consumption may use a changing-criterion design with four treatment phases, each gradually decreasing the amount below which participants must maintain their caffeine intake.
