Research methods test 1 Flashcards

• Experiences has no comparison group
• experience is confounded
• research is probalistic

Something that would potentially vary but has one level in the study in question

ex. Male, happy place, college students

• Name of concept being studied
• stated at an abstract/conversational level

• Careful, theoretical definition of the construct
• similar to a tile page
• ex. “A persons cognitive evaluation of their life”

• How the construct is measured or manipulated in a study
• ex. Hunger: measure blood levels before and after eating

Turn it into a measured or manipulated variable

An argument someone is trying to make

• We should trust the authorities on a subject based on the source of the ideas they are proposing. This can also be if their research could be based on their research.
• We should not trust authorities if they base their research on their experience and intuition. And if they do not have valid research supporting what they are proposing.

• important for psychology class (know how to become a producer of research)

• when reading printed or online news stories based on research
• evaluate real or fake research articles
• critical to future career
• need to know how to interpret research data with a critical eye
• need to know the research behind evidence-based treatments

• you can be swayed by a good story
• persuaded by what easily comes to mind --> availability heuristic: states that things that pop up easily in our mind, tend to guide our thinking
• you fail to think about what you cannot see
• focusing on the evidence we like best --> confirmation bias: looking at the information we want to believe
• biased about being biased --> Individuals have “bias-blindspot”; the belief that we are unlikely to fall prey to other biases

• is how the construct/concept of interest can turn it into measured or manipulated as a variable in a study
• example: The variable is hunger so you would have to measure the blood levels of individuals before and after they eat. On a scale of 1-5 rate how happy you are today

• is information that is gathered (observed) and recorded
• variable in a study whose levels (values) are observed or recorded
• similar to dependent variable

• is controlled by the researcher and assigned at different levels
• This can be assigning participants to different levels and values
• similar to independent variable

• something that varies and has 2 levels (values)
• e.g. gender, age, happiness

• frequency claims
• association claims
• causeual claim

• describes a particular level or degree of a single variable
• example: 75% of the world smiled today

• argues that one variable is likely to be associated with a particular level of another variable, variables that are associated are said to correlate or convey (when one variable changes, the other variable tends to change too)
• example: A late dinner is not linked to childhood obesity, Students who do retrieval study will do better on exams, countries with more butter have happier citizens
• positive, negative and zero correlation

• argues that one variable causes a change in another variable, arguing that a specific change in one variable is responsible for influencing the value of another variable

example: Pretending to be Batman helps kids stay on task

1. Construct Validity
2. External Validity
3. Statistical validity
4. Internal Validity

• How well the variables in the study are measured or manipulated? To the extent which operational variables in a study are a good approximation of conceptual variables
• how good a study is extensionally is

• the extent to which results of a study are generalized to some larger population & other times or situations
• how it relates to the real world rather in a controlled environment such as a lab

• How well the numbers support the claim, can the study be replicated, or is it due to change, the extend in which statistical conclusions derived from a study are accurate and reasonable
• how the statistics support the study and how it relates to the claim

• is there another variable that could account for the results, is a study’s ability to rule out alternative explanations for a causal relationship between 2 variables
• seeing if an outside variable has an effect on the overall study and taking it into account

1. covariance
2. temporal precedence
3. internal validity

• study shows that as A changes, B changes
• the degree to which 2 variables go together
• e.g. high levels of A go with high levels of B
• e.g. Halloween (↑) causes candy (↑)

• study’s method ensures that A comes first in time before B
• causal variable comes first before the effect variable (time)(precedence)
• proposed causal variable comes first in time before the proposed outcome variable
• e.g. Halloween (1st) causes candy (2nd)

• study’s method ensures that there are no plausible alternative explanations for the change in B; A is the only thing that changed
• ability to rule out an alternative explanation for the variable
• e.g. Fre❌ddies cause candy

• conceptual definition: a researcher’s definition of a variable at the theoretical level, which can be called construct
• operational definition: how the construct/concept of interest can turn it into measured or manipulated as a variable in a study
• operationalization is important because it is the process of turning a construct of interest into a measured or manipulated variable

• self-report: operationalize a variable by recording people’s answers to questions about themselves in a questionnaire or interview
• Self-reports for children can be done on parents or teacher reports
• e.g. Diener’s five-item scale or ladder of life
• observational measures: (behavior measure) a measuring a variable by operationalizes observable behaviors or physical traces of behaviors
• e.g operationalize happiness by observing how many times a person smiled
• physiological measures: operationalize a variable by recording biological data; may require the use of equipment to measure data
• e.g. can be brain activity, hormones levels, or heart rates (FMRI)

• categorical: levels are categories
• e.g. sex whose levels are female and male
• ordinal scale: measurement applies when the numeral of a quantitative variable represents ranked order, in which levels are not equal
• e.g. bookstore’s website might display the top 10 best-selling books
• interval/ratio: measurement applies to the numerals of a quantitative variable that meets 2 conditions; (1) numerals represent equal intervals (distances) between levels, and (2) there is no “true zero”
• E.g. IQ test with the distance of scores of 100 & 105 is similar to 105 & 110

• face validity: the measure has this if it is subjectively considered to be a plausible operationalization of the conceptual variable in question
• content validity: a measure must capture all parts of a defined construct
• e.g.

an empirical form that evaluates whether the measure under consideration is associated with a concrete behavioral outcome that it should be associated with, according to the conceptual definitions

• Convergent validity: an empirical test of the extent to which a self-report measure correlates with other measurements of theoretically similar conduct
• discriminant validity: an empirical test of the extent to which a self-report measure does not correlate strongly with measures of theoretical dissimilar constructs

• The best source of research
• It also has advantages such as showing articles made by the same author and if the sources are peer-reviewed.
• a comprehensive tool for sorting through vast amounts of psychological research
• Searches sources only in psychology and reputable sources
• Everything about psychology is in there, always use it

• A measured variable is information that is gathered (observed) and recorded
• variable in a study whose levels (values) are observed or recorded
• similarly to the dependent variable
• Manipulated variable is controlled by the researcher and assigned at different levels
• This can be assigning participants to different levels and values
• similar to the independent variable

• Operational Definition is how the construct/concept of interest can turn it into measured or manipulated as a variable in a study
• example: The variable is hunger so you would have to measure the blood levels of individuals before and after they eat. On a scale of 1-5 rate how happy you are today

• test-retest reliability: consistency in results every time a measure is used
• e.g. IQ test and personality
• interrater reliability: the degree in which 2 or more coders or observers give consistent ratings of a set of targets
• internal consistency: in a measure that contains several items. the consistency in a pattern of answers, no matter how a question is phrased, consistent scores are obtained no matter who measures the variable

• (1) Theory; a statement or a set of statements that describes general principles about how variables relate to one another
• (2) hypothesis; a statement of the specific result the researcher expects to observe from the particular study if the theory is accurate
• (3) Data; is a set of observations representing the values of some variables collected from one or more research studies

• the theory leads researchers to propose particular research questions → research questions;
• which leads to an appropriate → research design; to test specific hypnosis (non-supporting data leads to revised theories or improved research design);
• the hypothesis is ideally pre-registered before you collect and analyze → data; which feeds back into the cycle (→ supports data to strengthen theory)

• The word, “prove”, is not used in science, instead of saying “prove,” scientists say that a study's data supports or is consistent with theory.
• If a hypothesis is not supported, scientists might say data is inconsistent with the theory (a single confirming finding can not prove a theory) (scientist may troubleshoot the study instead of rejecting the theory)