Chapter 3—Developing Ideas For Research Flashcards
(13 cards)
What is replication?
Duplicating some or all of the procedures of a prior study to hopefully increase confidence in the reliability and validity of a study’s findings.
What is Direct vs Conceptual replication
Direct: duplicating the exact study with a separate team
Conceptual: changing parts of the original study’s procedures to test predictions similar to those in the original study
What is Basic vs Applied research?
Basic: aims to describe/predict/explain fundamental principles of behaviour
Applied Research: aims to solve an immediate real-life problem concerning more relevant issues
What are the advantages and disadvantages of Lab and Field research?
Lab Adv: Greater control; study conditions can be specified, participants can be selected and assigned to treatments
Lab Disadv: “Artificial”; seemingly removed from the conditions and the natural behaviour of daily life
Field Adv: The environment better matches daily living situations
Field Disadv: Less control than lab research, leading to interpretation problems
Differ between Mundane and Experimental Realism
Experimental: extent to which participants take the experiment seriously
Mundane: extent to which the experiment mimics real life experiences
What is a confederate?
Someone who appears to be a part of the normal environment but is actually a part of the study
What is a Pilot Study?
Helps researchers determine if they’re on the right track in the initial stages. Collect data to see if the methodology is flawed.
What is serendipity?
Discovering one thing while looking for another; accidental discovery
What is a construct?
A hypothetical factor that cannot be observed, but can be inferred from certain behaviour
Ex. Can’t observe horniness, but if someone has a boner then…
What does a theory do?
- Summarizes existing knowledge of a phenomenon
- Creates statements of relationships among variables
- Proposes an explanation for the phenomenon
- Serves as the basis for making predictions
What makes a theory “good”?
- If it leads to a great deal of research
- If it is falsifiable but resistant to falsification
- Is parsimonious (simple)
Describe a theory’s reciprocal relationship with research
Theories lead to research
Research outcomes influence theories
What is deduction vs induction
Deduction: Reasoning from the general to the specific; used when deriving a research hypothesis from a theory
Induction: Reasoning from the specific to the general; using results to support or refute a theory
