Descriptive Methods: Naturalistic, Laboratory, Case Study, Survey
Population
Is the collection of people or organisms of a particular species living in a given geographic area or space, usually measured by a census
Replicate
Other scientists do the same study and get the same results
Naturalistic observation
The process of observing a subject in their natural environment without any manipulation by the researcher.
Courtesy Bias
The tendency for individuals participating in a survey to report what they think the researchers want to hear rather than their true opinions or behaviors.
Observer effect
The tendency for many people and animals to behave differently when they know others are watching them.
Hindsight Bias
The tendency to believe, once the outcome is already known of course, that you would have foreseen it; that even though it's over and you know the outcome, you knew it all along.
Case studies
Type of observational data collection technique - one individual is studied in-depth in order to identify behavioral, emotional, and/or cognitive qualities that are universally true, on average, of others; often include face-to-face interviews, paper and pencil tests, etc.
Scientific Method
a system for reducing bias and error in the measurement of data
Hypothesis
a tentative explanation of a phenomenon based on observations
Observer Bias
tendency of observers to see what they expect to see
Confirmation Bias
tendency to search for evidence that fits one's beliefs while ignoring any evidence that does not fir those beliefs
Blind observers
people who don't know what the research question is and have no preconceived notions about what they should do
Laboratory Observation
when observing animals/ people in a laboratory, an artificial setting
Participant Observation
when the observer becomes a participant and the group being observed
Representative sample
A sample is chosen from a given population in hope that all minorities and majorities will be represented appropriately in a study or an experiment.
Survey
A technique for ascertaining the self-reported attitudes or behaviors of people, usually by questioning a representative, random sample of individuals.
Generalize
Apply findings from a study to others in natural settings (i.e., outside the lab)
Experimental contamination
Factors that weaken the ability of a test to measure what it was designed to measure within an experimental study.