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| A holistic approach that is conducted in a natural setting. It focuses on an entire phenomenon, subculture, or culture. The goal of this approach is to develop a complete description of the behavior of interest. |
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| Research methods that do not involve the manipulation of factors or variables by the researcher. The reseracher may collect data from archives and other previously recorded sources, case studies, and clinical observation. |
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| A mathematical approach that studies the strength of the relation between two factors or variables of interest. |
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| Surveys, Questionnaires, Tests, and Inventories |
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| An approach that researchers use to assess attitudes, thoughts, emotions, and feelings |
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| As the name indicates, the factors or variables of resarch interest are studies. "after the fact." (ex post facto) |
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| an attempt to determine the cause-and-effect relations that exist in nature. This approach involves the manipulation of an independent variable (IV), recording of changes in a dependent variable (DV), and control of extraneous variables. |
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| Componenets of the Research Process |
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Definition
| Problem, Literature Review, Theorectical Considerations, Hypothesis, Research Plan, Conducting the Project, Analysis of Research Findings, Decisions in Terms of Past Research and Theory, Preparation of the Research Report, Sharing your results: presentation and publication, Finding a new problem |
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| A formal statement of the realations among the variables in an given area of resarch |
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| An attempt to organize certain data and specific relations among variables within a specific portion of a larger, more comprehensive theory |
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| Research or experimental hypothesis |
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| The experimenter's predicted outcome of a research project |
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| The general plan for conducting research and gathering data |
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| identification of a gap in the knowledge base or an unanswered question in an area of interest |
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| Important characteristics of research idea |
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| Testable, Likelihood of success (the closer our prject comes to approximating reality, the greater the likelihood of success) |
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| Two general sources of research ideas |
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| Nonsystematic and systematic research ideas |
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| Sources for research ideas that present themselves in an unpredictable manner; a concerted attempt to locate researdchable ideas has not been made. |
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| Major nonsystematic sources of research ideas |
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| Inspiration, Serendipity, and Everyday occurrences |
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| Thoroughly examined, carefully thought-out sources for research topics |
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| Common examples of systematic sources for research ideas |
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| Past Research, Theory, and Classroom Lectures |
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| Steps in Conducting a search of the literature |
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Definition
| Selection of Index Terms (Thesaurus of psychological index terms), computerized search of the literature (PsychINFO), obtaining relevant publications, integrating the results of the literature search |
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| Evaluating Internet Research |
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| Authority, Accuracy, Objectivity, Currency, and Coverage |
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| Nuremberg Code stressed consideration of the following ethical aspects of research: |
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Definition
| Participants should consent to participate in research, participants should be fully informed of the nature of the research prject, risks should be avoided whenever possible, participants should be protected against risks to the greatest extent possible, projects should be conducted by scientifically qualified personnel, participants have the right to discontinue participation at any time |
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| Participants in an experiment that places them under some type of physical or emotional risk |
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| Participants at minimal risk |
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| Participants in an experiment that does not place them under physical or emotional risk |
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| The time at the conclusion of an experiment when its nature and purpose are explained to participants. |
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| Guidelines for effective debriefing |
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Definition
-Researchers integrity must be conveyed
-Researcher should reassure the participants if deception was used that it doesn't mean they're low in intelligence
-Process should be slow
-Return participants to original state
-Repeat guarantees of confidentiality and anonymity
-conduct immediately following experimental session |
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| Institutional Review Board (IRB) |
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Definition
| The university committee that is responsbile for determining whether a proposed research project conforms to accepted ethical standards. |
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| Descriptive Research Methods |
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| Research methods that do not inolve the manipulation of an independent variable |
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| Types of Descriptive Methods |
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| Archival and previously recorded sources of data or Naturalistic Observation |
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| Seeking answers to research questions by observing behavior in the real world |
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| Reactance or reactivity Effect |
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| The finding that participants respond differently when they know they are being observed |
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| another name for reactance or reactivity effect (named after Hawthorne plant where the workers were observed to observe light and productivity) |
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| making observations at different time periods in order to obtain a more representative sampling of the behavior of interest. |
