Research Methods Midterm #1

Question 1

Tenacity

Answer 1

• Superstition/habit

- Info may not be accurate/No method for correcting

Question 2

Authority

Answer 2

• Find answers by seeking out an authority on the subject
• Quickest/easiest way to obtain answers
• (doctors, parents, lawyers)
• not all “experts” are experts, personal opinion/biases

Question 3

Rationalism

Answer 3

• Logical reasoning
• Begin with set of known facts/assumptions
• Even if logic is sound, the conclusion may not be true

Question 4

Empiricism

Answer 4

• Direct observation or personal experience
• Too much confidence in observations
• Perceptions can drastically alter by prior knowledge, expectations, feelings, or beliefs

Question 5

Inductive vs. deductive logic

Answer 5

• Inductive: small set of specific observations used for forming a general statement about a larger set of possible events.
• Deductive: General statement or set of statements as the basis for reaching a conclusion about specific examples

Question 6

Testable hypothesis

Answer 6

• possible to observe and measure all variables involved

Question 7

Refutable hypothesis

Answer 7

• contrary results must be possible

- in other words, the hypothesis must be falsifiable

Question 8

Operational definitions

Answer 8

Limitations:
- they may leave out important components of a construct
- they may include components that are not part of the construct being measured
Using operational definitions:
- to determine how a variable should be measured, consult previous research involving the same variable

Question 9

Intuition

Answer 9

• “gut feeling”

- many ethical decisions or moral questions are resolved by the method of intuition

Question 10

Steps in the research process

Answer 10

1. Observe
2. General Hypothesis
3. Research Hypothesis
4. Evaluate
5. Support, refute, or refine

Question 11

Applied research

Answer 11

Research studies that are intended to answer practical questions or solve practical problems.

Question 12

Basic research

Answer 12

Research studies that are intended to answer theoretical questions or gather knowledge simply for the sake of new knowledge.

Question 13

Informed consent

Answer 13

The ethical principle requiring the investigator to provide all available information about a study so that a participant can make a rational, informed decision regarding whether to participate in the study.

Question 14

Inter-rater reliabilty

Answer 14

The degree of agreement between two observers who simultaneously record measurements of a behaviour.

Question 15

Debriefing

Answer 15

A post-experimental explanation of the purpose of the study. A debriefing is given after a participant completes a study, especially if deception was used.

Question 16

Fraud

Answer 16

The explicit efforts of a researcher to falsify and misrepresent data. Fraud is unethical.

Question 17

Plagiarism

Answer 17

Presenting someone else’s ideas or words as one’s own. Plagiarism is unethical.

Question 18

Face validity

Answer 18

An unscientific form of validity that concerns whether a measure superficially appears to measure what it claims to measure.

Question 19

Concurrent validity

Answer 19

The type of validity demonstrated when scores obtained from a new measure are directly related to scores obtained from more established measure of the same variable.

Question 20

Interval

Answer 20

• Scale must have equally-spaced units (distance along intervals equal)
• Zero is just a point on the scale (not absence of the construct)
• E.g., temperature, clock hour, psychological sclaes
• 1(strongly disagree) - 7(strongly agree)

Question 21

Divergent validity

Answer 21

• Two different methods to measure two different constructs.
• Convergent validity must be shown for each of the two constructs.
• There should be little to no relationship between the scores obtained for the two different constructs when they are measured by the same method.

Question 22

Convergent validity

Answer 22

• Strong relationship between the scores obtained from two different methods of measuring the same construct.

Question 23

Contructs

Answer 23

Hypothetical attributes or mechanisms that help explain and predict behaviour in a theory.

Question 24

Operational definition

Answer 24

• A procedure for indirectly measuring and defining a variable that cannot be observed or measured directly.
• Specifies a measurement procedure (a set of operations) for measuring an external, observable behaviour and uses the resulting measurements as a definition and a measurement of the hypothetical construct.

Question 25

Alpha

Answer 25

In a hypothesis test, the criterion for statistical significance that defines the maximum probability that the research result was obtained simply by chance.
- Also known as level of significance

Question 26

Ratio

Answer 26

• The scale must have a true 0 point and ratios must be calculable
• E.g., height, weight, reaction time

Question 27

Mean

Answer 27

A measure of central tendency obtained by adding the individual scores, then dividing the sum of the number of scores. The mean is the arithmetic average.

Question 28

Median

Answer 28

List the values of the data set in numerical order and identify which value appears in the middle of the list. “Middle”

Question 29

Mode

Answer 29

Identify which value in the data set occurs most often.

Question 30

What is a normal curve? How do we use normal curves?

Answer 30

• Many variables we are interested in have a “bell” distribution (shape)
• E.g., IQ, weight, the number of hours spent studying”

Question 31

What is a z-score? How do we use them? How do we calculate z-scores?

Answer 31

• A z-score is the number of standard deviations a score is from the mean
  Uses: 1. Assessing the relative position of a score in a distribution. 2. Assessing the probability of attaining a score or mean at or below, or higher, than that score or mean in the population

Question 32

What is a hypothesis test? What is its purpose?

Answer 32

A process of ruling out chance as a possible explanation for findings.

Question 33

Sampling error

Answer 33

The naturally occurring difference between a sample statistic and the corresponding population parameter.

Question 34

Standard error

Answer 34

A measure of variability that describes the average distance between a sample statistic and the corresponding population parameter

Question 35

Null hypothesis vs. Alternative hypothesis

Answer 35

• There is no effect, no change, no relationship
• Any differences between the sample and the population occurred due to chance
  vs.
• The hypothesis of our predicted effect (Corresponds to Research Hypothesis)

Question 36

Population vs. sample

Answer 36

Everyone you are interested in vs. who you are actually using in your study

Question 37

Significant result

Answer 37

A result that is extremely unlikely to have occurred simply by chance

Question 38

Type I error vs. Type II error

Answer 38

Type I error - Reject the null hypothesis/ null hypothesis is true
Type II error - Fail to reject null hypothesis/null hypothesis is false.

Question 39

Standardized normal curve

Answer 39

This is the “bell-shaped” curve of the Standard Normal Distribution. It is a Normal Distribution with mean 0 and standard deviation 1. It shows you the percent of population: between 0 and Z (option “0 to Z”)