Methods and Ethics Flashcards
1
Q
developmental designs
A
- Developmental scientists use many of the designs that other researchers use -> observation, interview, experimentation, etc.
- some designs are specifically designed to study change across development
- ex. cross-sectional, longitudinal, microgenetic
2
Q
cross-sectional
A
- Examine different individuals of different ages at one time
- Ex. Studying the development of walking among 20 infants from each of four age groups: 10, 12, 14, 16
- Advantage: only have to do it once -> can analyze and publish data quickly,
- Disadvantage: individual differences may play a role in the results
3
Q
longitudinal
A
- Examines the same individuals at multiple ages
- Ex. Studying the development of language among 20 infants when they are 6 months, 10 months, 14 months, and 18 months
- Advantages: good experimental control; better idea of the development of each child
- Disadvantages: attrition (dropping out); cost
4
Q
microgenetic
A
- A mini, intense longitudinal design
- One group of children is tested repeatedly within a short time frame, normally at a time of significant change
- Ex. Studying the A-not-B error every week in a sample of 20 eight-to-ten month-olds
- Advantages: good experimental control; better idea of the development of each child
- Disadvantage: attrition (slightly lower risk); intense frequency of study
5
Q
challenges in infancy research
A
- recruitment and sample size
- assent and compensation
- communication
- attrition
6
Q
recruitment and sample size
A
- Normal means of recruiting (ex. HSP credits, payment) don’t work -> Paying parents for their baby’s research time is ethically problematic
- Because of difficulty and cost of recruiting infants, infant studies typically suffer from low sample sizes and reduced statistical power
- The higher the sample size, the easier it is to detect a change
- Due to the low power, it’s hard to find an effect even if one exists
7
Q
things that can influence infant recruitment
A
- Social policies like parental leave (in Canada, our generous parental leave policy makes it easier to recruit them)
- Legal policies re: publication of birth data (ie. In places like France, researchers can access birth records and directly contact new parents; in Canada, we can’t)
- Relationship with community
8
Q
strategies of infant recruitmant (from most to least effective)
A
- Visits to maternity hospitals (if allowed)
- Cold-calling or cold-mailing parents from birth registration lists
- Advertisements at community centres/daycares/in media
9
Q
assent and compensation
A
- Infants cannot give consent, so their parents have to give consent for them (assent)
- Assent is ethically tricky, but even more so with non-verbal subjects like infants
- How do we compensate the participant? We can’t pay infants -> we give babies toys and “degrees”
10
Q
communication
A
- Hard for researchers to communicate with non-verbal infants
- Can’t rely on interviews, surveys, or any design that requires linguistic info
- Therefore, infant studies rely heavily on:
- Neuroimaging (ex. NIRS)
- Physiological responses (ex. Heart rate, respiratory rate, suck rate, EEG)
Non-verbal behavioural responses (ex. Eye-tracking, reaching (6mo), looking time -> habituation/dishabituation depending on if infants notice changes that occur)
11
Q
NIRS
A
- type of neuroimaging
- uses low levels of near-infrared (visible) light projected onto the infants skull by NIRS emitters
- Depending on blood chemistry in a brain region, more or less of this light is reflected back to the NIRS detections (oxygenated/non-oxygenated hemoglobin -> oxygenated = more blood activity).
- NIRS good for infants because it’s safe, quiet, and non-invasive; infants’ skulls are also thinner and reflect light better; in babies the layer between skull and brain is water but in adults it’s lipids; babies have less hair than adults
12
Q
EEG
A
- measures physiological responses
- measures electrical activity in brain and is very temporally sensitive – responses are recorded so fast it’s almost instant
- faster than NIRS, but spatially underspecified
13
Q
eye-tracking
A
- specific technology
- measures gaze following, pupil dilation
- is different than looking time HE WILL TEST THIS
14
Q
habituation
A
- tells us that:
- Baby can see
- Baby can control eye movements
- Baby has enough memory and cognition to recognize that she’s already seen those objects
15
Q
dishabituation
A
- level of dishabituation is related to the level of perceptual difference between the 2 objects (ex. If they look similar, the second object will get less looking time even if it’s never been seen before)
- Tells us that baby has detected change (since looking time changes)
