Research Methods Flashcards
(30 cards)
What is a construct?
An intangible attribute or psychological mechanism that is hard to observe.
What is an operational definition?
A definition of a construct that makes it measurable. For example, investigating the amount of time spent smiling to measure happiness.
What are continuous variables?
Variables that allow for fractional numbers between points on a scale. Think about distance, time, weight, height.
What are discreet variables?
Separate categories that are not divisible. There are no decimals or fractions. Examples include how many pets people have or what a person’s favourite colour is.
What is a nominal scale?
Measurement using a set of categories (sometimes called categorical scales). Do not indicate magnitude, simply just membership to a certain group.
What is an ordinal scale?
The values indicate order, but do not tell us anything regarding the magnitude of the category or the distance. For example, how much people agree with a statement: hardly, somewhat, a lot.
What is an interval scale?
Numbers do indicate amount with a scale. Zero does not mean nothing however. Think about temperature as an example.
What is a ratio scale?
Numbers indicate an amount of something. Units are used. Zero means zero in this instance.
What is a descriptive research design?
No experimentation and nothing is manipulated, with all of the focus being on observation. Look at how the natural state is experienced by people. For example, asking people to fill out a survey or investigating average height.
What is a correlational research design?
When you investigate the relationship between two variables. Each participant needs to provide information about both variables. From this, you can make claims about correlation, NOT cause-and-effect. For example, looking at the correlation between time spent exercising and happiness.
What is a quasi-experimental research design?
Looks at cause and effect in a relationship. For example, do people without diagnosed depression demonstrate more happiness than those diagnosed with depression? Because of this, random assignment is not used.
What is a non-experimental research design?
Looks at relationships between variables, however the variables are not manipulated.
What is simple-random sampling?
Each person in the population has an equal chance of being selected. No selection bias that may confound results. However, it does not guarantee that the sample will be representative of the popularity e.g. there may be a gender disparity.
What is convenience sampling?
Sampling individuals who are easy or convenient to use for the study
What are quotas?
Making sure that the sample represents the population. Think accurately representing age in a group of students.
What is merit?
Research that is justified by its potential benefits to humanity.
What is integrity?
Research that has been undertaken under well-founded principles or research conduct. Findings must be honestly reported.
What is justice?
Ensure that your participants are fairly reimbursed and given the same. Ensure that participants are not being exploited.
What is respect?
Caring about patients’ welfare, culture and beliefs. Ensuring privacy and confidentiality.
When should we use the mean?
If the data is mostly normal/ has few outliers.
When should we use the median?
When the data is skewed or has outliers.
When should we use the mode?
When we are working with discrete data.
What does the variability mean?
How scores are spread in a distribution of data.
What does it mean to have a high variability?
The scores are very spread out and the mean may not be an accurate representation of what is typical.