Research Strategies Flashcards
hypothesis
prediction drawn from a theory
naturalistic observation
go into the field / natural environment and record the behavior of interest
structured observations
investigator sets up a laboratory situation that evokes the behavior of interest so that every participant has an equal opportunity to display the response
event sampling
observer records all instances of a particular behavior during a specified time period
time sampling
the researcher records whether certain behaviors occur during a sample of short intervals
observer influence
effects of the observer on the behavior studied
observer bias
when observers are aware of the purposes of the study, they may see and record what they expect to see rather than what participants actually do
clinical interview
researchers use a flexible, conversational style to probe for the participant’s point of view
structured interview
each individual is asked the same set of questions in the same way
neurobiological methods
which measure the relationship between nervous system processes and behavior
clinical / case study method
brings together wide range of information on the child–interviews, observations, test scores and neurobiological measures
ethnography
descriptive, qualitative technique aimed to understand a culture or a distinct social group through participant observation
reliability
consistency or repeatability of measures of behavior
validity
accurately measure characteristics that the researcher set out to measure
internal validity
degree to which conditions internal to the design of the study permits an accurate test of the researcher’s hypothesis or question
external validity
degree to which their findings generalize to settings and participants outside the original study
correlational design
researchers gather information on individuals, gerneally in natural life circumstances and make no effort to alter their experiences; they look at relationships between participants’ characteristics and their behavior or development
correlation coefficient
number that describes how two measures, or variables, are associated with each other
experimental design
permits inferences about cause and effect because researchers use an evenhanded procedure to assign people ot two or more treatment conditions
independent variable
variable research expects to cause changes in another variable
dependent variable
variable research expects to be influenced by the independent variable
confounding variable
variables so closely associated that their effects on an outocme cannot be distinguished
random assignment
by using an unbiased procedure, researchers increase chances that participants’ characteristics will be equally distributed across treatment groups
matching
participants are measured ahead of time on the factor in question; then children high and low on that factor are assigned in equal numbers to each treatment condition
field experiments
researchers capitalize on opportunities to randomly assign participants to treatment conditions in natural settings
natural experiments
treatments that already exist are compared; difference from correlational study is that groups here are carefully chosen
longitudinal design
participants are studied repeatedly at different ages and changes are noted as they get older
biased sampling
failure to enlist participants who represent the population of interest
selective attrition
participants may move away or drop out for other reasons, and those who continue are likely to differ in important ways from those who drop out
practice effects
better test-taking skills and increased familiarity with the test, not because of factors commonly associated with development
cohort effects
children developing in the same time period who are influenced by particular cultural and historical conditions
cross-sectional design
groups of people differing in age are studied at the same point in time
sequential design
several cross-sectional and longitudinal investigations are studied
microgenetic design
presents children with a novel taks and follows their mastery over a series of closely spaced sessions
risks-versus-benefits ratio
weighing the costs to participants in terms of inconvenience and possible psychological or physical injury against the study’s value for advancing knowledge and improving conditions of life
protection from harm
if there are any risks to the safety and welfare of particiaptns that the research does not justify, then preference is always given to the research participants
informed consent
people’s right to have all aspects of a study explained to them that might affect their willingness to participate
debriefing
researcher provides a full account and justification of the activities
