research methods in physical activity - mid term
• Duration method
a method of recording in observational research in which the researcher uses a stopwatch or other timing device to record how much time a participant spends engaged in a particular behavior
• Interval method
a method of recording in observational research that tis used when counting individual occurrences is difficult; the researcher records whether the behavior in question occurs in a certain interval of time
• Scientific method of problem solving
a method of solving problems that uses the following steps: defining and delimiting the problem, forming a hypothesis, gathering data, analyzing data, and interpreting the results
• Item characteristic curve
a nonlinear regression curve for a test item that increases from left to right, indicating an increase in the probability of a correct response with increased ability, or latent trait
• Hawthorne effect
a phenomenon in which participants' performances change when attention is paid to them, which is likely to reduce the ability to generalize the results
• Parameter invariance
a postulate in item response theory that the item difficulty remains constant regardless of the populations of examinees and that examinees' abilities should not change when a different set of test items is administered
• Cohort problem
a problem in cross-sectional design concerning whether all the age groups are really from the same population
• Flanagan method
a process for estimating reliability in which the test is split into two halves, and the variances of the halves of the test are analyzed in relation to the total variance of the test
• Science
a process of careful and systematic inquiry
• Qualitative research
a research method that often involves intensive, long-term observation in a natural setting; precise and detailed recording of what happens in the setting; the interpretation and analysis of the data using description, narratives, quotes, charts and tables. Also called ethnographic, naturalistic, interpretive, grounded, phenomenological, subjective, and participant observational research.
• Semantic differential scale
a scale used to measure affective behavior in which the respondent is asked to make judgements about certain concepts by choosing one of seven intervals between bipolar adjectives
• Difference score or gain score
a score that represents the difference (change) from pretest to posttest
• Rating of perceived exertion (RPE)
a self-rating scale developed by Borg (1962) to measure a person's perceived effort during exercise
• Cohort study design
a study design that involves the examination of a large disease-free population over a period of several years
• Hydrostatic weighing
a technique for measuring body composition in which body density is computed by the ratio of a person's weight in air and the loss of weight underwater
• Coefficient alpha
a technique used for estimating the reliability of multiple-trial tests; also called Cronbach alpha coefficient
• Variability of practice
a tenet of motor skill learning advanced by R.A. Schmidt that states that the practice of a variety of movement experiences facilitates transfer to a new movement when compared with practicing a single movement
• Closed loop theory
a theory of motor skill learning advanced by Adams (1971) that proposes that information received as feedback from a movement is compared with some internal reference of correctness
• Schema theory
a theory of motor skill learning advanced by R.A. Schmidt (1975) as an extension of Adams' (1971) closed-loop theory. The theory proposed to unify more general explanations under one theoretical explanation
• Item response theory (IRT)
a theory that focuses on the characteristics of the test item and the examinee's response to the item as a means of determining the examinee's ability; also called latent trait theory
• Expectancy
a threat to internal validity in which the researcher anticipates that certain behaviors or results will occur
• AVIS effect
a threat to internal validity wherein participants in the control group try harder just because they are in the control group
• Halo effect
a threat to internal validity wherein raters allow previous impressions or knowledge about certain people to influence all ratings of those people's behaviors
• Expectancy table
a two-way grid that predicts whether individuals with a particular assessment score will attain some criterion score
• Job analysis
a type of case study that determines the nature of a particular job and the types of training, preparation, skills, working conditions, and attitudes necessary for success in the job
• T scale
a type of closed question that sets the mean at 50 and standard deviation at 10 to remove the decimal found in z scores and to make all scores positive
• Descriptive research
a type of research that attempts to describe the status of the study's focus. Common techniques are questionnaires, interviews, normative studies, case studies, job analyses, observational research, developmental studies and correlational studies
• Applied research
a type of research that has direct value to practitioners but in which the researcher has limited control over the research setting
• Analytical research
a type of research that involves in-depth study and then evaluation of available information in an attempt to explain complex phenomena; can be categorized in the following ways: historical, philosophical, reviews and research synthesis
• Experimental research
a type of research that involves the manipulation of treatments in an attempt to establish cause-and-effect relationships
• Basic research
a type of research that may have limited direct application but in which the researcher has careful control of the conditions
• Proximity error
an error that results when a rater considers behaviors to be more nearly the same when they are listed close together on a scale than when they are separated by some distance
• Observer bias error
an error that results when raters are influenced by their own characteristics and prejudices
• Central tendency error
an error that results when the rater gives an inordinate number of ratings in the middle of the scale, avoiding the extremes of the scale
• Internal consistency
an estimate of the reliability that represents the consistency of scores within a test
• Risk factor
an exposure that has been found to be a determinant of a disease outcome of a health behavior
• Normal science
an objective manner of study grounded in the natural sciences that is systematic, logical, empirical, reductive and replicable
• Operational definition
an observable phenomenon that enables the researcher to test empirically whether the predicted outcomes can be supported
• Outlier
an unrepresentative score; a score that lies outside of the normal scores
• Tenacity
an unscientific method of problem solving in which people cling to certain beliefs regardless of a lack of supporting evidence
• True experimental design
any design used in experimental research in which groups are randomly formed and that controls most sources of invalidity
• Federal law requires researchers to protect participants' rights and well
being.
