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.