Unit 1- Research Methods Flashcards
Human intuition is highly
Limited
Overconfidence
we tend to think we know more than we do
Hindsight Bias
Tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen.
The “I know it all along” phenomenon
Theory
An explanation unhinge an integrated set of principles that organizes and predicts observations
Research methods: Case study
An observation technique in which ONE person is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles.
Freud relied on it
Research methods: survey
Technique for ascertaining the self reported attitudes or behaviors of people
Usually by questioning a representative, random sample of people
Random sample
Everyone in the population has an equal chance of being selected
Anchoring bias
We tend to rely too heavily on the initial information (anchor)
Advantages of case study
In depth, detail of person being studied
Opportunity to study unusual cases
Disadvantages of case study
Individual results might not relate to general public
Cannot establish cause and effect
Components of survey: population
All individuals you are interested in knowing something about
Components of survey: sample
Individuals you actually question. People in survey
Components of survey: why should sampling always be taken randomly from the population?
So that it is representative meaning each individual in the population had an equal chance of being selected
Advantages of survey research
Less costly to run that an experiment
Efficient, allow researchers to collect lots of information quickly
Disadvantages of survey research
Accuracy can be thrown off by improper sampling
Question wording can impact results of a survey
Respond rates may be low
Participants can lie
Stratified sampling
When the researcher divides the sample into subgroups called strata.
Research method 3: naturalistic observation
Observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying to manipulate and control the situation
Drawbacks: hard to identify any type of causation since there is no control.
Research method 4: Correlation research
Research that looks at a RELATIONSHIP between two variables (things)
Types of correlations
Positive and negative correlation
Positive correlation
1 goes up the other one goes up
1 goes down the other one goes down
Negative correlation
One goes up the other one goes down
One goes down the other one goes up
Correlation coefficient (r-value)
Number that measures the strength of correlation
Strongest correlations are ____ and ____
+1 and -1
Correlations are always between -1 and +1
A graphed cluster of dots, each of which represents the values of 2 variables
Little _____ indicated high correlation
Scatter plot
Illusory correlation
The perception of a relationship where none exists.