• Double
blind setup- a method of controlling the threat to internal validity in which neither the participant nor the experimenter knows which treatment the participant is receiving
• Establishing cause and effect requires logical thinking applied to well
designed experiments.
• Quasi
experimental design- a research design in which the experimenter tries to fit the design to real-world settings while still controlling as many of the threats to internal validity as possible
• Pre
experimental design- one of three types of research design that control few of the sources of invalidity and that do not have random assignments of participants to groups: one-shot study, one-group pretest-posttest design and static group comparison
• Exposure
factors (variables) in epidemiological studies that are tested for their relationship with the outcome of interest
• Participants
people who are used as subjects in a study. In APA style the term participants is used rather than subjects
• Community trials
randomized trials focused on changing behaviors in communities
• Longitudinal studies
research in which the same participants are studied over a period of years
• Correlational research
research that explores relationships among variables and that sometimes involves the prediction of a criterion variable
• Test
retest method- a method of determining stability in which a test is given one day and then administered exactly as before a day or so later
• Cross
sectional studies- research in which samples of participants from different age groups are selected to assess the effects of maturation
• Adaptive testing
selecting test items that best fit the ability level of each person; also called tailored testing
• Likert
type scale- a type of closed question that requires the participant to respond by choosing one of several scaled responses; the intervals between items are assumed to be equal
• Plagiarism
using ideas, concepts, writings, or drawings of others as your own; cheating
• Cross
validation- a technique to assess the accuracy of a prediction formula in which the formula is applied to a sample not used in developing the formula
• Pilot work
work undertaken to verify that you can correctly administer the tests and treatments for your study using appropriate participants
• Basic research and applied research can be thought of as two ends of a continuum. Basic research addresses theoretical problems, often in lab settings, and may have limited direct application. Applied research addresses immediate problems, often in less controlled real
world settings and is more closely linked to application.
• Case
control study- a study that involves the identification of casually related factors for disease outcome in populations with and without disease
• Case studies can help to formulate new ideas and hypotheses, especially for areas that lack established, clear
cut structures or models.
• Same
day test-retest method- a method of establishing reliability in which a test is given twice to the same participants on the same day
• Narrative method
a method of recording in observational research in which researchers describe their observations as they occur; also called continual-recording method
• Shrinkage
the loss of predictive power when statistics are calculated on a different sample
• Spearman
Brown prophecy formula- an equation developed to estimate the reliability for the entire test when the split-half technique is used to test reliability
Chapter 18: Experimental and Quasi
Experimental Research
• Kuder
Richardson (KR) method of rational equivalence- formulas developed for estimating the reliability of a test from a single test administration
• Tallying method
a method of recording in observational research in which researchers record each occurrence of a clearly defined behavior within a certain period; also called frequency counting method
• Reductionism
a characteristic of normal science that assumes that complex behavior can be reduced, analyzed and explained as parts that can then be put back together to understand the whole
• Stability
a coefficient of reliability measured by the test-retest method on different days
• Interobserver agreement (IOA)
a common way of estimating reliability among coders by using a formula that divides the number of agreements in behavior coding by the sum of the agreements and disagreements
• Review
a critical evaluation of research on a particular topic
• Empirical
a description of data or a study that is based on objective observations
• Determinant
a factor that changes a characteristic
• Extraneous variables
a factor that could affect the relationship between the independent and dependent variables but that is not included or controlled
• Control variable
a factor that could possibly influence the results and that is kept out of the study
• Confounding factor
a factor that obscures the true relationship between an exposure and outcome of interest
• Case study
a form of descriptive research in which a single case is studied in depth to reach a greater understanding about similar cases
• Research proposal
a formal presentation that includes the introduction, literature review, and proposed method for conducting a study
• Microform
a general term that encompasses microfilm, microfiche, and any form of data storage on which the pages of a book, journal, or newspaper are photographed and reduced in size
• Cohort
a group of individuals who are followed over a period of time
• Research hypothesis
a hypothesis deduced from theory or induced from empirical studies that is based on logical reasoning and predicts the outcome of the study
• Null hypothesis
a hypothesis used primarily in the statistical test for the reliability of the results that says there are no differences among treatments (or no relationships among variables)
• Categorical variable
a kind of independent variable that cannot be manipulated, such as age, race or sex; also called moderator variable
• Delimitation
a limitation imposed by the researcher in the scope of the study; a choice that the researcher makes to define a workable research problem
• Annotated bibliography
a list of resources that provides a brief description of the nature and scope of each article or book
• Rating scale
a measure of behavior that involves a subjective evaluation based on a checklist of criteria
• Relative risk
a measure of the association of the exposure-disease relationship typically employed in cohort studies
• Odds ratio
a measure of the exposure-disease relationship typically employed in case-control studies
• Classical test theory (CTT)
a measurement theory build on the concept that observed scores are composed of a true score and an error score
• Known group difference method
a method for establishing construct validity in which the test scores of groups that should differ on a trait or ability are compared.
