ARM EXAM 1

PubMed

Biomedical Database

Content: peer-reviewed articles, books

Web of Science

Multidisciplinary databse

Content: peer-reviewed articles, conference proceedings, books

PsycINFO

Behavioural database

Content: peer-reviewed articles, conference proceedings, book chpaters

Scopus

(Biggest) multidisciplinary database

Content: peer-reviewed articles, conference proceedings, books, patents

PICO

Search matrix: Population, Interest, Context, Outcome

Mutually exclusive

Two events that cannot occur at the same time

collectively exhaustive

one of the events must occur

Information literacy

the ability to find, evaluate, organize, use, and communicate information (e.g. how to characterize literature as a scientific source)

Boolean operators

describe the relationship between terms (AND, OR, NOT)

Sensitivity

finding as many relevant studies as possible -\> some found studies might then be irrelevant

Specificity

filtering out as many irrelevant sources as possible -\> all found sources will be relevant, but some relevant sources might not be found

CRAAP

currency (timeliness), relevance, authority (source), accuracy, purpose --\> used to evaluate sources

Observational research

the subjects are observed in their natural setting in which the researcher does not interfere

Exploratory Research

research to collect provisional data, much is unknown, used to develop a theory, very flexible, qualitative, small samples-, often observational (e.g. interviews, focus groups, case studies, content analyses)

Descriptive research

often (some) previous data available, often quantitative, large samples, analysing prevalence differences, and relations, often observational (e.g. cross-sectional surveys or trend studies)

Cross-sectional survey

outcome and exposure is measured at one point in time

Trend study

measurements occur at multiple point in time in periodic intervals

Experiemental research

theories are tested, there is a high level of certainty (much data available), quantitative, experimental and control group, testing causality, structured (e.g. experiments, quasi-experimental studies, single-case design)

Experiment

used to investigate a causal relationship between variables, subjects are randomly assigned

Quasi-experimental study

Like an experiment, but subjects are assigned based on non-random criteria

single-case design

the subjects serve as their own control, rather than using a control group, this is done by measuring the DV before and after the IDV has been manipulated, useful for small samples

Triangulation

using multiple methods to answer the same RQ --\> increases validity

Mixed methods research

type of triangulation combining qualitative and quantitative research

Parsimony principle

choosing the simplest design needed to answer the RQ properly (not more, not less)

Research Question (RQ)

The central question (typically in exploratory research), it should include the population, topic, most important variables

Criteria for a good RQ

- Rooted in psychological literature
- Allows you to address your research aim and rationale
- Simple and understandable
- Clearly testable
- Answerable in the scope of your paper

Hypothesis

A statement predicting the outcome of the research that can be falsified

When are hypotheses used?

Hypotheses are typically used in quantitative research following the RQ

H0 (null hypothesis)

There is no difference

Non-directional hypothesis

a hypothesis simply predicting a relationship, but not what kind

Directional hypothesis

a hypothesis predicting the direction (e.g. positive or negative correlation)

Difference between RQ and hypothesis

a RQ is a question and a hypothesis a statement --\> both can include expectations, but these should not be the same

Rationale

the justification of the research (why you are doing it, what you are doing, and why it is important)

When is quantitative research appropriate?

when you want to find out the nature of a relationship, the difference between variables or groups, a cause and effect, or when you want to establish statistical evidence

Between group/independent measure design

experimental design where participants either complete the manipulated condition or the control condition (not both) and are compared afterwards

Within groups/repeated measures design

experimental design where participants complete both the manipulated and the control condition

Matched pairs design

experimental design where participants are put into pairs, with one of each pair completing one condition

Mixed measures design

design that uses both within subjects (repeated) and between subjects (independent) measures

Order effects

when participants' responses are affected by the order of conditions to which they were exposed --\> can occur in within groups/repeated measures designs

practice effect

the change in performance resulting from repeated testing (e.g. remembering test items) --\> can occur in within groups/repeated measures designs

counterbalancing

A method of controlling for order effects in a repeated measure design (either by including all possible orders of the conditions or by randomly determining the order for each subject)

Laboratory experiments

Research environment that allows for more control, manipulation of the ID, elimination of many confounding variables, replication of conditions, inclusion of a control group, and has high reliability

Field experiments

Experiments take place in a natural setting, have greater ecological and external validity, allow for observation in different natural environments, have better representativeness, have potential for larger scale research, and are cost effective

Correlational studies

Studies that determine whether a relationship exists, how strong it is, and in which direction it goes

→ common in social, health and clinical psychology

Cross-sectional studies

Studies where different groups at a single point in time are observed

→ common in developmental, health, and clinical psychology

Longitudinal studies

Studies where observations are made over a period of time

→ common in developmental psychology

Two main ways of justifying sample size

1) referring to previous research in the area

2) calculating sample size by running a power analysis

Sampling techniques

Methods used to recruit from a target population

Random sampling

equal chance for everyone from the target population

Pro: representative

Con: time-consuming

Stratified sampling

population is split into subcategories (strata) based on certain characteristics, then each strata is randomly sampled

