2.4 Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering key research methods, experimental designs, and terminology from the lecture on descriptive research and case studies.

Descriptive research

Research studies that do not test specific relationships between variables; they are used to describe general or specific behaviors and attributes that are observed and measured.

Correlational research

A research method that formally tests whether a relationship exists between two or more variables, though it cannot determine cause-and-effect.

Experimental research

A research method that tests a hypothesis to determine cause-and-effect relationships by randomly assigning participants to different conditions.

Clinical or case study

An observational research study focusing on one or a few people to gather intensive, fine-grained knowledge and detailed background history.

Rat Man

The nickname of a patient in a Sigmund Freud case study who suffered from compulsions involving nightmarish fantasies about rats, claimed to be cured by psychoanalysis.

Single-case experimental design

A research design where the same research participant serves as the subject in both the experimental and control conditions.

A-B-A-B design

An experimental design in which a person is given treatment, or experimental condition (B), to compare against the baseline (A), and this repeats in order to determine effectiveness.

Antipsychotics

The treatment of choice in managing schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders.

Naturalistic observation

Observation of behavior in its natural setting while remaining as unobtrusive and inconspicuous as possible.

Ecological validity

The degree of realism achieved when individuals behave as they normally would in a given situation, enhancing the ability to generalize findings to real-world situations.

Participant observation

A distinct methodology that involves the researcher embedding themselves into a group in order to study its dynamics.

Observer bias

When observations may be skewed to align with observer expectations or research goals.

Inter-rater reliability

A measure of agreement among observers on how they record and classify a particular event.

Survey

A list of questions to be answered by research participants—given as paper-and-pencil questionnaires, administered electronically, or conducted verbally—allowing researchers to collect data from a large number of people.

Sample

A subset of individuals selected from the larger population.

Population

The overall group of individuals that the researchers are interested in.

Generalizability

Inferring that the results obtained for a sample apply to the larger population.

Jenkins et al. (2012) study

A study where 140 participants answered a 10-question survey regarding social interactions and attitudes toward Arab-Americans nearly a decade after September 11, 2001.