• Placebo
a method of controlling a threat to internal validity in which a control group receives a false treatment while the experimental group receives the real treatment
• Blind setup
a method of controlling a threat to internal validity in which participants do not know whether they are receiving the experimental or control treatment
• MAXICON principle
a method of controlling any explanation for the results except the hypothesis that the researcher intends to evaluate. This is done by maximizing true variance, minimizing error variance and controlling extraneous variance
• Poster session
a method of presenting research at a conference in which the author places summaries of his/her research on the wall or a poster stand and answers questions from passerby
• Intraclass correlation
an ANOVA technique used for estimating the reliability of a measure
• Primary sources
first-hand sources of data in research; original studies
• Alternate
forms method- a method of determining stability in which a test is given one day and then administered exactly as before a day or so later
• Descriptive studies are useful in identifying the magnitude of a health problem, adversely affected population sub
groups and risk factors (or determinants).
• Split
half technique- a method of testing reliability in which the test is divided in two, usually by making the odd-numbered items one half and the even-numbered the other half. The two halves are then correlated
• Dual publication
having the same scientific paper published in more than one journal or other publication; this is generally unethical
• Observed score
in classical test theory, an obtained score that comprises a person's true score and error score
• Error score
in classical test theory, the part of an observed score that is attributed to measurement error
• True score
in classical test theory, the part of the observed score that represents the person's real score and does not contain measurement error
• There are nine threats to internal validity that can undermine the claim of a casual relationship between two variables (history, maturation, testing, instrumentation, statistical regression, selection bias, experimental mortality, selection
maturation interaction and expectancy).
• Unobtrusive measures
measures of behavior taken on people who are not aware that the researcher is gathering data
• Fieldwork
methodology common in qualitative research in which data are gathered in natural settings
• Limitation
short coming or influence that either cannot be controlled or is the result of the delimitations imposed by the investigator
• Secondary sources
sources of research in which authors have evaluated and summarized previous research
• Analytical designs
studies that test hypotheses about casual links between exposures and mortality and incidence outcomes, using only observational research
• Recall bias
systematic errors introduced by differences in recall accuracy between comparison groups (i.e., between cases and controls)
• Selection bias
systematic errors introduced by differences in the characteristics of subjects entering and not entering a study
• Item difficulty
the analysis of the difficulty of each test item in a knowledge test, determined by dividing the number of people who correctly answered the item by the number of people who responded to it
• Hypothesis
the anticipated outcome of a study or experiment
• Z score
the basic standard score that converts raw scores to units of standard deviation in which the mean is 0 and a standard deviation is 1.0
• Discussion
the chapter/section of a research report that explains what the results mean
• Item banking
the creation of large pools of test items that can be used for constructing tests that have certain characteristics concerning the precision of estimating latent ability
• Logical validity
the degree to which a measure obviously involves the performance being measured; also known as face validity
• Content validity
the degree to which a test (usually in educational settings) adequately samples what was covered in the course
• Index discrimination
the degree to which a test item discriminates between people who did well on the entire test and those who did poorly
• Construct validity
the degree to which a test measures a hypothetical construct; usually established by relating the test results to some behavior
• Validity
the degree to which a test or instrument measures what it purports to measure; can be characterized as logical, content, criterion, or construct validity
• Intertester (interrater) reliability
the degree to which different tester can obtain the same scores on the same participants; also called objectivity
• Objectivity
the degree to which different testers can achieve the same scores on the same subjects, also known as inter-tester reliability
• Predictive validity
the degree to which scores of predictor variables can accurately predict criterion scores
• Criterion validity
the degree to which scores on a test are related to some recognized standard or criterion
• Outcome
the dependent variable in an analysis
• Paradigm crisis phenomenon
the development of discrepancies in a paradigm leading to proposals of a new paradigm that better explains the data
• Dependent variable
the effect of the independent variable; also called the yield
• Ecological validity
the extent to which research emulates the real world
• Internal validity
the extent to which the results of a study can be attributed to the treatments used in the study
• External validity
the generalization of the results of a study
• Interclass correlation
the most commonly used method of computing correlation between two variables; also called Pearson r or Pearson product moment coefficient of correlation
• Independent variable
the part of the experiment that the researcher is manipulating; also called the experimental or treatment variable
• Item analysis
the process in analyzing knowledge tests in which the suitability of test items and their ability to discriminate are evaluated
• Developmental research
the study of changes in behaviors across years
• Bias
the systematic deviation of a calculated (estimated) value from the true value
• Leniency
the tendency for observers to be overly generous in rating
• Clinical trials
trials focused on changing health at the individual level
