Research Methods Flashcards
Components to a statistical investigation
- Planning the study
- Examining the data (reliability and validity)
- Inferring from the data
- Drawing conclusions (Cause-effect)
Reliability
Refers to the consistency of a measure
Validity
Degree to which a measure is assessing what it is intended to measure
Data collection variables
- Data varies
- Patterns of distribution
- Statistical significance
What is the P-value
Probability of observing a particular outcome in a sample, or more extreme, under a conjecture about the larger population or process
If p-value is smaller than cut-off value…
We reject the hypothesis that only random chance was at play here
Sample
Collection of individuals on which we collect data
(Collecting random samples can be important)
Population
Larger collection of individuals that we would like to generalise our results to
Margin of Errror
Expected amount of random variation in a stat; oten defined for 95% confidence level
Randomly Assigning
Using a probability-based method to divide a sample into treatment groups
*Importance of diversity
IV
Observe or measure any impact of those changes in the dependent variable. One under the experimenter’s control or the variable that is intentionally altered between groups
The Placebo Effect
Sometimes a person just knowing that he or she is receiving special treatment or something knew is enough to actually cause changes in behavior or perception
Correlation Coefficient
Provides info about direction and strength of the association between two variables
Quasi-Experimental Design
An experiment that does not require random assignment to conditions
Longitudinal studies
Study that follows the same group of individuals over time
To study cheating habits, Dr Martin creates a study that asks participants to take an exam in a room where there is an open textbook on a desk while being watched and videotaped. Because this study doesn’t mirror everyday life, it would be particularly low in which quality?
Ecological Validity
Each night before she goes to bed, Youngha’s smartphone prompts her to log into a specific website and to answer several questions about her thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. She does this every day for one month as part of a research study she has volunteered for. Which method is the researcher employing?
The daily diary method
After the terrorist attacks in New York City on September 11, 2001, Cohn, Mehl, and Pennebaker (2004) examined blogs of users of a specific website. Through their use of ______, they determined that their participants expressed more negative emotions and were more cognitively and socially engaged for two weeks. After that period of time, these levels returned to baseline.
Linguistic analyses
