Lecture 3: Empirical Claims and Research (research methods) flashcards

Empirical Claim

An assertion about the truth of something, typically one in dispute or in doubt.

Frequency Claim

A claim based on how common something is, involving the measurement of a single variable.

Association Claim

A claim based on a relationship or correlation between two measured variables.

Causal Claim

A claim based on a relationship between two variables, suggesting one variable causes changes in the other.

Requirements for Causal Claims

Variables must correlate, the causal variable must precede the outcome, and no alternative explanations can exist.

Empirical Article

An original report of the results of a specific research study.

Review Article

A summary of all or many empirical articles on a specific topic.

Meta-analysis

A review article using statistical techniques to show the average effect size across multiple empirical articles.

PsycINFO

A database of over 4 million abstracts from behavioral and social science research compiled by the APA.

Google Scholar

A specialized search engine that searches academic sources only.

Interlibrary Loan

A library service used to request full-text articles when direct access is unavailable.

Abstract (Research Article)

A concise summary describing the study's hypotheses, method, and major results.

Introduction (Research Article)

The section that presents the topic, background, and hypotheses of the study.

Method (Research Article)

The section detailing how the study was conducted, generally divided into participants, materials, and procedure.

Results (Research Article)

The section describing statistical analyses, quantitative/qualitative results, and supporting tables or figures.

Discussion (Research Article)

The final section summarizing hypothesis support, study importance, limitations, and future research directions.

References (Research Article)

The section listing all cited sources including authors, year, title, journal, volume, pages, and DOI.

Efficient Reading Strategy

Start with the abstract, final introduction paragraph, and first discussion paragraph before reading the full details.