Research methods EXAM 1

Measured variable

is observed and recorded

Manipulated variable

is changed in a controlled way

Define variable

something that changes has to have at least two levels versus constant something that will be the same

construct

name of the concept being studied

conceptual definition

a careful, theoretical definition of the construct

operational defintion

how the construct is measured or manipulated in an actual study

claim an argument about some variable(s) or relationship between variables

frequency claims

describes a particular level or degree of a single measured variable

usually have numbers or percentages

association claim

argues that one level of a variable is likely to be associated with a particular level of another variable

association claims are supported by studies that have at least….

positive, negative , zero

variables in research

at the core of all psychological research

must have at least 2 levels

in research we operationalize a variable to measure it.

Conceptual variable, construct (title of article)

the name of the concept being studied

ex:satisfaction with life

Conceptual definition (introduction section)

A careful, theoretical definition of the construct ex: a persons cognitive evaluation of his or her life

operational definition (methods section)

How the construct is measured or manipulated in an actual study

Ex; self report questionnaire on satisfaction with life scale

Self-report measure

Having people answer questions in a survey or interview

ex: 1-5 scales

Observational measure

Measuring observable behavior

Ex: watching

Physiological measure

Biological data

ex; urine test, measure hormones

If I asked you what your blood pressure is, that is a/an ___ measure

self report

because you asked

If I use a cuff to measure bp this is

physiological

a bio measurement

If I watch people littering at the part, that would be

observational

watching

If I asked you to guess how much you litter in a week, this would be

self-report

because you asked

Types of measurement:

a general category for what kind of variable we are using at a broad level ( self-report, physiological, observation)

scale

has more to do with the numbers or how we describe what we measure

Categorical variables

levels are categories

Ex: type of music or type of phone

Quantitative variables

Levels are coded with meaningful numbers

Ex: age and somebody’s height, body temp

What is reliability

reliablelity is all about consistency

How can we assess reliability?

Visually: using a scatterplot to quantify reliability

Analytically: using the correlation coefficient r to evaluate reliability

Interrater reliability

consistency across people doing observations

swayed by a good story

the tendency to accept ideas that feel natural

confirmation bias

tendency to seek out information that supports your beliefs

availability heuristic

the tendency to think the first thing that pops into your head is correct

bias blind spot

the tendency to ignore the fact that you are vulnerable to biases

meta- analysis

will include a quantitative summary of the results. these are used to determine an effect size (the magnitude of some outcome or relationship)

empirical article

reports the methods and results of a study for the first time

ex: this paper discusses one study on using mindfulness to help with tics for people with Tourette syndrome

review article

summarizes multiple published research studies on a particular topic within a certain time frame

ex: Ybarra 2005 was cited in this review from 2017 on all the studies the authors could find on social media and depression among children and adolescents

the empirical method

needs answer

Variable

something that varies: must have at least 2 levels

constant

something that will stay the same in the study

measured variable

is observed and recorded

ex: race/ethnicity, chronological age, gender identity

manipulated variable

is changed in a controlled way

causal claims

argues that one variables causes changes in the level of another variable, causal claims are supported by experiments (studies that have a manipulated variable and a measured variable)

manipulated: independent variable

measured: dependent variable

association claim verbs

Is linked to, Is at higher risk for, is associated with, is correlated with, prefers, is more or less likely to

Test-Retest reliabilty

-consistency of scores overtime

-gives a test jan 1st and test feb 2nd

-situations to use it: for thing we would expect to be stable.