Research Methods- Dr. Wood Ch1,2,3

While shopping, you observe the behavior of adolescents at the mall and get some ideas about what may be causing the behavior. This is an example of getting research ideas from?

-it involves measuring varibles for each indiviual

Method of Intuition

Information is accepted on the basis of a hunch or "gut feeling"

Which of the following is the best description of the scientific method?

a circular process that leads to a tentative answer

Scientific Method

a method of acquiring knowledge that uses observations to develop a hypothesis, and then uses the hypothesis to make logical predictions that can be empirically tested by making additional, systematic observations.

Method of Authority

a person relies on information or answers from an expert in the subject area

Argument

a set of premise statements that are logically combined to yield a conclusion

Hypothesis

a statement that describes or explains a relationship between or among variables. Not a final statement but rather a proposal to be tested and evaluated

pseudoscience

a system of ideas often presented as science but actually lacking some of the key components that are essential to scientific research.

Method of Faith

a variant of the method of authority in which people have unquestioning trust in the authority figure and, therefore, accept information from the authority without doubt or challenge.

Which of the following is a distinction between science and pseudoscience?

all of the other options are differences btw science and pseudoscience

Quantitative Research

based on measuring variables for individual participants to obtain scores, usually numerical values, which are submitted to statistical analysis for summary and interpretation.

Variables

characteristics or conditions that change or have different values for different individuals. For example, the weather, the economy, and your state of health can change from day to day. Also, two people can be different in terms of personality, intelligence, age, gender, self-esteem, height, weight, and so on.

premise statements

describe facts or assumptions that are presumed to be true

A hypothesis is a __________ statement and a prediction is a __________ statement.

general; specific

Participants

human individuals who take part in research studies

What kind of reasoning uses a few specific observations to produce a general hypothesis?

inductive reasoning

Method of Tenacity

information is accepted as true because it has always been believed or because superstition supports it

Applied Research

intended to answer practical questions or solve practical problems.

Basic Research

intended to answer theoretical questions or gather knowledge simply for the sake of new knowledge

Induction (inductive reasoning)

involves using a relatively small set of specific observations as the basis for forming a general statement about a larger set of possible observations

Qualitative Research

is based on making observations that are summarized and interpreted in a narrative report.

Which method of knowing is used when you find the address and phone number of a restaurant by googling the name of the restaurant?

method of authority

A restaurant chef tried replacing rice with pasta in one of her recipes to see what would hap- pen. Which method of acquiring knowledge is she using?

method of empiricism

Which method of knowing is being used by a student who believes that his performance on tests is influenced by wearing a lucky hat?

method of tenacity

Subjects

non-human individuals who take part in research studies

Replication

or the repetition of observation, allows verification of the findings.

Last year Tim and his friend Jack were both too short to ride the roller coaster. Jack went to the park this year and was tall enough to ride. Tim knows that he is taller than Jack, so he knows that he will be able to ride the roller coaster as well. Which method of knowing is Tim using?

rational method

What is meant by saying that "science is objective"?

scientific answers are obtained w/o influence by the researcher's biases or beliefs

rational method (rationalism)

seeks answers by the use of logical reasoning

Deduction (deductive reasoning)

uses a general statement as the basis for reaching a conclusion about specific examples.

Empirical Method (Empiricism)

uses observation or direct sensory experience to obtain knowledge

Methods of Acquiring Knowledge

ways in which a person can know things or discover answers to questions