Pro: representative of split in the population

Con: time-consuming

Systematic sampling

participants are selected in an orderly fashion (e.g. every 15th name off a list)

Pro: fairly representative

Con: difficult to employ

Opportunity sampling

participants are chosen based on their availability (e.g. asking people on the street)

Pro: efficient and economical

Con: unrepresentative and heavily biased

Purposive smapling

purposively targeting a specific type of participant

Con: biased and unrepresentative

Volunteer sampling

participants self-select or volunteer themselves to participate in a study (e.g. voluntary customer satisfaction survey)

Pro: convenient, most ethical form

Con: unrepresentative and biased

Snowball sampling

Existing study subjects recruit future study subjects (e.g. by asking friends) or looking at related documents

Pro: useful when researcher has limited access

Research data

any information collected, stored, and processed to produce and validate original research results

research data management (RDM)

the handling of research data during and after a research activity (data storage, documentation, sharing, processing etc.)

advantages of RDM

* prevents data loss
* prevents unauthorized access to sensitive information
* increases research transparency & prevents frauds

primary data

* data collected from the field by researcher
* collected for specific purpose of research
* collected for the first time
* current studies as well as for future studies

Secondary data

* gathered and recorded externally to the project
* collected for another, often general purpose
* re-used, usually in a different context
* less cost, time and effort

a meaningful file name includes

* content of the data
* date or date range (YYYYMMDD/YYMMDD)
* researcher name initials
* version number
* location
* spaces are replaced with - or _
* Avoid special characters

→ Example: 20221125_WB_surves_v1

preferred file formats for spreadsheets

.csv

.ods

preferred file formats for documents

.pdf

.odt

preferred file format for statistical data (SPSS)

.sps

Best places to store data

Cloud services with UT account and P-Drive

personal data according to the General Data Protection Regulation (DGPR)

all information about an identified or identifiable natural person, it entails information that directly identifies a person (e.g. name) and information that can identify a person indirectly

special personal data/special categories

sensitive data (e.g. race, religion, health)

protocols

form of data documentation that outlines the methods, tools, materials, and a step by step description to a procedure

code

used

required to replicate the analysis, should include information about what the code does and how to apply it

lab notebook

a scientific ‘diary’ where researcher document their thoughts, ideas, what was discussed during meetings, and notes

non-proprietary

file formats that are independent of the program that created the file

raw data

data that is not owned by anyone

pseudonymizing data

processing of personal data that the data no longer can be attributed to a specific subject without the use of additional information, done when data cannot be anonymized

the process of pseudonymizing data

the study subject gets a study-ID, the study-ID is linked to all identifiable data stored in the key file, another separate file contains the research data for the analysis

version control

keeping track of of which version the researcher is working with and what analysis was done with which version (e.g. by saving changes with a different file name, v1 → v1.1)

creative commons

an important set of licenses that determines what others are allowed to do with one’s data

sensitive by definition

other types of personal data that have a larger impact on privacy that ordinary personal data (e.g. financial information)

informed participation procedures

subject rights, research purpose, procedures, potential risks and benefits of participation, expected duration of the research, how you handle their (personal) data

BMS LAB

High tech environment for social sciences

eye-tracking

Describes the recording of eye position and movement in an environment based on the optical tracking or corneal reflections to assess visual attention

dark pupil effect

light hits the eye from a different angle than the camera (wearable and screen-based eye trackers)

Bright pupil effect

camera and light are in the same angle (screen-based eye tracker)

eye fixation in crime-relevant object recognition

when guilty, the person fixated more time on central crime detail

eye gazing in crime-relevant object recognition

when guilty, the person gazed more time ata missing parto of a central crime detail

extensiveness (VR)

range of senses for the user (visuals, audio, physical force)

Matching

congruence between senses, head motion and virtual representation of one’s own body

Surroundedness

range of panoramic view for stimuli (field of view, spatialized audio)

Vividness

quality of energy stimulation (resolution, lighting, frame rate, audio bitrate)

Interact ability

capability for the user to make changes to the world; the response of virtual entities to the user’s actions; the user’s ability to influence future events

Plot

the story; the consistent portrayal of a message or experience; the dynamic unfolding sequence of events; the behaviour of the world and it entities

Immersion

sense of being in another environment

Mental immersion

immersion e.g. through movies, games or books

physical immersion

immersion through synthetic stimuli of the bodies senses via use of technology

self-embodiment

the perception that the user has a body within the virtual world (motion is extremely important)

Cybersickness

visually induces motion sickness

Vection

illusion of self-motion (e.g. the feeling of moving backwards when a train passes by) that is created by the visual world moving

Electrodermal activity (EDA)

measures skin conductance to show physiological arousal

the cycle of scientific research

theory → hypotheses → collecting data → the organized data →

Ontology

nature of reality/theory of existence

→ ‘What is the nature of existence?’

Epistemology

How do we know the word?

Theory of knowledge, learning and the nature of truth

→ ‘What do you know and how do you know it?’