Exam 1 - Lit Review & Selecting Samples

What is a literature review?

an account of what has been published on a topic by accredited scholars and researchers

What is the purpose of a literature review?

to convey to the reader what knowledge and ideas have been established on a topic, and the strengths and weaknesses of that information

A literature review must: (4 parts)

-be organized, related directly to research Q

-synthesize results into a summary: what is and is not known

-identify controversy

-formulate Qs that need further research

True or false: A literature review is a list describing or summarizing one piece of literature after another; there are no sections or themes.

False

Purpose of literature review: ________ the research problem

Limit

Purpose of literature review: Seeking _____ lines of inquiry

new

Purpose of literature review: Gaining ___________ insights

methodological

Purpose of literature review: Identifying _______ for future research

recommendations

Organizing your lit review: Introduction

-establish the importance of your field

-provide background facts/information

-define the terminology

Organizing your lit review: Body

-find the research gap

-previous and/or current research and contributions

-pinpoint strengths and weaknesses among articles

Organizing your lit review: Conclusion

-summarizes major themes emerged

-identifies areas of controversy

-concludes by formulating questions that need further research

What are secondary sources?

publications written by authors who were not direct observers of, or participants in, the events being described

True or false: a good secondary source is only a compilation of research studies

False; organizes what is known into a meaningful structure and shows how various research studies are connected to each other

What is a meta-analysis?

a systematic review in which a statistical summary is provided. combines studies about the same problem

What is the purpose of meta-analysis?

to determine the efficacy of a procedure or treatment.

What is effect size in a meta-analysis?

a quantitative measure of the strength of a phenomenon

An effect size of .00 means...

that there is no difference between the experimental and control groups

What is a primary source?

a direct report of an event by an individual who actually observed or participated in it

What does a peer-reviewed article mean?

A board of scholarly reviewers in the subject area of the journal reviewed the materials they publish for quality of the research and adherence to the editorial standards of the journal before the article was accepted for publication.

3 important details in the sampling procedure:

-type of sample

-sample size

-geographic area

Sampling in quantitative research

The process of selecting a sample from a defined population with the intent that the sample accurately represents that population

Population validity

the extent to which the result of an experiment can be generalized from the sample to a large group of individuals

To achieve good population validity, you must select the sample _______, and it must be of ______ size

randomly; sufficient

types of probability sampling

simple random, systematic random, stratified random, cluster

Simple random sampling

a group of individuals drawn by a procedure in which all the individuals have an equal and independent chance of being selected

Which type of probability sampling is ideal?

simple random

What is a disadvantage of simple random sampling?

minority subgroups of interest in the population may not be present in the sample in sufficient numbers for the study

Systematic random sampling

A method of sampling in which sample elements are selected from a list or from sequential files, with every nth element being selected after the first element is selected randomly within the first interval

Systematic random sampling is used if the sample to be selected is very (small/large)

large

Stratified random sampling

a sample selected so that certain subgroups in the population are adequately represented in the sample

Clustered sampling

Divides the population into even groups and randomly selects a number of these groups for sampling. This method is only suitable if the groups are going to be heterogeneous. It can save time and cost of obtaining data.

In ______ sampling, from ____ of the strata we take ________ selected individuals.

stratified; all; randomly

In _____ sampling, from ____ selected clusters we take ____ of the individuals

cluster; randomly; all

Convenience Sampling

using a sample of people who are readily available to participate

If the convenient sample is used, the researcher must provide a _____ description of the sample

careful

In determining sample size, use the (smallest/largest) sample possible.

largest

In correlational research: a minimum of ____ participants

30

In causal-comparative research: at least ___ participants per group

15

For survey research, there should be a minimum of _____ participants in each group

100

What are the three factors you need to consider in determining sample size?

1. subgroup analysis

2. attrition

3. reliability of measures

Determining sample size: subgroup analysis

determining the number of subgroups in the study (e.g., male students with LD, female students with LD, control males, control females)

Determining sample size: attrition

number of participants decreases over time, esp. in long-term research

To account for attrition, you should _____ sample size by a certain percentage

increase

If you must use measures with low reliability, you need to _____ sample size.

increase

If you must use a small sample, you should use measures with (low/high) reliability

high

What is reliability?

the consistency of a measure

Volunteers tend to be....

-better educated than nonvolunteers

-have higher social-class status than nonvolunteers

-more sociable than nonvolunteers