Module 1: Research Methods Flashcards

Question

Questionnaires

Answer 1

If participants can read Fast and efficient alternative E.g. administering measure to a whole school

Answer 2

Questions can branch off from the preplanned questions to follow up on the answers the interview provides Helpful for clinicians obtaining in-depth info about a particular child E.g. diagnosing disorder or learning disability Less common in large scale psychological studies All participants need to be presented with the same questions/prompts to ensure high internal validity

Answer 3

Examining children in their usual environments (e.g. home, school, playground) Researcher is not in control of what the child does, coding naturally elicited behaviours E.g. time spent with certain activities, how often they engage with peers, smiles/laughs, etc.

Answer 4

Each child placed in the exact same controlled situation while their behaviour is recorded Same environment, instructions, interactions By tightly controlling environmental factors, researchers can identify what specific factors are influencing children’s behaviour Task characteristics (different roles in a game) Environmental factors (number of children in room) Individual differences (child’s/peer’s shyness)

Answer 5

Different children of different ages and compare performance Each participant usually only tested once Highlight developmental trends Maps out changes across broad developmental time Drawback: no insight into stability or patterns of change within individual children

Answer 6

Looks at changes within the same children over significant periods of development (months/years/decades) What individual factors impact the results for each participant Rare type of study Drawbacks: costs a lot of time and money, many participants drop out

Answer 7

Track small-scale developments in children’s cognitive/behavioural processes Several observations of the same child over a short period of time (hours, days, few weeks) How cognition or behaviour is changing with prolonged experience in a certain context Offers more detailed look at how specific processes develop than other designs Niche, not common

Answer 8

Self control and discipline as most important in education Children have innate knowledge (e.g. know what an animal is from birth) Careful upbringing important otherwise basic nature would lead to children becoming unruly (particularly boys)

Answer 9

Discipline and fitting child rearing to needs of the child All knowledge comes from experience Mind of infant is like blackboard with nothing written on it

Answer 10

Children as blank slate, written on by nurturing of caregivers/society Most important goal of child rearing is growth of character Parents must set good examples and avoid indulging children Authority can be relaxed as children age (good behaviour)

Answer 11

Parents and society should give children maximum freedom from the beginning Children learn from spontaneous interactions (not through instruction) No formal education until the age of reason (12)

Answer 12

Nature & Nurture The active child Continuity/discontinuity Mechanisms of change Sociocultural context Individual differences Research & children's welfare

Answer 13

Biological endowment, the genes we receive from parents Genetic inheritance influences our makeup

Answer 14

Wide range of environments, both physical and social, that influence our development

Answer 15

Each person’s complete set of hereditary information Genome influences behaviours and experiences, and is also influenced by behaviours and experiences Some proteins regulate gene expression and can turn gene activity on or off

Answer 16

study of stable changes in gene expression mediated by the environment

Answer 17

Biochemical process that reduces expression of a variety of genes, involved in regulating reactions to stress Stress of mothers during child’s infancy related to amount of methylation in children’s genomes years later

Answer 18

Infants shape their development through selective attention E.g. pay more attention to things that move or make noise Preference helps them learn about important aspects of the world (e.g. faces, moving objects) Crib-speech when children are alone and learning to talk helps them practice language Children learn through play with others and alone

Answer 19

Continuity: Development as continuous process of small changes (like a tree growing) Children behave in accord with one stage on one task but with a different stage on other tasks Discontinuity: Development as series of occasional, sudden, discontinuous changes (caterpillar to butterfly) Children of different ages qualitatively different Stage theories: development occurs in progression of distinct age related stages Cognitive development: development of thinking and reasoning (Jean Piaget)

Answer 20

Developmental mechanisms can be behavioural, neural, or genetic Effortful attention is mechanism of developmental change and involves role of brain activity, genes, and learning experiences E.g. sleep mechanism for improving memory in young children/infants

Answer 21

Physical, social, cultural, economic, and historical circumstances a child grows up in Cross cultural comparisons reveal practices that are rare/nonexistant in one culture are common in others E.g. in North America children move into another room to sleep in crib alone by 6m In Italy, Japan, South Korea, etc young children sleep in same bed as mother for first few years, often remain in same room later

Answer 22

Four factors lead children to turn out different from others in family -Genetic differences -Differences in treatment by parents and others (E.g. give more sensitive care to easygoing children) -Differences in reactions to similar experiences (E.g. siblings react differently to family events) -Different choices of environments

Answer 23

Research benefits children of the future Research spurs educational innovations