Research Methods: Glossary Flashcards
Define validity
A test’s ability to measure what it is supposed to measure.
Define internal validity
What happens inside the study.
Define external validity
How well you can generalise from research participants to people, places and times outside of the study.
Define reliability
Consistency.
For example: Friends promising to do something.
Define control
If the independent variable caused the effect, then the study is internally valid. If there are other variables that could have caused the effect on the dependent variable and these weren’t controlled, the study is not internally valid.
Define intent
If you wanted to measure depression and you asked people about the weather, the study is not internally valid.
Define mundane realism
The extent that the study reflects the real world.
Define generalisability
How well a study/ findings can be applied to other settings.
Define population validity
How well you can generalise a study to different people or populations.
Define ecological validity
How well you can generalise a study to different places or settings.
The ability to generalise a research effect beyond the particular setting in which is demonstrated to other settings.
Define historical validity
How well you can generalise a study to different times.
Define demand characteristics
Where participants form an interpretation of the experiment’s purpose and unconsciously change their behavior to fit that interpretation.
Define type
Set up.
Define design
Method.
Define laboratory experiment
A type of experiment is conducted in a well-controlled environment, where accurate measurements are possible.
For example: This is not necessarily in a laboratory.
Define field experiment
Are done in the everyday environment of the participants. The experimenter still manipulates the independent variable, but in a real-life setting.
Define quasi experiment
An empirical interventional study used to estimate the causal impact of an intervention on target population without random assignment.
Define natural experiment
Are conducted in the everyday environment of the participants, but here the experimenter has no control over the IV as it occurs naturally in real life.
Define verbatim
Word for word.
Define naturalistic
Nothing is changed.
For example: Watching animals with cameras.
Define controlled
Change/ control the situation.
For example: Bandura’s Bobo Doll Study.
Define covert
Participants were unaware that they were being watched.
Define overt
Participants know they’re being watched.
Define participant study
The observer is part of the group they’re watching.
Define non participant study
Observer watches from a distance.
Define experimental method
A scientific method involving the manipulation of variables to determine cause and effect.
Define control
The extent to which any variable is held constant or is regulated by the research.
Define operationalisation
Ensuring that variables are written in a format that can be easily tested. A concept such as ‘educational attainment’ needs to be specified more clearly if we are going to investigate it as it can be interpreted in different ways.
For example, it might be operationalised as ‘GCSE grade in Math.’
Define extraneous variable
A variable that does not vary systematically with the independent variable but may have an effect on the dependent variable.
Define confounding variable
A variable that is not the independent variable by does vary systematically with the IV.
Define mundane realism
How a study mirrors the real world.
Define correlation
A systematic relationship between two continuous variables known as co-variables.
Define coefficient
The strength and direction of a correlation.
Define experimental methods
The way in which an experiment is conducted.
Define experimental designs
The allocation of participants.
Define personality variable
Misleading results.
For example: All sporty people or tall people in the same group.
Define sampling
The recruitment of participants.
Define target population
Potential participants of interest.
Define statistical testing
Calculating the probability that chance has caused a difference between two groups.
Define alternative hypothesis
A significant difference between what has been found.
Define null hypothesis
A significant difference has not been found.
Define type 1 error
False positive result.
Accepting the alternative when you should’ve accepted the null.
Define type 2 error
False negative result.
Accepting the null when you should have accepted the alternative.
Define coding
The process of placing quantitative or qualitative data in categories.
Define content analysis
A kind of observational study in which behaviour is usually observed indirectly in visual, written, or verbal material. May involve either qualitative or quantitative analysis, or both.
Define thematic analysis
A technique used when analysing qualitative data. Themes or categories are identified and then data is organised according to these themes.
Define inter-observer reliability
The extent to which there is agreement between two or more observers involved in observations of a behaviours.
Define test-retest reliability
The same test or interview is given to the same participants on two occasions to see if the same results are obtained.
Define concurrent validity
A means of establishing validity by comparing an existing test or questionnaire with the one you are interested in.
Define face validity
The extent to which test items look like what the test claims to measure.
Define temporal validity
Concerning the ability to generalise a research effect beyond the particular time period of the study.
Define empirical
A method of gaining knowledge which relies on direct observation or testing, not hearsay or rational argument.
Define falsifiability
The possibility that a statement or hypothesis can be proved wrong.
Define paradigm
‘A shared set of assumptions about the subject matter of a discipline and the methods appropriate to its study’ (Kuhn, 1962).
Define probability
A numerical measure of the likelihood or chance that certain events will occur. A statistical test gives the probability that a particular set of data did not occur by chance.
Define calculated value
The value of a test statistic calculated of a particular data set.
Define critical value
In a statistical test the value of the test statistic that must be reached to show significance.
Define degrees of freedom
The number of values that are free to vary given that the overall total values are known.
Define levels of measurement
Refers to the different ways of measuring items or psychological variables; the lower levels are less precise.
Define one-tailed test
Form of test used with a directional hypothesis.
Define significance
A statistical term indicating that the research findings are sufficiently strong to enable a researcher to reject the null hypothesis under test and accept the research hypothesis.
Define test statistic
The name given to the value calculated using a statistical test. For each test this value has a specific name such as S for the sign test.
Define two-tailed test
Form of test used with a non-directional hypothesis.
Define correlation coeffiecient
A number between -1 and +1 that tells us how closely the co-variables in a correlational analysis are related.
Define research methods
The process by which information or data is collected usually for the purpose of testing a hypothesis and/or a theory.
Define case studies
An in-depth investigation, description and analysis of a single individual, group, institution or event.
Define chi squared
A test for an association between two variables or conditions. Data should be nominal level using an unrelated design.
Define Mann-Whitney
A test for a significant difference between two sets of scores. Data should be at least ordinal level using an unrelated design.
Define Pearson’s R
A parametric test for correlation when data is at interval level.
Define related t-test
A parametric test for difference between two sets of scores. Data must be interval with a related design.
E.G. Repeated measure or matched pairs.
Define sign test
A statistical test used to analyse the difference in scores between related items. Data should be nominal or better.
Define Spearman’s Rho
A test for correlation when data is at least ordinal level.
Define unrelated t-test
A parametric test for difference between two sets of scores. Data must be interval with an unrelated design.
Define Wilcoxon
A test for a significant difference between two sets of scores. Data should be at least ordinal level using a related design.
Define paradigm shift
The result of a scientific revolution: a significant change in the dominant unifying theory within a scientific discipline.
Define objectivity
When all sources of personal bias are minimised so as not to distort or influence the research process.
Define replicability
The extent to which scientific procedures and findings can be repeated by other researchers.
