applied research

mid-fidelity simulation

a manipulation designed to prime the psychological state of a different group of individuals

low-fidelity simulation

a verbal or written prompt to put the individual in the mindset of the desired state

program evaluation research

assesses the effectiveness of a social intervention formative evaluation is helping improve programs already in place by asking what is it or how does it work summative evaluation is making judgments about whether the program works or not provides feedback to individuals who have an interest in the effectiveness of the program needs, processes, outcomes, and efficiency are evaluated

qualitative studies

based on observing behavior, recording it as it occurs, and using these observations to form grounded theory can be used to observe the impact of different naturally occurring events in order to investigate whether an intervention would be useful

interventions

closest type to basic research introduces a treatment or condition to influence the key phenomenon can use randomized designs-allowing for investigation of causation interventions can include educational initiatives, training, clinical treatments, etc.

unobtrustive behavioral studies

focus on measuring team behaviors using unobtrusive measurement key is understanding team behavior without influencing it through asking distracting questions

challenges of applied research

harder to control for extraneous variables may not be able to manipulate the phenomenon of interest (but may be able to select for it) random assignment might not be plausible

characteristics of a true experiment

intervention or treatment experimenter has control over who is given treatment condition intervention is given to different groups for comparison purposes

longitudinal

multiple points of data over a period of time repeated measures: simply having an individual repeat a measure over multiple time points time series: taking multiple points of data but adding an intervention to see if it changes the responses

high-fidelity simulation

putting individuals in a state that very closely replicates the physical and psychological state they will experience in the real world

applied research

research focused on answering a practical question focused on changing the way something is occurring in the real world intending to communicate with a different audience than typical basic research

event sampling methodology

signal contingent: participants complete the survey when prompted by the researcher event contingent: participants complete a survey when a particular event occurs (trained what this is in detail beforehand) interval contingent: participants complete a survey after a per-specified period of time has elapsed (typically one day)

cross sectional

take a survey at one point in time for all variables

process

the implementation of the need through the program

efficiency

the relative cost of the program (monetary and resources) to the effort and time

why do we do applied research?

to see if theories and results found in the lab are also true in the field gain insight into what other naturally occurring variables impact the key phenomenon

basic research vs applied research

use same research designs and methods and concerned with same issues

needs

what is currently not being met that the agency can provide a service to correct

outcome

whether the impact of the program is matching the original intention