Research Design & Analysis Exam 2

Question 1

self-report measure

Answer 1

operationalizes a variable by recording people’s answers to questions about themselves in a questionnaire

Question 2

observational measure

Answer 2

operationalizes a variable by recording observable behaviors or physical traces of behaviors

Question 3

physiological measure

Answer 3

operationalizes a variable by recording biological data such as brain activity, hormone levels, etc.

Question 4

quantitative data

Answer 4

data that is collected numerically or intended to be coded numerically

Question 5

categorical variable

Answer 5

scale is assessed in categories (sex, race, gender, etc.)

Question 6

ordinal variables

Answer 6

variables measured in ranks

Question 7

test-retest reliability

Answer 7

a participant will get pretty much the same score each time they are measured with it

Question 7

continuous scales

Answer 7

equal distance between each scale position

Question 8

interrater reliability

Answer 8

consistent scores are obtained no matter who measures the variable

Question 9

internal reliability

Answer 9

a participant gives a consistent pattern of answers, no matter how the researcher phrases the question

Question 10

correlation coefficient

Answer 10

direction (position/negative sign) associated with the number
-strength (the number)

Question 11

face validity

Answer 11

it looks like what you want to measure

Question 12

content validity

Answer 12

the measure contains all the parts that your theory says it should contain

Question 13

criterion validity

Answer 13

evaluate whether the measure under consideration correlates with behavioral outcomes we expect

Question 14

convergent validity

Answer 14

the measure correlates with the other, and establishes measures designed to the same or similar constructs

Question 15

why conduct surveys?

Answer 15

-to study relationships between/among variables
-provides a methodology for asking people to tell about themselves

Question 16

discrimination validity

Answer 16

the measure does not correlate with the other, establishes measures designed to the same or similar constructs

Question 17

questionnaires

Answer 17

-personal admin to groups or students
-mail surveys
-internet surveys

Question 18

interviews

Answer 18

-face to face interviews
-telephone interviews
-focus group interviews

Question 19

response set

Answer 19

a type of shortcut people can take when answering survey questions

Question 20

acquiescence

Answer 20

when people say yes to every item instead of carefully thinking about each one

Question 21

fence sitting

Answer 21

playing it safe by answering in the middle of the scale, especially for controversial studies

Question 22

naturalistic observation

Answer 22

-observation in natural setting
-no attempt to intervene or change situation

Question 23

observer effects

Answer 23

when participants confirm observer expectations

Question 24

how to prevent observer bias?

Answer 24

-train observers well -provide clear rating instructions -multiple observers

Question 25

reactivity

Answer 25

change in participants behavior when they know they are being watched

Question 26

population

Answer 26

entire set of people or products in which you are interested

Question 27

sample

Answer 27

a smaller set taken from the population

Question 28

census

Answer 28

a set of observations that contains all members of the population of interest

Question 29

biased sample

Answer 29

when some members of the population of interest are left out, resulting in the results not being generalized to the population

Question 30

unbiased sample

Answer 30

when all members of the population are equally included

Question 31

convenience sampling

Answer 31

sampling only those who are easy to contact

Question 32

self-selection

Answer 32

sampling only those who volunteer

Question 33

simple random sampling

Answer 33

when the sample is chosen randomly from the population

Question 34

systematic sampling

Answer 34

when the researcher uses a randomly chosen number, N, and counts off every Nth member of a population

Question 35

cluster sampling

Answer 35

when clusters of participants within the population of interest are selected at random

Question 36

multistage sampling

Answer 36

involves a random sample of clusters followed by a random sample of people within the selected clusters

Question 37

stratified random sampling

Answer 37

when the researcher identifies particular categories, and then randomly selects individuals within each category

Question 38

oversampling

Answer 38

when the researcher overrepresents one or more group

Question 39

random assignment

Answer 39

used only in experimental designs to assign participants to groups at random

Question 40

what does random sampling increase?

Answer 40

external validity

Question 41

what does random assignment increase?

Answer 41

internal validity

Question 42

purposive sampling

Answer 42

a biased sampling technique in which only certain kinds of people are included in a sample

Question 43

snowball sampling

Answer 43

when participants are asked to recommend acquaintances for the study

Question 44

quota sampling

Answer 44

when the researcher identifies subsets of the population, sets a target number, and non randomly selects individuals within each category until the quotas are filled

Question 45

time sampling

Answer 45

choose time intervals for making observations

Question 46

situation sampling

Answer 46

choose different settings or conditions for observations

Question 47

bivariate correlations

Answer 47

associations that involve exactly two variables

Question 48

t test

Answer 48

a statistic to test the difference between two group averages

Question 49

what makes a study correlational?

Answer 49

having two measure variables

Question 50

effect size

Answer 50

describes the strength of an association

Question 51

outlier

Answer 51

-extreme scores in a few cases -can make a correlation seem stronger or weaker than it really is

Question 52

restriction of range

Answer 52

-lack of full range of scores on one of the variables -makes correlations appear smaller than they really are

Question 53

curvilinear association

Answer 53

association between two variables is not a straight line

Question 54

directionality problem

Answer 54

unable to determine which variable comes first

Question 55

third variable problem

Answer 55

a potential third variable might explain the relationship between the first two

Question 56

spurious association

Answer 56

a bivariate association that is attributable only to systematic mean differences on subgroups within the sample, not the original association

Question 57

moderator

Answer 57

a variable the changes the relationship between two other variables

Question 58

multivariate design

Answer 58

involve more than two measured variables

Question 59

what are the three criteria to establish causation?

Answer 59

-covariance -temporal precedence -internal validity

Question 60

longitudinal research

Answer 60

compares the same group to itself over time

Question 61

cross sectional research

Answer 61

compares two variables or groups of people to one variable, at one time-point

Question 62

parsimony

Answer 62

the degree to which a scientific theory provides the simplest explanation of some phenomenon