Resrch Meth in Behav Science Ch. 4, 5, 6

Observational Methods

Making observations of human or animal behavior

Naturalistic Observation

Watching people or animals in their natural habitats

Ecological Validity

The extent to which research can be generalized to real-life situations

Undisguised Observation

Studies in which the subjects are aware that the researcher is observing their behavior

Nonparticipant Observation

Studies in which the researcher does not participate in the situation in which the research subjects are involved

Participant Observation

Studies in which the researcher actively participates in the situation in which the research subjects are involved

Disguised Observation

Studies in which the subjects are unaware that the researcher is observing their behavior

Expectancy Effects

The influence of the researcher’s expectations on the outcome of the study

Laboratory Observation or Systematic Observation

Observing behavior in a contrived or laboratory setting

Narrative Records

Full narrative descriptions of a subject’s behavior

Checklist

A tally sheet on which the researcher records attributes of the subjects and whether particular behaviors were observed

Static Item

A type of item used on a checklist on which attributes that will not change are recorded

Action item

A type of item used on a checklist to note the presence or absence of behaviors

Archival Method

A descriptive research method that involves describing data that existed before the time of the study

Focus group interview

A method that involves interviewing 6 to 10 individuals at the same time

Field Studies

A method that involves observing everyday activities as they happen in a natural setting

Action research

A method in which research is conducted by a group of people to identify a problem, attempt to resolve it, and then assess how successful their efforts were

Rating Scale

A numerical scale on which survey respondents indicate the direction and strength of their response

Likert rating scale

A type of numerical rating scale developed by Renis Likert

Double-barreled question

A question that askes more than one thing

Response bias

The tendency to consistently give the same answer to almost all of the items on a survey

Sampling bias

A tendency for one group to be overrepresented

in a sample

Interviewer bias

The tendency for the person asking the questions to bias the participants’ answers

Personal Interview

A survey in which the questions are asked face-to-face

Representative sample

A sample that is like the population

Probability sampling

A sampling technique in which each member of the population has a known probability of being selected to be part of the sample

Random selection

A method of generating a random sample in which each member of the population is equally likely to be chosen as part of the sample

Stratified random sample

A sampling technique designed to ensure that subgroups or strata are fairly represented

Cluster sampling

A sampling technique in which clusters of participants that represent the population are used

Nonprobability sampling

A sampling technique in which the individual members of the population do not have an equal or known likelihood of being selected to be a member of the sample

Convenience sampling

A sampling technique in which participants are obtained wherever they can be found and wherever is convenient for the researcher

Quota sampling

A sampling technique that involves ensuring that the sample is like the population on certain characteristics but uses convivence sampling to obtain the participants

Frequency distribution

A table in which all of the scores are listed along with the frequency with which each occurs

Class interval frequency distribution

A table in which the scores are grouped into intervals and listed along with the frequency of scores in each interval

Qualitative variable

A categorical variable for which each value represents a discrete category

Bar graph

A graphical representation of a frequency distribution in which vertical bars are centered above each category along the x-axis and are separated from each other by a space indicating that the levels of the variable represent distinct, unrelated categories

Quantitative variable

A variable for which the scores represent a change in quantity

Historgram

A graphical representation of a frequency distribution in which vertical bars are centered above scores on the x-axis touch each other to indicated that the scores on the variable represent related increasing values

Frequency polygon

A line graph of the frequencies of individual scores

Descriptive statistics

Numerical measures that describe a distribution by providing information on the central tendency of the distribution and the shape of the distribution

Measure of central tendency

A number that characterizes the ‘middleness’ of an entire distribution

Measure of variation

A number that indicates the degree to which scores are either clustered or spread out in a distribution

Standard deviation

A measure of variation; the average difference between the scores in the distribution and the mean or central point of the distribution, or more, precisely, the square root of the average squared deviation from the mean

Average deviation

An alternative measure of variation that, like the standard deviation, indicates the average difference between the scores in a distribution and the mean of the distribution

Varience

The standard deviation squared

Kurtosis

How flat or peaked a normal distribution is

Leptokurtic

Normal curves that are tall and thin; with only a few scores in the middle of the distribution having a high frequency

Platykurtic

Normal curves that are short and more dispersed

Z-score

A number that indicates how many standard deviation units a raw score is from the mean of a distribution

Percentile rank

A score that indicates the percentage of people who scored at or below a given raw score

Magnitude

An indication of the strength of the relationship between two variables

Scatterplot

A figure that graphically represents the relationship between two variables

Causality

The assumption that a correlation indicates a causal relationship between two variables

Directionality

The inference made with respect to the direction of a causal relationship between two variables

Third-variable problem

The problem of a correlation between two variables being dependent on another variable

Restrictive range

A variable that is truncated and has limited variability

Pearson’s R

The most commonly used correlation coefficient when both variables are measured on an interval or ratio scale.

Coefficient of determination

A measure of the proportion of the variance in one variable that is accounted for by another variable; calculated by squaring the correlation coefficient.

Spearman’s rank-order correlation coefficient.

The correlation coefficient used when one (or more) of the variables is measured on an ordinal (ranking) scale

Point-biserial correlation coefficient

The correlation coefficient used when one of the variables is measured on a dichotomous nominal scale and the other is measured on an interval or ratio scale

Phi coefficient

The correlation coefficient used when both measured variables are dichotomous and nominal

Regression analysis

A procedure that allows us to predict an individual’s score on one variable based on knowing one or more other variables

Regression line

The best-fitting straight line drawn through the center of a scatterplot that indicates the relationship between the variables

Discontinuous data

A method of recording only a sample of behavior during specific time intervals

Total area under the curve 1 SD away from the mean

0.6827

Total area under the curve 2 SD away from the mean

0.9545

Total area under the curve 3 SD away from the mean

0.9973

Total area under the curve 4 SD away from the mean

0.9999

Which measure of central tendency probably should not be used if the distribution is skewed

The mean, since it is sensitive to outliers. Median is best

Unbiased estimator

A modified formula to estimate the population standard deviation based on sample data

Z-score formula

(raw score minus sample mean) divided by standard deviation

Standard deviation formula

square root of ((sum of (each individual value minus the population mean) squared), divided by the total number of values)

Average deviation formula

(Sum of the (absolute value (of each individual value minus the population mean))) divided by the total number of values

Cohen’s R interpretation guidelines

weak effect: 0.10-0.29. moderate effect: 0.30 to 0.49, strong effect: 0.50 or greater

General R interpretation guidelines

weak effect: 0.10 to 0.29. moderate effect: 0.30 to 0.69, strong effect: 0.70 or greater

Curvilinear relation

Variables increase together up to a point and then, as one continues to increase, the other decreases, effects the correlation coefficient, must be seen in a graph

Partial correlation technique

Way to support causal inferences by measuring three variables and then statistically controlling for their individual correlations with a 3^rd variable.

Logical argument approach

Way to support causal inferences by lending support to directionality questions through logic

Temporal relation between variables

Way to support causal inferences by establishing whether a change in variable A happens before, after, or at the same time as a change in variable B

Cross-lagged panel design

Compares the association between two variables at two different points in time in cross bars, addresses directionality issues

How to calculate percentile rank

the percentage of scores the individual’s score is higher than, find all of the area between the mean and z as well as the area beyond z added together and then multiply by 100

Mesokurtic

A distribution that matches the normal distribution in its tail behavior