Flashcards in Test 1: Research Methods Deck (28)
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1
Three things that make people especially difficult to study:
Complexity, variability, reactivity
2
Case Studies
-Detailed description of an individual
-Observations, formal psychological testing, drawings, clinical interviews, questionnaires, family interviews
-ex- Genie
3
Observational Study
Researcher observes, measures, records behavior while trying to avoid intruding on the people being observed
4
Naturalistic Observation
observe people in natural setting (home, school)
5
Laboratory Observation
researchers have more control over situation
6
Problems with Observational Studies?
-Mere presence of researchers and equipment will change how people behave
-only correlational and not causal
7
Psychological Tests (Assessments)
Measure personality traits, emotional states, IQ, abilities
8
Test-retest reliability
Give people the same test twice
9
Alternate-forms reliability
Give people two versions of the same test
10
Reliability
produce same result across time, place, and scorer
11
Validity
it must measure what it sets out to measure
12
Construct validity
items broadly represent the trait in question
13
Predictive validity
ability to predict other measures of the trait in question, related traits
14
Power
the ability of a measure to detect differences
15
Surveys
questionnaires and interviews that gather info by asking people directly about their experiences, attitudes, opinions.
16
Representative sample
a group of participants that accurately represents the larger population the researcher wishes to describe.
17
Problems with Surveys?
Volunteer bias
People lie
Researcher's bias
18
Correlational study
a descriptive study that looks for a consistent relationship between two phenomena
19
Correlation
a measure of how strongly two variables are related to one another.
Pero, correlation does not establish causation
20
Experiment
a controlled test of a hypothesis in which a researcher manipulates one variable to discover its effect on another.
21
Control Group
Need a control group to be sure that the behavior you are interested in would not have occurred anyway
22
Experimenter Effects
-Experimenters can influence the results of a study (facial expressions (smile), tone of voice)
-Rosenthal (1966)
-“maze bright” and “maze dull” rat
23
Single-blind study
participants don’t know which group they are in (still have EEs)
24
Double blind study
both tester and subject are blinded
25
Descriptive statistics
statistical procedures that organize and summarize data
26
Inferential Statistics
allow researchers to draw inferences about how statistically meaningful a study’s results are.
27
Cross-sectional Experiment
A study in which subjects of different ages (or any groups) are compared at a given time.
28
