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Definition
| a prediction drawn from a theory |
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| naturalistic observation. |
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Definition
| to go into the field, or natural environment, and record the behavior of interest |
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Definition
| the investigator sets up a laboratory situation that evokes the behavior of interest so that every participant has an equal opportunity to display the response. |
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| the observer records all instances of a particular behavior during a specified time period. |
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| In this procedure, the researcher records whether certain behaviors occur during a sample of short intervals. |
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| the effects of the observer on the behavior studied |
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| When observers are aware of the purposes of a study, they may see and record what they expect to see rather than what participants actually do |
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| researchers use a flexible, conversational style to probe for the participant’s point of view. |
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Definition
| each individual is asked the same set of questions in the same way. |
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Definition
| measure the relationship between nervous system processes and behavior. |
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Term
| clinical, or case study method |
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Definition
| brings together a wide range of information on one child, including interviews, observations, test scores, and sometimes neurobiological measures. |
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Definition
| Like the clinical method, ethnographic research is a descriptive, qualitative technique. But instead of aiming to understand a single individual, it is directed at understanding a culture or a distinct social group through participant observation. |
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| refers to the consistency, or repeatability, of measures of behavior |
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| Research methods must accurately measure characteristics that the researcher set out to measure. |
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| the degree to which their findings generalize to settings and participants outside the original study |
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Definition
| researchers gather information on individuals, generally in natu- ral life circumstances, and make no effort to alter their experiences. Then they look at relationships between participants’ characteristics and their behavior or development. |
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Definition
| a number that describes how two measures, or variables, are associated with each other. |
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| permits inferences about cause and effect because researchers use an evenhanded procedure to assign people to two or more treatment conditions. |
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Definition
| is the one the investigator expects to cause changes in another variable. |
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Definition
| is the one the investigator expects to be influenced by the independent variable. |
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Definition
| Two variables so closely associated that their effects on an outcome cannot be distinguished |
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Term
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Definition
| researchers capitalize on opportunities to randomly assign participants to treatment conditions in natural settings. |
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Term
| natural, o r quasi-, experiments |
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Definition
| Treatments that already exist, such as different family environments, child-care centers, or schools, are compared. These studies differ from correlational research only in that groups of participants are carefully chosen to ensure that their characteristics are as much alike as possible. |
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Term
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Definition
| participants are studied repeatedly at different ages, and changes are noted as they get older |
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Definition
| the failure to enlist participants who represent the population of interest. |
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Definition
| Participants may move away or drop out of a longitudinal experiment for other reasons, and those who continue are likely to differ in important ways from those who drop out. |
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Definition
| better test-taking skills and increased familiarity with the test—not because of factors commonly associated with development. |
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Definition
| Longitudinal studies examine the development of cohorts — children developing in the same time period who are influenced by particular cultural and historical conditions. Results based on one cohort may not apply to children developing at other times. |
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Definition
| groups of people differing in age are studied at the same point in time. |
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Term
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Definition
| several cross-sectional or longitudinal investigations (called sequences ) are created. The sequences might study participants over the same ages but in different years, or they might study participants over different ages but during the same years. |
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Definition
| an adaptation of the longitudinal approach, presents children with a novel task and follows their mastery over a series of closely spaced sessions. Within this “microcosm” of development, researchers observe how change occurs |
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Term
| risks-versus-benefits ratio |
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Definition
| involves weighing the costs to participants in terms of inconvenience and possible psychological or physical injury against the study’s value for advancing knowledge and improving conditions of life. |
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Term
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Definition
| If there are any risks to the safety and welfare of participants that the research does not justify, then preference is always given to the research participants. |
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Definition
| people’s right to have all aspects of a study explained to them that might affect their willingness to participate |
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Definition
| the researcher provides a full account and justification of the activities after an experiment where deception is involved with adult participants. |
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