Research Terms Flashcards
Case studies
Observes the behavior of an individual or small group of people in a unique situation
Naturalistic observation
Watching people in their natural environment
Laboratory observation
Watching people in a lab
Psychological tests
personality, disposition, etc
Experiments
Using a tightly controlled environment to establish a cause and effect relationship between two variables
Inductive apporach
Begin with observation and then form a theory
Non participant observation
The researcher is not part of the group
Overt participation/Participant observation
The researcher becomes part of the group
Covert participation
Participants do not know they are being researched
Reactivity
Participants change their behavior in reaction to being observed
Inter-observer reliabilty
Multiple researchers compare notes to ensure something really happened
Surveys
A way of collecting information from a large and dispersed group of people
Structured interviews
Highly controlled and interview schedule is set
Semi-structured interviews
Informal but does follow a schedule; open and closed questions
Unstructured interview
Interview schedule specifies time and topic only
Social desirability bias
People try to present a positive picture of themselves, may not always tell the truth
Participant bias
When people adjust their answers to what they think is appropriate for the interviewer
Interviewer effects
Responses to sex, age or ethnicity of interviewer
Aim
Purpose of the study
Procedure
Step by step process used by the researcher
Findings
How the researcher interpreted the data
Ecological validity
The study represents what happened in real life
Cross-cultural validity
the research is relevant to other cultures and not just based on the values and beliefs of one culture
Reliability
The study is reliable if the results can be replicated
Target population
The specific group of people the psychologists are interested in studying
Sample
The group of actual participants in the study
Representative sample
A research sample that accurately represents the target population
Participant variability
The extent to which the participants may share a common trait that can bias the outcome of the study
Sampling bias
A variable in the sample group that can impact the outcome of the study
Opportunity sampling
Finding the most easily available and willing participants
Self-selected sampling
A group of participants who volunteered
Snowball sampling
Participants recruit other participants like friends and family
Random sampling
Every member of the target group has an equal chance of participating in the study
Stratified sampling
Drawing random samples from each subpopulation within the target population
Corrolational studies
Data collected to show a relationship between two variables
Independent variable
The manipulated variable
Dependent variable
The affected variable
Operationalized
When the dependent and independent variable are defined
Experimental hypothesis
A prediction of how the manipulation of the independent variable is expected to affect the dependent variable
Experimental condition
The group where the independent variable is manipulated
Control condition
The group where the independent variable is not manipulated
Null hypothesis
States that the independent variable will have no effect on the dependent variable
Field experiments
Take place in a natural environment but the variables are still manipulated
Natural experiments
Researchers have no control over the variables, but the variables are already there
Confounding variables
Undesirable variables that influence the relationship between the independent and dependent variables
Demand characteristics/Hawthorne effects
This is when participants act differently because they know they are part of an experiment
Single-blind control
The participants don’t know what the aim of the study is
Artificiality
When the situation is set up to be so unlikely that one has to wonder about ecological validity
Researcher bias
The expectations of the researcher influence him/her subconsciously or consciously in a way that she/he sees what she/he is looking for
Double-blind control
The participants do not know whether they are in the control or experimental group, neither do the researchers
Deductive approach
Begin with a theory and then test it with observations
Negative correlation
When one thing increases, the other decreases
Quantitative research
Based on quantity and measurable data
Qaulitative research
The value of the individual information
Theory
General principal offered to explain a phenomena
Triangulation
Using multiple research methods to investigate the same idea/theory
ethnocentric
Evaluating other people and other cultures according to the standards of one’s own culture
