Research Methods and Social Science Concepts

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering research methodology, philosophy of science, cognitive biases, research ethics, measurement levels, and social theory from lecture materials.

Interpretivism

A research tradition that argues human social life is constituted by meaning, so understanding it requires interpretation rather than measurement.

Popper's Falsifiability Criterion

The requirement that a scientific claim be testable in such a way that some possible observation could show it to be false.

Dunning-Kruger Effect

A cognitive bias in which individuals with low skill overestimate their abilities, while highly experienced individuals underestimate theirs.

Empirical Implication

A specific, observable prediction derived from a theory that should be observed if the theory is true.

Spurious Relationship

An apparent association between two variables that is actually caused by an unobserved third confounding variable.

Counterfactual Reasoning

A causal analysis framework that asks what an outcome ($Y$) would have looked like if a cause ($X$) had not occurred, holding everything else constant.

Institutional Review Board (IRB)

An administrative body established to review research involving human subjects to ensure their rights and safety are protected.

Respect for Persons

A Belmont Report ethical principle requiring that participants' autonomy be acknowledged through voluntary informed consent and protection from deception.

Beneficence

A Belmont Report ethical principle requiring researchers to maximize potential benefits of research while minimizing harm to participants.

Justice (Belmont Principle)

A Belmont Report ethical principle requiring fair distribution of the burdens and benefits of research, prohibiting targeting disadvantaged populations for risky studies.

Flynn Effect

The long-term phenomenon of rising raw IQ scores across generations.

Convergent Validity

Validity evidence demonstrated when a new measurement correlates strongly with other independently constructed measures of the same construct that use different methods.

Praxis

Paulo Freire's concept, cited by bell hooks, defined as action and reflection aimed at changing the world.

Engaged Pedagogy

bell hooks' educational framework requiring teachers to attend to their own well-being and self-actualization while inviting students' active participation as a practice of freedom.

Telos

Aristotle's Greek word meaning "end" or "purpose."

Transportation (Narrative Psychology)

The psychological state of becoming so absorbed in a story that a person stops critically evaluating its claims and goes along for the ride.

Paradigm Shift

Thomas Kuhn's concept describing a major change in scientific framework, triggered by the accumulation of anomalies that the existing paradigm cannot accommodate.

Hindsight Bias

The cognitive bias of insisting after an event has occurred that one saw the result coming all along.

Confirmation Bias

The cognitive bias where an individual pays close attention to evidence supporting their existing belief while disregarding evidence that challenges it.

Theory-Ladenness of Observation

N. R. Hanson's argument that what a person visually or empirically observes depends directly on the theoretical commitments they bring to the observation.

Operationalization

The process of moving from an abstract conceptual definition of a variable to a concrete, specific measurement method.

Predictive Validity

A type of validity assessed by whether a measure accurately forecasts a relevant criterion measured in the future.

Halo Effect

A cognitive bias in which one positive trait (such as physical attractiveness) leads people to assume the presence of other positive traits (such as intelligence or honesty).

Availability Heuristic

A cognitive bias where people judge the frequency or likelihood of an event based on how easily examples come to mind.

Internal Validity

The extent to which a study's design supports the claim that the independent variable, rather than confounding factors, produced the observed change in the dependent variable.

Reliability

The degree to which a measurement instrument consistently produces the same result under the same conditions.

Content Validity

The degree to which a measurement instrument covers all relevant dimensions and aspects of the construct being measured.

Publication Bias

The systematic tendency for academic journals to publish statistically significant results over null results, leaving null findings unpublished in file drawers.

Indicator

An observable behavior or numeric measure used to represent an underlying abstract concept.

Pre-Registration

The practice of documenting research hypotheses and analysis plans prior to data collection to prevent research bias and mitigate the replication crisis.

Wertfreiheit (Value Freedom)

Max Weber's principle requiring social science researchers to keep empirical claims about "what is" separate from normative claims about "what ought to be."

Sunk Cost Fallacy

A cognitive bias where an individual continues to invest time or resources into an effort simply because they have already spent significant resources on it.

Framing Effect

A cognitive bias in which people's decisions change depending on whether options are presented in positive terms or negative terms.

Miasma Theory

The historical theory that disease was transmitted through noxious air, which was disproved by John Snow's findings during the Broad Street cholera outbreak.

Nuremberg Code

The first international code of research ethics to explicitly require voluntary informed consent from human participants.

General Factor ($g$)

Charles Spearman's proposed single underlying factor used to explain the positive manifold of cognitive test abilities.

Interval Level of Measurement

A level of measurement where categories are ordered with equal distances between scale points, but without a true or meaningful zero point.

Nominal Level of Measurement

A level of measurement that uses numeric codes purely as arbitrary labels for unranked, discrete categories.

Fundamental Attribution Error

The tendency to explain others' actions by attributing them to internal dispositional traits, while explaining one's own actions by attributing them to situational circumstances.

Empiricism

The philosophical position that knowledge and claims about reality must be grounded in systematic empirical observation rather than pure reason or authority.

Deductive Reasoning

A research logic sequence that proceeds from a general theory to a specific hypothesis, followed by empirical observation ($\text{Theory} \rightarrow \text{Hypothesis} \rightarrow \text{Observation}$).

Inductive Reasoning

A research logic sequence that proceeds from specific empirical observations to the formulation of a general theory.

Technology as Ideology

Neil Postman's assertion that every technology carries an implicit program for social change, altering a culture's cognitive habits and social relations.