Research Methods Test 1

Empiricism

knowledge gained through observation

Scientific knowledge

Depends on using rational thought and logic to develop studies that use empirical evidence gathered through data and obsevation

Theory

An organized system of assumptions and principles that attempt to explain certain phenomena and how they’re related

They are conscious, open to reflection, based on evidence, and involves testable explanations

How do scientific theories differ from intuitive theories?

Hypothesis

a prediction regarding the outcome of a study involving the relationship between at least two variables

Variable

an event or behavior that has at least two variables, which are present or absent, different conditions, or numbers

No, there can be predictions about causal relationships between the independent and dependent variables, but there can also be a prediction about the strength of the relationship between two dependent variables

Do all hypotheses involve predictions about causal relationships?

Independent variable

variable in study that is manipulated by researcher

Dependent variable

variable in study that is measured by researcher

Lam et al mindfulness study

Study that measured stress levels and mindfulness levels (dependent) in mental health care professions when they did meditation once a day for a week (independent)

Representative heuristic

When people take cognitive shortcuts to judge the likelihood of an event based on how similar it is to a prototype in their mind. For example, assuming a coin toss serious of HHHHH is less likely than HTTHTH even though they have equal probability due to perceived “representative balance”

Availability heuristic

a cognitive bias where an individual relies on immediate and easily accessible examples or information to make judgements/decisions. For example, a plane crash that made global news leads to short-term drop in air travel

Intuition

knowledge gained without being consciously aware of the source; gut feelings.  (representative and availability heuristic)

Superstition

acting as if or believing that supernatural forces play role in linking events

Tenacity

Hearing a piece of information so often you believe it’s true

Authority

People accept something as true because it was said by an authority figure

Platt and Bakers definition of a hunch

Can form initial research questions and lead to researchers tweaking data or looking at other data

Superstitious ritual example

Scientists not releasing their research papers on Friday the 13

Fazio et al (repetition and truth values)

Found that repetition leads people to give higher truth values to false statements, even when statement was something they previously knew was false

Misleading idea of scientific theory

Children are taught a linear, experimental model of scientific theory, but there are twists and dead ends. They are also not restricted to experimental method and science involves continuous thinking and reflection

5 fluid problem

Formal operational children (11+) solve this problem when students have to figure out how to make the liquid change color

Goals for Students Learning Science

Teaches children to formulate questions, plan investigations, develop models, analyze data, construct explanations, and engage in argument from evidence

Trinkaus study of driver behavior

Naturalistically observed drivers behaviors at one intersection over 20 years.

Naturalistic observation

takes place in real world. Places participants are most likely to spend their time

Controlled observation

aspects of a situation are controlled to give participants the same experience. Usually done in lab

Covert observation

participants aren’t aware they’re being observed and can’t see someone taking notes

Overt observation

participants can see researcher and are aware they’re being observed

Reactivity

a possible reaction by participants in which they act unnaturally because they know they are being observed. Problem in overt observations

Nonparticipant observation

researcher is separate from participants and records observations without taking part in the activities

Participant observation

researcher joins/is part of group being observed and takes part in activities

Ethnography

the descriptive study of cultures or societies based on direct observation in the field ideally with some degree of participation

Choices researches make when planning their study

Define and refine their research question (whose behavior to code, what behaviors are of interest). They need to define the beginning and end period of observation and decide if period is segmented into parts

Time sampling

indirect observation, data collection strategy involving noting and recording the occurrence of a target behavior whenever it’s seen during a started time interval. Includes momentary and whole interval time sampling

Momentary time sampling

assesses whether behavior is happening at one specific moment. Works well for behaviors that don’t have a specified start/end time and monitoring can be easily integrated into ongoing activities (ex. Talking during circle time)

Whole interval time sampling

Involves observing whether target behaviors occurred at any time during the pre-determined interval. Works well for extended behaviors, but requires researcher to monitor child closely during entire interval (ex; over 5 minutes, did child share? Yes or no.)

Operational definiton

Specifies how a concept or variable is measured and observed within a particular study. Ex. Off-task behaviors are defined specially as engagement in any tasks other than assigned task or ongoing activities for more that 45 seconds

Pain measure (behavioral)

uses the FLACC Score, which measures perceived pain in children based on behavioral factors like facial expressions, kicking, crying

Pain measure (physiological)

measures heart rate and respiratory rate, blood pressure, and oxygen saturation (decreases when child’s in pain)

Pain measure (self-report)

uses the face pain rating scale from 0-10 (no hurt to hurts worst)

Self-report bias

relies on self-awareness and honesty. People may not give fully correct answers because they do not know or seek to make a good impression

Response sets

the tendency to which an individual’s responses reflect a general predisposition rather than a careful analysis of each item. Includes social desirability bias, acquiescence bias, and deviance bias

Social desirability bias

tendency to present oneself in favorable light

Acquiescence bias

the tendency to agree with items irrespective of their content (yeah sure)

Deviance bias

the tendency to respond in ways that are different from typical or normal responses

Interrater reliability

consistency of ratings across multiple raters. Independent rating by multiple judges that show consistent ratings

Intrarater reliability

how consistent the individual is at measuring a constant phenomenon on different occasions. Same observer should give same rating to identical event another time

Grounded theory

involves gathering raw data, probing it, gathering more data, probing it, analyzing, and continuing data collection until you construct a theory that explains what’s going on in the data