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| observing the same behavior in different situations. allows the researcher to determine whether the behavior in question changes as a function of the context in which you observed it and allows you to determine whether the behavior in question changes as a function of the context in which you observed it |
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| Interobserver Reliability |
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| The extent to which observers agree (low interobserver reliability indicates that the observers disagree about the behaviors they observed; high interobserver reliability indicates agreement. |
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| involves the measurement and determination of the relation between two variables. a correlational study is likely to be more rigorous than one of the descriptive methods we've just considered |
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| seeks to determind the percentage of the population that has a certain characteristic, holds a particular opinion, or engages in a particular behavior |
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| seeks to determine the relevant variables, and how they are related |
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| Preliminary, exploratory testing that is done prior to the complete research project |
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| The extent to which a test or inventory measures what it is supposed to measure |
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| The extent to which test items actually represent the type of material they are supposed to represent |
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| Degree of agreement among judges concerning the content validity of test or inventory items |
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| Degree to which the score on a test or inventory corresponds with another measure of the designated trait |
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| Established by comparing the score on a test or inventory with a future score on another test or inventory |
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| Extent to which a test or inventory is consistent in its evaluation of the same individuals |
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| the test is simply given a second time and the scores from the two tests are compared; the greater the similarity, the higher the reliability |
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| determination of reliability by dividing the test or inventory into two subtests and then comparing the scores made on the two halves |
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| the complete set of individuals |
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| a group that is selected to represent the population |
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| a sample in which every member of the population has an equal liklihood of being included |
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| Stratified Random Sampling |
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| random samples are drawn from specific subpopulations or strata of the general population |
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| gathering data from a single stratum of the population of interest |
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| Comparison of two or more groups during the same, rather limited, time period |
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| Longitudinal research project |
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| obtaining research data from the same group of participants over an extended period of time |
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| a group of individuals born during the same time period |
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Definition
| an attempt to determine the cause-and-effect relations that exist in nature. Involves the manipulation of an independent variable (IV), recording of changes in a dependent variable (DV), and control of extraneous variables |
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Definition
| unless we have directly manipulated an IV, we cannot really learn anything about cause and effect in our research project |
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| Research or Experimental Hypothesis |
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| the experimenter's predicted outcome of a research project |
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| Statements that can be either true or false (ex: Abused children ahve lower self-esteem because there is a chance that it is true or false) |
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| Statements that are always true (ex: I am making an A or I am not making an A) |
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| Statements that are always false. (EX: I am making an A and I am not making an A) |
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| statement of the research hypothesis in an "if...then" form. Regardless of how the research hypothesis is stated, it must be restatable in general implication form. |
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| Principle of Falsifiability |
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| Results not in accord with the research hypothesis are taken as evidence that this hypothesis is false |
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| Reasoning that proceeds from specific cases to general conclusions or theories. involved in the construction of theories. |
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| Reasoning that proceeds from general theories to specific cases. the reasoning process we use in formulating our research hypothesis |
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| Directional Research Hypothesis |
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| when our research hypothesis specifies the outcome of the experiment |
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| Nondirectional Research Hypothesis |
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| a research hypothesis that does not predict the exact directional outcome of an experiment: it simply predicts that the groups we are testing will differ |
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| Defining the independent, dependent, and extraneous variables in terms of the operations needed to produce them. |
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| Physiological IV (physiological state of participant that is manipulated), Experience IV, Stimulus or environmental IV |
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| Unwanted variables that can cause the variability of scores within groups to increase |
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| Ways to control extraneous variables |
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| randomization, elimination, constancy, balancing, and countebalancing |
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| Accepting the experimental hypothesis when the null hypothesis is true |
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| Accepting the null hypothesis when the experimental hypothesis is true |
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| The general plan for selecting participants, assigning participants to experimental conditions, controlling extraneous variables, and gathering data |
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