Red Key Sheet

Curiosity

thinking attentively with a desire to understand the reasoning behind things

Skepticism

Questioning claims and needing evidence to prove true

Humility

Being open to new ideas and examining assumptions

Research Question

A question or idea researchers want to find an answer to

Hypothesis

To take a theory and make it into a testable prediction that can be proved true or false

Operational Defintions

Clear, detailed statement that explains a study so others can replicate the experiment exactly with different participants in different situations to see if the same basic findings are produced.

Variables of Interest

Things that could be influential in a study (ex= if a student ate breakfast or not the morning of their MCAS test)

Control Group

People who don’t receive treatment

Experimental Group

People who receive treatment

Random Selection

Intentionally removing a layer of bias by not doing a convenient sample, by chance and everyone has an equal opportunity (ex= every person in school is emailed to fill out survey or put in a random selector not just my friends)

Random Assignment

Randomizing who is in what group by pure chance

Independent Variable

The thing that is changed, manipulated or controlled by the researcher

Dependent Variable

Effect or outcome you measure

Variable A

Input, amount of books read to children in childhood

Variable B

Output, literacy level in Kindergarten

Target Population

One individual or small group, type of individuals a researcher is interested in researching

Naturalistic Observation

People and animals watched in their everyday environments, Mrs. Erikson watching us relax and socialize in class

Directed Observation

Mrs. Erikson watching us do the do now which she assigned

Participant observation

Researcher becomes part of group, Mrs. Erikson does the do now with us

Meta/Factor Analysis

Combining multiple studies to make one conclusion

Correlation Study

A non experimental method that measures two or more variables and sees if and how they are related, without manipulating any factors (ex= surveying participants on stress, not making them be stressed just seeing if they already are and then if this correlates with sickness)

Case Study

An in depth and detailed examination of a single person or small group within their real life context

Experiment

a controlled research method where an investigator manipulates one or more independent variables to determine their affect on a independent varriable