exam 1

five main nonscientific methods of knowing and acquiring knowledge

tenacity, intuition, authority, rationalism, empiricism

tenacity

from habit or supersition

intuition

from a hunch or feeling

authority

from an expert

rationalism

from reasoning ; a logical conclusion

empiricism

from direct sensory observation

difference between science and pseudoscience

pseudoscience lacks rational thinking, objectivity, tentativeness, systematic empiricism

what are the major steps of the scientific method

1. observe behavior

2. form a hypothesis

3. use hypothesis to generate a testable prediction

4. evaluate prediction, making systematic planned observations

5. use observations to support, refute, or refine original hypothesis

inductive reasoning

making conclusions from specific observations

• bottom-up

deductive reasoning

starts with general theories and moves towards specific testable hypothesis

• top-down

inductive reasoning example

it has rained every afternoon the past week

dark clouds start forming around 2pm every day

the temp drops slightly before the rain stops

CONCLUSION: :it will probably rain again this afternoon

deductive reasoning example

all drivers must stop at a red light

kale is driving and approaches a red traffic light

CONCLUSION: kale must stop

quantitative research

produces numerical scores

qualitative research

produces narrative report

strategies for finding a research topic

• own interest/curiosities?

• what’re people doing/talking about?

• some problems that can/should be solved?

  • practical problems = applied research

  • theoretical problems = basic research

advantages of primary source

providing first hand & original information, direct connection to the subject of research

disadvantage of primary source

potential biases, accessibility issues, incomplete or inaccurate

advantage of secondary source

provides broader perspective on a topic by adding multiple interpretations and perspectives

disadvantage of secondary source

outdated information

major sections of an empirical research article

• abstract

• introduction

• method

• results

• discussion

• references

major characteristics of a good hypothesis

• logical

• testable

• refutable/falsifiable

• statement of the existence, not absence, of something

validity

does it measure what it’s supposed to measure?

reliability

are the scores consistent?

major types of validity

internal validity, external validity, construct validity, and statistical conclusion validity

major types of reliability

internal and external

three major modalities of measurement

1. self-report measures

2. physiological measures

3. behavioral measures

ceiling effect

all scores are squeezed together

floor effect

all scores are clustered at the low end

artifacts in research

external factor that may influence measurements

major types of artifacts

• experimenter bias

• demand characteristics

• reactivity

experimenter bias

when experimenter’s expectations influence the measurements

demand characteristics

cues that alert participants to the purpose of the research

who/what are researchers responsible for in terms of ethical obligations

• responsibility to participants'/subjects

• responsibility to discipline & the public

major events/experiments that led to the development of our current ethical guidelines in research

• tuskegee study

• nuremberg code

• zimbardo’s prison study

• belmont report

three principles of the Belmont Report

• respect for persons

  • informed consent

• beneficence

  • ensure well-being of participants

• justice

  • fair selection of participants

what two other ethical principles did the APA add

• fidelity and responsibility

• integrity

what is an IRB & the purpose

a committee that reviews research involving human participants to ensure ethical standards and regulations are met

what is fraud in research

deliberate effort to falsify or misrepresent data

what is plagiarism in research

presenting someone else's ideas or words as your own

difference between population and sample

population is the entire set while a sample is a smaller set taken from the population

relationship between sample size and representativeness

larger samples are NOT always more representative than smaller samples

five probability sampling methods

1. simple random sampling

2. systematic sampling

3. stratified random sampling

4. proportionate stratified random sampling

5. cluster sampling

why do researchers usually need to settle for nonprobability sampling methods

probability sampling is not always possible

what is probability (random) sampling

exact size of population must be known and must be possible to list all the individuals

simple random sampling

participants are selected via a random pool of names

systematic sampling

every population members name put into pool ; select every nth name

stratified random sampling

select equal sized random samples from each pre-identified subgroup

proportionate stratified random sampling

subgroups are identified but then sampled so the proportions in the sample match proportions in population

cluster sampling

pre-existing “clusters” of individuals from a population of interest are identified

“clusters” are then randomly selected to be included in the sample

what are the two types of nonprobability sampling

convenience sampling

quota sample

convenience sampling

sample only those who are conveniently and readily available

quota sampling

stratified sampling for convenience samples

what are hypothetical constructs

variables that are not directly observable

what are operational definitions

specifies how a variable is to be measured or observed