Ethics
the principles of right and wrong that guide an individual in making decisions
utilitarian perspective
ethical decisions should be based on doing the greatest good for the greatest number of people
altruistic perspective
ethical decisions should be based on helping without personal benefit
Egoism perspective
Ethical decisions should be based on acting in accordance with one's own self-interest
benefit analysis
a way of thinking about a problem that compares the costs of an action to the benefits received
beneficence
Actively promoting the welfare of others; an ethical obligation to maximize benefits in research studies
Nonmaleficence
duty to do no harm
Confidentiality
the act of holding information in confidence, not to be released to unauthorized individuals
anonymity
a guarantee in research studies that individual responses cannot be linked back to individual participants
Physical harm
a researcher must consider the physical toll that study participation may have; a potential risk to participants
Psychological harm
a researcher must consider the psychological toll that study participation may have such as stress, negative emotions, or loss of self-esteem; a potential risk to participants
cost of not doing the research
considering the potential beneficial application of study findings when doing a cost-benefit analysis
Justice
fairness in selecting study participants and in determining which participants receive the benefits of participation and which bear the burden of risk.
Autonomy
freely making an informed decision about participation in research
Assent
an active affirmation of a desire to participate from a person who does not have the ability to consent themselves; consent must also be sought from the legal guardian.
Confederate
a person who is given a role to play in a study so that the social context can be manipulated
deception
misleading participants about the true purpose of a study or the events that will actually transpire
Institutional Review Board (IRB)
A committee at each institution where research is conducted to review every experiment for ethics and methodology.
Exempt Review (IRB)
a review of study proposals that pose no risk to subjects; the full IRB is not required to participate
Expedited Review (IRB)
a review of study proposals that pose minimal risk to subjects; one or two IRB members participate
Full Review (IRB)
A review of study proposals that pose more than minimal risk to subjects, that do not qualify for exempt status, and in which the full IRB committee participates.
The Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee
A committee at each institution where research is conducted to review every experiment involving animals for ethics and methodology.
scientific integrity
commitment to intellectual honesty and adherence to ethical principles in scientific research
file drawer problem
a bias in the scientific community to only publish findings that confirm a researcher's hypothesis
Plagiarism
the practice of taking someone else's work or ideas and passing them off as one's own.
Paraphrasing
rewriting or restating another person's ideas or thoughts into your own words
true experiment
an experiment in which the experimenter directly manipulates the IV, with participants in randomized groups
quasi-independent variable
in a non-experimental study, the "independent variable" that is used to create the different groups of scores
quasi-experimental design
Research method similar to an experimental design except that it makes use of naturally occurring groups rather than randomly assigning subjects to groups.
self-report
a series of answers to a questionnaire that asks people to indicate the extent to which sets of statements or adjectives accurately describe their own behavior or mental state
social desirability bias
A tendency to give socially approved answers to questions about oneself.
demand characteristics
cues in an experiment that tell the participant what behavior is expected
retrospective bias
Tendency for people to not remember certain aspects of their lives clearly or to misremember certain aspects
Behavioural measures
measures based on systematic observation of people's actions or animals' activities either in their normal environment or in a laboratory setting
Behavioural Observations
To produce a structured record of what the researcher hears or sees. The target behaviour is broken into behavioural categories that are observable and measurable. All target behaviour is included.
behavioural choice
a behavioural measure involving participants making a purposeful selection from several options
participant reactivity
participants act differently or unnaturally because they know someone is watching them
unobtrusive measures
ways of observing people so they do not know they are being studied
raw score
A test score that has not been transformed or converted in any way
true score
An individual's actual score on a variable being measured, as opposed to the score the individual obtained on the measure itself.
Error
extraneous influences that cause the raw score to deviate from the true score.
random error
an error that occurs when the selected sample is an imperfect representation of the overall population
systematic error
unidirectional error in measurement arising due to bias introduced by the investigator or the subjects under investigation
Standardization
defining uniform testing procedures and meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested group
Observer bias
systematic errors in observation that occur because of an observer's expectations
Sensitivity
the range of data a researcher can gather from a particular instrument.
Ceiling/floor effect
Measurement problem whereby the researcher cannot measure the effects of an independent variable or a possible interaction effect because performance has reached a maximum (minimum) in any condition of the experiment.
Reliability
the extent to which a test yields consistent results, as assessed by the consistency of scores on two halves of the test, on alternate forms of the test, or on retesting
Validity
the extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is supposed to
Population
the entire group of individuals or instances about whom we hope to learn
Sample
A relatively small proportion of people who are chosen in a survey so as to be representative of the whole.
