Chapter 2 - Research Methods

Question 1

Quantitative research methods

Answer 1

Data that is measured
Numbers
ex. height, weight, volume, etc.

Question 2

Qualitative research methods

Answer 2

Data that is observed (beauty, smell, texture, etc)

Deals with descriptions

Question 3

What is a Case Study?

Answer 3

• In-depth background from single person

- Exceptional cases (serial killers, special abilities, etc)

Question 4

Example of case study?

Answer 4

Phineas Gage - went from normal to impulsive and rude when an iron bar damaged his left frontal lobe

Question 5

Case studies: advantages/disadvantages

Answer 5

Advatages:

• Existence proofs
• Ability to study rare phenomena impossible to recreate in lab
• Insights for later study

Disadvantages:

• Doesn’t answer why something occurred
• Difficult to generalize to other people (anecdotal)

Question 6

What is Naturalistic or Direct Observation

Answer 6

-Observing in natural setting

Question 7

Naturalistic Observation Advantages/Disadvantages

Answer 7

Advantages:
-High external validity

Disadvantages:

• Low internal validity
• Reactivity (when subject knows they’re being observed)

Question 8

Naturalistic Observation: 3 Types

Answer 8

• Participant observation: observer is one of the crowd, with subjects’ knowledge
• Unobtrusive observation: without subjects’ knowledge
• Laboratory observation: controlled but not natural; reactivity potential so potentially lower external validity, higher internal validity so can infer cause/effect

Question 9

What are Questionnaires and Surveys?

Answer 9

• Another type of self-report

- Phrasing must be accurate (no leading questions, etc)

Question 10

Questionnaires and Surveys: advantages and disadvantages

Answer 10

Advantages:

• Inexpensive and fast collection of large amount of data
• Anonymity

Disadvantages:

• Sample bias- hard to obtain truly random sample
• Response sets: positive impression management and malingering

Question 11

What are malingering and positive impression management?

Answer 11

• ”Response sets”, or tendencies to distort answers to surveys/questionnaires
• Malingering: making oneself seem psychologically disturbed, with a clear goal
• Positive impression management: making ourselves look better than we are

Question 12

What are Standardized Tests?

Answer 12

• IQ, personality, memory/cognitive functioning

- Type of self-report method

Question 13

What is Reliability (ie, test reliability)?

Answer 13

• Consistency; same results every time, everywhere

- Must be demonstrated first (before validity)

Question 14

Test-Retest Reliability

Answer 14

-Questionnaire yields similar scores over time

Question 15

Inter-rater Reliability

Answer 15

-Extent to which different people (psychologists, observers?) make similar behavioural observations

Question 16

What is Validity (ie, test validity)?

Answer 16

• Measures what it claims to measure
• External/internal, ecological, etc
• Must be demonstrated second, after reliability

Question 17

Between-subject vs Within-subject design?

Answer 17

• Between-subject design: participants assigned to either test (independent variable) group, or control (placebo) group
• Within-subject design: participants act as their own control group; measurement taken before and after independent variable

Question 18

What is population? (in experimental design)

Answer 18

• Designated by uppercase “N”
• Total group you want to study
• ex, homeless teenagers, retirees, etc

Question 19

What is a population sample? (in experimental design)

Answer 19

• Participants of study/experiment
• Denoted as lowercase “n”.
• Randomly selected, representative subset of N/total population

Question 20

What are the two characteristics of an experiment?

Answer 20

• Random selection and assignment of participants to an;

- Independent variable manipulated by researcher

Question 21

What is an independent variable?

Answer 21

A variable that an experimenter manipulates

Question 22

What is a dependent variable?

Answer 22

The variable that the experimenter measures to see whether manipulation has an effect.

ex, school grades, health, conviction rates, etc

AKA “outcome variable”

Question 23

Internal validity vs external validity

Answer 23

Internal validity: extent to which we can infer cause and effect

• Low in naturalistic, case studies, correlational design
• High in experimental design

External validity: extent to which we can generalize findings to the real-world

• Can be low in experimental design
• High in naturalistic design

Question 24

Advantages of experiment

Answer 24

• Manipulate variables
• Show cause and effect
• Conclude that any difference in DV was caused by IV

Question 25

Disadvantages/pitfalls of experiment

Answer 25

- Placebo - Nocebo - Hawthorne effect (reactivity) - Rosenthall effect (experimenter expectancy=biased outcome)

Question 26

When would one use a correlational instead of an experiment?

Answer 26

- unethical (pepsi in pregnant women) | - impossible

Question 27

What is positive correlation?

Answer 27

When both variables move in the same direction (UP or DOWN)

Question 28

What is negative correlation?

Answer 28

When variables move in opposite directions

Question 29

What is the range of r values?

Answer 29

-1.0 to +1.0

Question 30

What are the strengths of some correlations?

Answer 30

``` (in absolute values + or -) 1 perfect 0.8 strong 0.5 moderate 0.3 weak 0 none ```

Question 31

Can you infer cause and effect from correlational studies (IV or DV influence each other)?

Answer 31

No. But it's possible if the correlation is strong enough.

Question 32

What are some guidelines for research ethics?

Answer 32

1. Informed consent (explanation of purpose, duration, risks, etc) 2. Right to withdraw (without conditions) 3. Debriefing 4. Anonymous and confidential 5. Suggest resources

Question 33

Define "mean"

Answer 33

- Type of central tendency: - Average (sum, divided by n) - Influenced by outliers

Question 34

Define "median"

Answer 34

- Type of central tendency: | - Middle score in an ordered data set; 50th percentile

Question 35

Define "mode"

Answer 35

- Type of central tendency: | - Most frequent score in the data set

Question 36

Low variability vs high variability?

Answer 36

Low var. = values clustered around middle | High var. = values spread out toward extremes

Question 37

What are range and standard deviation?

Answer 37

- Ways of calculating variability - Range: difference between lowest and highest value - Standard deviation: Average distance from mean

Question 38

What is statistical significance?

Answer 38

- Typically a calculation based on on number of values (n) and standard deviation (SD) - ex, "95% confidence" "p < 0.05"