Research Design & Evaluation 545 Flashcards
Construct
- Theoretical concepts that help describe behaviors, emotions, and thoughts such as self-esteem, and intelligence.
- Measured through assessments, self-reporting questionnaires, or clinical observations.
- Important bc they guide treatment goals and help therapists monitor progress.
Ex: Client presenting with social anxiety and exhibits avoidance of social situations. Using the construct of “social anxiety”, you are able to develop a treatment plan focused on exposure therapy and cognitive restructuring to challenge the client’s fear of critical judgment.
Correlational Research
- Type of non-experimental study that examines the relationship between two or more variables to determine if they are related through a negative (-), positive (+) or no (/) correlation.
- Does not prove causation, but does show if a pattern or connect exisits.
- Important bc it helps identify factors that may be associated with mental health conditions which will help guide treatment.
Ex: Correlational research indicated that your client’s fear of judgement as a positive correlation on their symptoms of anxiety.
Criterion-Related Validity
- Refers to how well an assessment correlates with specific criterion
- Strong correlation would indicate the test has good criterion-related validity.
- Important bc it helps ensure that tests are measuring what they are supposed to measure.
Two Types:
Concurrent which tells how well the test correlates currently with another criterion
*Predictive * which is how well the test predicts future performance in relation to a criterion
An example would be SAT scores being used in college admissions because it correlate with college ciriculums, suggesting they can predict academic readness.
Longitudinal design
- A type of study designed to repeatedly observe the same participants/study variablesover an extended period of time.
- This is important for researchers to assess the stability of variables and the effects of interventions to determine best practices for positive outcomes.
Ex: A group of adolescents diagnosed with anxiety are assessed before treatment, during treatment, immediately after treatment and at 1, 3 and 5 years post treatment to analyze changes over time and whether it therapy received was effective.
Cross-Sectional design
- A type of study designed to collect data from a population at one specific point in time to provide a snapshot of the variables being studied.
- Important in identifying patterns, relationships or differeneces between groups to understand how varialbes relate to outcomes at any given time.
Ex: You are a therapist conducting research on anxiety in highschool students. Your study includes participants ranging from 13 - 17, male and female, who are from low/medium/high economic zip codes comparing levels of social supoprt with levels of anxiety.
Double-blind study
- Experiement design in which neither the participant or the reseachers know who is receiving the treatment or placebo.
- This is important in research to ensure objective results when testing medications and treatment styles.
Ex: In a study testing the effectivness of a new anxiety medication, one grop of participants received the drug while the other group received a placebo ensuring that the results reflect the true effectiveness of the medication rather than bias or pschological expectations.
Ecological Vaildity
- Extent to which findings of a study/assessment reflect real-world settings and are able to mimic everyday life.
- This is important to understand how conclusions drawn can be applied to pratical real-life situations outside of the laboratory or clinical setting.
Ex: Therapist uses a social anxiety scale to assess a client’s anxiety in social settings. To increase ecological validity, the therapist observes the client in a real life setting rather than relying only on self-assessments taken during their sessions.
Experimental Research
- Research design where researcher manipulates one or more independent vaiables to observe their effect on another dependent variable.
- Creates a casue-and-effect relationship.
- This is important in couseling for testing the effectiveness of specific treatments or interventions providng evidence for best practices.
Ex: Therapist conducting experimental research on the effectivness of CBT for anxiety disorders randomly assigns one group of participants to received CBT, another group to receive BA therapy or no specific therapy. After a period of time, the therapist would then compare the two groups to determine if CBT was effective.
Hypothesis
- A prediction about the relationshp between two or more variables that guides the investigation by outlining what the researcher expects to find.
- Classified as null (no relationship) or alternative (effective relationship)
- This is important for develping research questions that guide clinical practice and evidence based research.
Ex: Therapist hypothesis that increaseing social support will reduce anxiety in clients. Therapist tests this hypothesis by administering assessments before and after interventions directed at increasing their social connections.
Program Evaluation
- The through review of design, implementation, effectiveness and outcomes of a program or intervention.
- This is important in therapy for ensuring that programs and intervietions are effective, evidence-baed and respond to the needs to the participants.
Ex: A mental health clinic is impliementing a new program aimed at reducing social stigma assoicated with anxiety. A program evaluation involving surverys, interviews and focus groups with particpatns is conducted before and after the interventin to gather data to identify outcomes effectivness and areas for improvement.
Internal Validity
- Refers to how well a study shows that its results are due to the criterion being tested rather than to other factos helping to see if the changes seen are really because of what the study did.
- High internal validity is important bc it ensures that the results are accurate and that the interventions are effective. / Low internal validity reduces assurance that results are accurate and able to be trusted.
Ex: As a therapist working with anxiety in children, you conduct a study to see if a new treatment approach helps in reducing anxiety levels. Bc your study shows high internal validity, you are able to confidently trust that your results are due to the treatment and not due to external factors like a change in schools, friendships or home environment.
Quasi-experimental Research
- A type of study that evaluates the effects of an intervention or treatment without radom assignment of groups and instead designs research groups based on criteria.
- This is important for evaluating interventions in a real-world environment where the random assignment of treatment groups is not ethical or feasible.
Ex: A therapist is intersted in implementing a new group therapy technique for anxiety management. She creates a quasi-experiment group using her Monday group session to compare the technique’s effectivness against her Tuesday group session who did not receive the new technique.
Random Sampling
- A technique used in research to ensure that research participatns are representative of the overall population, reducing selection bias and increasing generalizability of the research findings.
- This is importanat for researchers when the goal is to obtain reliable results that can be applied to a broader population.
Ex: A researching studying the effectiveness of a new therapy for treating anxiety, randomly samples participants from a larger database of particpants that are all diagnosed with anxiety. By ensuring that each person in the participant population has an equal opportunity to be selected for review, the researcher can trust they are receing a diverse sample that is representative of the population.
Scientific Methodology
- The systematic process of forming a hypotheses, experiment, observation and analysis of results that ensures research findings are reliable and valid.
- This is important for developing evidence-based practices that improve treatment outcomes.
Ex: A therapist observes that their clients who stuggle with anxiety also stuggle with a fear of judement. The therapist forms a hypothesist that increacing social skills will decrease anxiety levels. The therapist designs a controlled study to test this hypothesis - collecting data before and after the intervention - to analyze the result and draw conclusions about the effectivness fo the social skills training in reducing their client’s anxiety.