Sampling Plan
The course of action for gathering marketing information from a section or portion of a target market
representative sample
a sample that accurately reflects the characteristics of the population as a whole
probability sampling
A type of sampling in which every element in the population being studied has a known chance of being selected for study
simple random sampling
every member of the population has an equal probability of being selected for the sample
stratified random sampling
A form of probability sampling; a random sampling technique in which the researcher identifies particular demographic categories of interest and then randomly selects individuals within each category.
cluster random sampling
dividing the total population into groups (or clusters), then using simple random sampling to select which clusters participate; all observations in a selected cluster are included in the sample
nonprobability sampling
a sampling technique in which there is no way to calculate the likelihood that a specific element of the population being studied will be chosen
convinience sampling
create a sample by using data from population members that are readily available
quota sampling
An interviewer or researcher selects a sample that reflects the characteristics of the whole population
purposive sampling
selecting sample members to study because they possess attributes important to understanding the research topic
Snowball sampling
recruitment of participants based on word of mouth or referrals from other participants
Nonresponse bias
bias introduced to a sample when a large fraction of those sampled fails to respond
volunteer subject problem
The subjects that volunteer for our studies might be unrepresentative of our population
college sophomore problem
an external validity problem that results from using mainly college sophomores as subjects in research studies
behavioral trace
a behavioral measure that relies on evidence left behind by a participant who is no longer present
Qualitative Research
research that relies on what is seen in field or naturalistic settings more than on statistical data
Quantitative Research
research that collects and reports data primarily in numerical form
mixed methods research
uses both quantitative and qualitative techniques, in an effort to build convincing claims about the relationships between attributes and outcomes
Triangulation
the use of multiple research methods as a way of producing more reliable empirical data than are available from any single method
bottom-up approach
the researcher develops a theory by exploring a topic using information provided from participants' direct experiences.
top-down approach
the researcher tests preconceptions and previously established theories with the collected data.
Situated Analysis
an approach where the researcher examines a topic while it is embedded within its naturally occurring context
holistic analysis
an approach where the researcher examines how numerous properties contribute to patterns within the larger and more complex system
phenomenological approach
assumes that one has to appreciate individuals' personal, subjective experiences to truly understand their behavior
action research
A research design that explicitly involves participants in the research and tries to change some aspect of the research's focus
Case study
an observation technique in which one person is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles
content analysis
applying a systematic approach to record and value information gleaned from secondary data as it relates to the study at hand
conversation analysis
the study of how participants in social interaction recognize and produce coherent conversation
Ethnography
the method by which researchers attempt to understand a group or culture by observing it from the inside, without imposing any preconceived notions they might have
Focus group
A small group of individuals who are led in discussion by a professional consultant in order to gather opinions on and responses to candidates and issues.
Grounded theory technique
A research method where the researcher has no preconceived theory about how the data are connected. A theory is built from the data.
interview
A face-to-face or telephone questioning of a respondent to obtain desired information.
Narrative analysis
a form of qualitative analysis in which the analyst focuses on how respondents impose order on the flow of experience in their lives and so make sense of events and actions in which they have participated
Postmodern approach
a perspective that explicitly questions basic assumptions about the nature and capabilities of research ( is it possible to truly understand a person's experience)
visual ethnography
a type of ethnography that combines observations and interactions with visual media such as photographs or videos
Archival research
Researchers can examine data that has already been collected for other purposes.
collective case study
study of multiple cases for the purpose of comparison
Descriptive case study
a study that aims to chronicle or describe some aspect of reality; involves questions of who, what, where and when
explanatory case study
To describe and find possible explanations for the phenomenon under investigation
exploratory case study
A case study that seeks to outline the potential outcomes of an intervention
Instrumental case study
case study in which the researcher studies a case in order to understand something more general than the particular case
intrinsic case study
a case is examined in depth due to some inherent interest in learning about that particular case
structured interview
a research procedure in which all participants are asked to answer the same questions
unstructured interview
no fixed set of questions and no systematic scoring procedure involves asking probing questions to find out what the applicant is like
semistructured interview
An interview in which the interviewer determines the major questions beforehand, but allows sufficient flexibility to probe into other areas as needed to evaluate an applicant's personality.
Critical incident technique
an interview technique where the researcher purposefully has the interviewee focus on a key event or specific behavior.
Unit of analysis
major entity under investigation or type of data (e.g., individual or group, etc.) that is the focus of the study.
Interviewer bias
A response bias that occurs because the presence of the interviewer influences respondents' answers.
Interview Schedule/Agenda
a type of protocol that includes the questions to ask and anticipated order in which the interviewer should ask them