Session 2: Resaerch desing

Question 1

Resaerch designs

Answer 1

• cross-sectional
• longitudinal (chronological sequence, lagged design, cross-laged desing)
• experimental

Question 2

Cross- sectional design

Answer 2

• independent and dependent variable are measures at the same point in time
• are there any differences between specific groups?

Question 3

Limitations of the cross-sectional design

Answer 3

• limited regarding the possibility to examine causality (and the direction of effects)
• unable to identify changes over time

Question 4

Longitudinal design

Answer 4

the longitudinal design involves at least two (three) measurement waves

Question 5

3 options for longitudinal design

Answer 5

• chronological sequence
• lagges desing
• cross- laged desing

Question 6

Chronological sequence

Answer 6

• measure the hypothesized flow of effects at different points in time

Question 7

Lagged desing

Answer 7

modelling change (controlling for the DV at previous measurement wave)

Question 8

Cross-lagged design

Answer 8

• a study of the relationship between two or more variables across time in which one variable measured at an an earlier point in time is examined with regard to a second variable measured at a later point in time, and vice versa
• extending the lagged desing

Question 9

What to keep in mind when designning a longitudinal study

Answer 9

• time of measurements
• attention bias
• participants burden

Question 10

Timing of measurements

Answer 10

• What is the existence interval of a construct?
• How long does an effect take to unfold?
• How long does an effect hold?

Question 11

Attention bias

Answer 11

• Loss of survey respondents over time
• Problem: generalizability of results may be in question
• Testing attrition bias: t-test between responders and non-responders based on T1

Question 12

Participants burden

Answer 12

the more frequent the measurements, the shorter the questinaires should be

Question 13

Experimental design

Answer 13

a desing that assigns units to controlled conditions based on some chance process such as the toss of a coin

Question 14

Four essential features of ecperimental desing

Answer 14

• manipulation of the IV (create different levels)
• control of extraneous variable
• randomization
• control group

Question 15

Manipulation of the IV…

Answer 15

• how many variables do you manipulate?
• With how many levels?
• high fidelity manipulation, manipulation check

Question 16

Control for extraneous variables

Answer 16

Extraneous variable: anything that varies in the context of a study

• make it difficult to detect the effect of the IV and the Dv
• we have to hold them constant (control for them)

Question 17

Random assignment

Answer 17

usning a random process to decide which participants are tetsed in which conditon
- primary way to control for extraneous variables across conditions

Question 18

Randomization: two criteria

Answer 18

• each particpant has an equal chnace of being assigned to each condition
• each participant is assigned to a condition indecently of other participants

Question 19

Why is it important to have a control group?

Answer 19

to avoid biases due to maturation, history, and testing

Question 20

Experimental design: Counterfactual

Answer 20

• if i change the cause, what is the effect

- attempt to eliminate confounds and alternative explanations

Question 21

Repeated measures expeirment

Answer 21

participants are surveyed several times during th experiment
(before - baseline vs. after manipulation)

Question 22

High internal validity

Answer 22

study is conducted in a way that supports the conclusion that the IV caused any observed differences in the DV

Question 23

What to keep in mind when designing an experimental study?

Answer 23

• single-factor design vs. mult-factor design
• high fidelity manipulation
• manipulation check
• confoudnig variables
• random assignment
• repeated measures experiment
• experiment have a high internal, but rather low external validity