Advanced Research Methods 1 - Research Ethics, Measurement, and Statistics

Flashcards testing concepts of research methodology, psychological measurement, research ethics guidelines, statistical distributions, and z-scores based on lecture notes.

What are the five methods of acquiring knowledge identified in the lecture notes?

1. Intuition (relying on guts/instincts)
2. Authority (accepting ideas from authority figures)
3. Rationalism (using logic and reasoning)
4. Empiricism (gaining knowledge through experience and observation)
5. Scientific Method (systematically collecting and evaluating evidence)

What are the three fundamental approaches that define science as a general approach to understanding the natural world?

1. Systematic empiricism
2. Empirical questions (questions about the way the world actually is)
3. Public knowledge (publishing results for collaboration and self-correction)

What three criteria define pseudoscience?

1. Supporters claim it is scientific.
2. It lacks one or more of the three scientific features (systematic empiricism, empirical questions, public knowledge).
3. It is not falsifiable.

What are the three core goals of science?

1. Describe (achieved by making careful observations)
2. Predict
3. Explain (the cause of behavior)

What is the belief bias effect?

A mental error where people judge an argument by how believable its conclusion is, rather than by how well the logic works.

What is Simpson's paradox?

A statistical phenomenon where a trend or relationship that appears in different groups of data disappears or reverses direction when those groups are combined.

Which empirically supported treatment is specifically identified for Alcohol Use Disorders?

Behavioral Couples Therapy.

What are the four general moral principles of research ethics?

1. Weighing risks against benefits
2. Acting responsibly and with integrity
3. Seeking justice
4. Respecting people's rights and dignity

What three main groups are affected by scientific research?

1. Research participants
2. Scientific community
3. Society

What was the Nuremberg Code, and when was it established?

Written in 1947 alongside the trials of Nazi physicians, it is a set of 10 principles emphasizing the weighing of risks against benefits and the requirement for informed consent.

What ethical requirement did the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki add to human subject research?

It mandated that research involving human participants must be based on a written protocol that is reviewed by an independent committee.

What are the requirements for an Institutional Review Board (IRB) composition and responsibility under the Belmont Report guidelines?

An IRB must consist of 5 people with different backgrounds. Its role is to ensure risks are minimized, benefits outweigh risks, research is carried out fairly, and informed consent procedures are adequate.

What are the three levels of risk classification in research ethics review?

1. Exempt research (exempt from continuous review once approved)
2. Expedited research (reviewed by 1 or more IRB members or a separate committee for minimal risk research)
3. Greater than minimal risk research (must be reviewed by the full board of IRB members)

Under APA Ethics Code Standard 8, when is deception ethically permissible in research?

Deception is allowed when:

1. The benefits of the study outweigh the risks.
2. Participants cannot be harmed.
3. The research question cannot be answered without deception.
4. Participants are informed about the deception as soon as possible.

What are the four levels of measurement for variables?

1. Nominal (categorical labels, no order value)
2. Ordinal (represents rank order of individuals)
3. Interval (numerical scales where intervals have equal interpretation, no true zero)
4. Ratio (numerical scale with a true zero point representing complete absence)

What are the three types of reliability used to evaluate psychological measures?

1. Test-retest reliability (consistency across time)
2. Internal consistency (consistency across items)
3. Interrater reliability (consistency across researchers)

How do criterion validity and discriminant validity differ?

Criterion validity is the extent to which scores correlate with other expected variables, whereas discriminant validity is the extent to which scores are NOT correlated with variables that are conceptually distinct.

What are the specific mean and standard deviation values of the standard normal distribution?

The standard normal distribution has a mean of $\mu = 0$ and a standard deviation of $\sigma = 1$.

According to the properties of a normal distribution, what percentage of scores fall within $\pm 1$, $\pm 2$, and $\pm 3$ standard deviations of the mean?

1. Within $\pm 1$ SD: 68%
2. Within $\pm 2$ SDs: Approximately 95%
3. Within $\pm 3$ SDs: 99.7%

What two pieces of information does a z-score convey about a raw score's location?

1. Direction: Positive z-scores indicate the score is above the mean, while negative z-scores indicate it is below the mean.
2. Distance: The number indicates how many standard deviations away from the mean the score lies.