Abduction

involves a form of reasoning where you find the best most plausible explanations for a set of observations. Involved in grounded theory

Grounded theory and cyclical nature

Able to go back and repeat data collecting process, analysis, open codes, connections, etc. Ex. finding more participants to interview and prove for more depth after looking at data from other participants

Theoretical sampling

data collection in grounded theory

Theoretical saturation

occurs when you reach a point in data collection where additional data does not teach you more about the topic or changes the theory, so data collection ends

Charmaz and super normalizing

studied heart attack survivors and found numerous instances of people going great lengths to engage in exercise and probe they don’t have a problem

Super normalizing

excessive and strenuous effort to exceed previous standards of “normal” behavior. Creates façade of health and invincibility to mask underlying vulnerability

Open coding

breaks up transcript into excerpts that are labeled with codes

Axial coding

finds connections between codes, grouping codes together

Selective coding

Finding central theme statement of coding

Lois concept of temporal emotion work

Grounded theory study that collected evidence through quotes from mothers who homeschooled children. She coded them and categorized them, and came up with a grounded theory that mothers who homeschool their children resolve negative feelings through temporal emotion work

Good interview characteristics

Good interviewers are knowledgeable, explains the purpose of the interview, asks clear simple questions, allows the speaker time and is sensitive toward them. They use questions to guide the interview to the desired topic and ask for clarification

Nominal scale of measurement

characteristics or groups with no rank order. Can be naming something with a number too, like marital status, college major, car preference, gender, or number on football jersey. Unique identifiers to label each distinct category.

Ordinal scale of measurement

characteristics that have a natural rank order like income levels, level of agreement, paper grades

Interval scale of measurement

naturally measured in numbers, equal distances between points, and no true absolute zero. Ex. Temperature, year, SAT score

Ratio scale of measurement

naturally measured in numbers, equal distances between points, absolute zero exists. Ex. Response time, percent errors, height, weight

internally differentiate the feeling state being measures and be able to translate these differences into the measures on the scale

A psychologist who is asks kindergartners to indicate how anxious they are feeling on a Likert scale is assuming that they ______________

Mellon and Moore (5 point scale)

Study finding that all three age groups 6-13 were equally adept at using these 5-point scales for physical tasks, like comparing bowls of candy or liquids BUT there were age differences in how the children used the Likert scale when rating abstract judgments. Older children chose the midpoint of the scales often, and younger children chose extremes

Cross sectional survey

collection of data at single point in time from sample drawn from a specific population. Used to assess number of people who hold particular attitudes or beliefs and is used to explore differences between subgroups

Repeated cross-sectional survey

Data collected from different samples drawn from the same population at two or more points in time. Can reveal important social events/changes that occurred between assessments that could change responses (ex. COVID-19)

Longitudinal panel survey

collects data from the same people two or more points in time.

Longitudinal cohort study

group of individuals who are selected for the study because they share a particular characteristic or characteristics

Cross-sectional vs longitudinal studies

Cross-sectional collects data at a single point in time from different age groups. Examines changes between participants of different ages. Longitudinal collects data from same cohort at different points in time. Examines changes within individuals over time

Double barreled questions

Questions that asks about more than one topic

Leading questions

Questions that are phrased to push the respondent to answer a certain way (Did you like the event?)

Loaded questions

Questions that includes non-neutral or emotionally heavy terms

No opinion or don’t know options

Option on survey that doesn’t force the people who truly don’t know to pick an answer they do not fully agree with. It can be problematic if they have an opinion but are reluctant to express it though

Close-ended questions

Requires respondent to choose from predetermined answers

Partially closed ended question

closed ended question with open ended “other” option. Prompts more than yes/no answer

Deductive coding

researcher has predefined set of codes and uses these codes to classify responses

Inductive coding

codes the researcher uses arise from the survey responses

Mixed Methods Research (MMR)

a research type where a researcher combines qualitative and quantitative research approaches

Beck et al. and mixed methods research (MMR)

study that used the qualitative measure of having nurses describe their experience and the quantitative measure of having them indicate a number on the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory to a variety of questions

Population

all the people whom a study is meant to generalize

Sample

the group of people who participate in the study

Stratified random sampling

Respondents are randomly selected from a larger group

Stratified random sampling

Respondents are split into homogeneous groups, strata, and participants are randomly drawn from each subgroup. This is used to represent all subgroups in the sample

Cluster sampling

used when you start with groups/clusters that already divide the population and randomly select clusters and test everyone in the cluster. For example, at a concert sampling everyone from Section 101 and everyone from Section 210

Nonprobability sampling

Sampling that does not use random selection. It relies on convenience, criteria, or judgement

Convenience sampling

Sampling where participants are obtained wherever they can be found, typically whenever convenient for researcher

Quota sampling

A type of nonprobability sampling where researchers recruit available participants in a convenience sample to fill the quota for each subgroup and continue sampling until that quota is meant

Purposive sampling

Intentionally selecting participants based on their characteristics or some other criteria

Snowball sampling

When researchers initially recruit subjects for the study but then those subjects recruit subjects and so on

Sampling bias

A tendency for one group to be overrepresented in a sample

Nonresponse bias

Occurs when people with certain characteristics are less likely to do the survey

Attrition bias

Participants drop out of study over time, creating a final sample that is different from the original sample

Survivorship bias

People who are successful are more likely to complete the study, making the final sample no longer representative of the population