Chapter 5

Question 1

Descriptive research

Answer 1

Observation and description of a behavior, the situation it occurs in, or the individual exhibiting it

Question 2

Purpose of descriptive research

Answer 2

Describe natural behaviors

Question 3

Three advantages to descriptive research

Answer 3

Informative, starting point for IDing variables and building HCs that can be tested later using other methods, and it can be the only practical or ethical method

Question 4

Two categories of descriptive research

Answer 4

Observational and field studies

Question 5

Observational research

Answer 5

Observe in an unobtrusive manner

Question 6

3 observational methods

Answer 6

Naturalistic, systematic naturalistic, and participant observation

Question 7

Naturalistic observation

Answer 7

Observes a wide variety of behaviors in an unobtrusive manner

Question 8

Systematic naturalistic observation

Answer 8

ID a particular behavior to observe

Question 9

Participant observation

Answer 9

Researcher becomes a participating member of the group being observed

Question 10

Advantage to observational designs

Answer 10

Behaviors are not influenced by reactivity or other demand characteristics

Question 11

Disadvantages of observational designs

Answer 11

Descriptions are susceptible to experimenter expectations, limited in individuals we can find to observe (unrepresentative sample), only have verbal descriptions (qualitative data lacks precision and accuracy), no informed consent, little internal validity

Question 12

Raters

Answer 12

People who are blind to the hypothesis and trained to use our scoring criteria

Question 13

Multiple raters

Answer 13

More than one rater

Question 14

Inter-rater reliability

Answer 14

The extent to which rates agree on the scores they assign to a participant’s behavior

Question 15

Other observational research procedures

Answer 15

Archival research, ex post facto research, and case studies

Question 16

Archival research

Answer 16

Source of data is written records

Question 17

Disadvantages to archival research

Answer 17

Obtaining access to records may be difficult, records are not made with a researcher’s question in mind, and there are few control to prevent the record-keeper’s biases and errors

Question 18

Advantages to archival research

Answer 18

Allows us to study behaviors that would otherwise be unobservable

Question 19

Ex post facto research

Answer 19

A descriptive or experimental study conducted after the events of interest have occurred.

Question 20

Disadvantages to ex post facto research

Answer 20

Obtain potentially unreliable data

Question 21

Case study

Answer 21

In-depth study of one situation or “case”

Question 22

Advantage of case studies

Answer 22

Provide an in-depth description

Question 23

Disadvantage of case studies

Answer 23

Generalizability may be poor

Question 24

Field survey

Answer 24

People complete a questionnaire/interview in a natural setting so that we may infer the responses we would see if we polled the population

Question 25

Mailed survey

Answer 25

Useful when we need a larger sample and/or a lengthy questionnaire is being used

Question 26

Telephone survey

Answer 26

Shorter and faster

Question 27

Difficulty with mailed and phone surveys

Answer 27

Getting people to participate

Question 28

Volunteer bais

Answer 28

Bias that arises from the particular people who participate in a study, volunteers tend to have a higher social status and intelligence

Question 29

Two sampling techniques

Answer 29

Probability and nonprobabilty sampling

Question 30

Probability sampling

Answer 30

Random sampling

Question 31

Simple random sampling

Answer 31

Select participants so that all members of the pollution have an equal chance of being selected

Question 32

Systematic random sampling

Answer 32

Every nth person is selected

Question 33

Stratified random sampling

Answer 33

Randomly select form the important subgroups so that their representation in the sample in proportional to the population

Question 34

Cluster sampling

Answer 34

Certain clusters/groups are randomly selected and all members of each group are observed

Question 35

Nonprobability sampling

Answer 35

No random sampling

Question 36

Convenience sampling

Answer 36

Study participants who are available

Question 37

Quota sampling

Answer 37

Ensure the sample has the same percentage or each subgroup, but they are not randomly sampled

Question 38

Snowball sampling

Answer 38

ID one participant, use him/her to find other potential participants, and ID others from them, etc...

Question 39

Close-ended question

Answer 39

Researcher provides alternatives to choose from

Question 40

Disadvantage of close-ended questions

Answer 40

Yield limited info

Question 41

Open-ended question

Answer 41

Participant determines the alternatives to choose from and the response

Question 42

Advantages to open-ended questions

Answer 42

Allow for a wide range of responses, researchers may discover new relevant variables, not limited to one perspective or phrasing

Question 43

Disadvantages of open-ended questions

Answer 43

Requires research interpretation, scoring is susceptible to experimenter biases and expectations

Question 44

Content analysis

Answer 44

Score a participant's written/spoken answer by counting specified types of responses

Question 45

Advantage of interviewers

Answer 45

Ensure participants complete the questions as asked; Interviewers can react to responses

Question 46

Disadvantage of interviewers

Answer 46

May inadvertently heighten the demand characteristics of reactivity and social desirability

Question 47

Structured interview

Answer 47

Participants are asked specific, pre-determined questions in a controlled manner

Question 48

Unstructured interview

Answer 48

The researcher has a general idea of the open-ended questions that will be asked, but has the freedom to discuss and interact with the participant

Question 49

Goal of question construction

Answer 49

Reliably and validly discriminate between participants on the variable being studied

Question 50

Double-barrled question

Answer 50

Questions with more than one component

Question 51

Leading question

Answer 51

Questions that communicate social desirability or experimenter expectancies

Question 52

Barnum statements

Answer 52

Questions so global and vague that everyone would agree or select the same response

Question 53

Response scale

Answer 53

Number and type of choices to provide for each question

Question 54

Use even or odd umber of choices?

Answer 54

Even

Question 55

Practice effects

Answer 55

Participants first find questions to be novel and react strongly then later become more comfortable or bored

Question 56

Carry-over effects

Answer 56

Participants respond in a biased fashion to later questions because of earlier ones

Question 57

How to deal with order effects

Answer 57

Provide practice questions Counterbalance order effects (different orders for different participants) Prevent response sets (vary question format to force the participant to think) Use alternate forms

Question 58

Alternate forms

Answer 58

Different versions of the same questionnaire

Question 59

Catch trials

Answer 59

Catch participants who give no thought to the questions or answer randomly, create questions to which we know the truthful response or make the same question with answers in a different order