TEST 1: CH 1 SUMMARY

Question 1

Five Reasons for studying research methods are

Answer 1

1. To provide a richer appreciation of the information that science and technology bring to modern life.
2. To avoid falling prey to imposters whose showy claims are counterfeit.
3. To learn information and skills that are transferable beyond the research setting.
4. To learn that scientific knowledge is relative and provisional
5. To consider research as a career.

Question 2

Peirce’s four methods for the “Fixation of belief” are:

Answer 2

1. the method of tenacity (Clinging to myths).
2. the method of authority (obeying reasonable laws that are the basis of civilized society).
3. the a priori method (use of reason and logic to make sense of things).
4. the scientific method.

Question 3

What is the scientific method?

Answer 3

a misnomer, in that it is not a single, fixed method but an approach that depends heavily on empirical reasoning.

Question 4

What is Empirical Reasoning?

Answer 4

a combination of careful logic, organized observation, and measurement that is open to independent scrutiny by others.

Question 5

What is an illustration of how empirical methods are limited?

Answer 5

Universal laws are based partly on a leap of faith because we simply cannot observe everything. (Objects in motion will stay forever in motion.)

Question 6

What are the three extra empirical factors?

Answer 6

1. the beauty of elegance of science.
2. visualizations in the form of analogies and metaphors to make complex ideas more comprehensible
3. the information and persuasive language of science, which takes the form of written reports that conform to an accepted basic structure.

Question 7

Behavioral research covers what?

Answer 7

The use of empirical reasoning from more than a single vantage point, using different methods ( called methodical pluralism), each of which is limited in some way, to zero in on how and why people act, perceive, feel, and think as they do.

Question 8

Relational research tells us what?

Answer 8

How things are in relation to other things.

ex: describes the relationship between student failure and teaching behavior

Question 9

Experimental research tell us what?

Answer 9

How things are and how they got to be that way.

ex: studying the effects of teaching on student learning by manipulating the hypothesized causes of student failure

Question 10

Random sampling refers to what?

Answer 10

choosing an unbiased sample that is representative of a target population.

Random assignment refers to how participants are allocated by an unbiased procedure to different groups or conditions in a randomized experiment.

Question 11

Descriptive research tells us what?

Answer 11

How things are

ex: describes children failure in school

Question 12

The 9 traits of good researchers listed by Judith Hall:

Answer 12

1. Enthusiasm
2. Open- mindedness
3. common sense
4. role-taking ability
5. a combination of creativity and inventiveness
6. confidence in one’s own judgment
7. the ability to communicate
8. car about details
9. integrity and honest scholarhsip