Critical Thinking PSY Exam 3 Flashcards (chapter 6 and 7)
what is interval method?
"making a narrative"-----dividing observation period into a series of intervals and recording behavior during each interval
what is duration method?
(fixed-time observation)----observing how much time they spend/how long they do it
criterion variable
(y-axis) unclear undefined...(like self esteem or happiness)
what are the weaknesses of correlational research strategy?
---cannot assess causality, third variable problem, directionality problem, low internal validity
what's the difference between correlational, experimental, and differential research?
---correlational research intends to demonstrate the existence of a relationship --experimental research demonstrates a cause-and effect relationship between two variables --differential research involves two groups of scores and focuses on the difference between groups (does NOT determine cause and effect relationship)
what are the strengths and weaknesses of contrived observation?
---good because do not have to wait for behaviors to occur --bad because it is less natural
what are the strengths and weakness of participant observation?
---good for when natural observation is impossible and we can get info that is not accessible otherwise ---weaknesses is that it is time consuming, potential for loss of objectivity, and increased chance for observer influence
what are the three techniques used for sampling observations?
---time sampling ---event sampling ---individual sampling
describe the two general problems that can exist with the behavioral observation and explain how researchers attempt to minimize them
--REACTIVITY (when participants modify their behavior) (demand characteristics---the researcher influences the participants and gives clues for participants so the participants give the reactions in which the researcher wants) --raises the question of reliability --fix by.....inter-rater reliability, hide the observer, habituation
how do correlational and nonexperimental research differ?
--correlational uses ONE GROUP of participants (measures two variables for each person) --nonexperimental COMPARES TWO GROUPS OF SCORES; measures only one variable for each individual
what are the strengths of correlational research strategy?
--describes relationships between variables, nonintrusive (natural behaviors), high external validity (resembles real life so we can generalize with the data to other pops)
what are the strengths of observational/naturalistic observation?
--it is behavior observed in the real world, and useful for non-manipulated behaviors, and it is actual behaviors observed and recorded ---but its weakness is bias, concerns with privacy, time consuming, and what we are looking for might not occur
what is participant observation?
--participant observation is A type of observation in which the researcher engages in the same activities as the people being observed in order to observe and record their behavior.
describe the general characteristics of the observational research design, explain its strengths and weakness, and differentiate between natural observation, participant observation, and contrived observation
--the researcher observes by systematically recording the behavior of individuals to describe behaviors ---the results are used to simply describe the variable being studied
What are the advantages and disadvantages of contrived observation compared to naturalistic observation?
An advantage of contrived observation over both natural and participant observation is that researchers do not have to wait for behaviors to occur naturally. Instead, the environment is structured in such a way that the desired behaviors are more likely to occur. However, a disadvantage of contrived observation is that, because the environment is less natural, the behavior may be as well.
Confounding variable
An extraneous variable (usually unmonitored) that is allowed to change systematically along with the two variables being studied. In the context of an experiment, an extraneous variable that changes systematically along with the independent variable and has the potential to influence the dependent variable. Provides an alternative explanation for the observed relationship and, therefore, is a threat to internal validity.
what is a threat to external validity?
Any characteristic of a study that limits the ability to generalize the results.
what is a threat to internal validity?
Any factor that allows for an alternative explanation for the results of a study.
Briefly explain why it is important to determine a set of behavior categories before making behavioral observations
Determining a set of behavior categories prior to making the observations allows the researcher to reduce the amount of subjectivity that could threaten the internal validity of the observational study
Identify the statistical procedure used to determine a correlation for different types of data and explain what each correlation measures.
For both numerical and non-numerical data, the value of a correlation, which ranges from 0.00 to 1.00, describes the consistency of the relationship with 1.00 (or -1.00) indicating a perfectly consistent relationship and 0.00 indicating a complete lack of consistency. However, there are two additional factors that must be considered when interpreting the strength of a relationship. One is the coefficient of determination, which is obtained by squaring the correlation, and the other is the significance of the correlation.
Outline the advantages and disadvantages of using telephone surveys as compared to mail surveys.
For individual participants, a mailed survey is very convenient and nonthreatening. Individuals can complete the survey at their own convenience, and can be relatively confident that responses are anonymous and confidential. On the other hand, the fact that the survey is anonymous means that a researcher can never be sure exactly who in the household completed and returned the survey. Mailing surveys is usually a relatively simple and easy process, although printing a large number of surveys, addressing them, and paying postage can be expensive and time-consuming. The expense is compounded by the fact that response rates tend to be very low for mailed surveys. A response rate of 10% to 20% is fairly typical. This means that you need to distribute at least five times the number of surveys you hope to have returned. In addition to the costs of a low response rate, there may be a bias differentiating those who do and those who do not return surveys. One obvious possibility is that people who are most interested in the survey topic (those with the most intense feelings) are most likely to complete and return the survey. Administering a survey by telephone can be incredibly time-consuming. The obvious problem with a telephone survey is that there is a direct, one-to-one relationship between the time spent by the researcher and the time spent by the participants; to get 100 minutes of survey responses, a researcher must spend 100 minutes on the telephone. Therefore, most telephone surveys are restricted to situations in which a large number of researchers or assistants can share the telephone assignments. Administering a survey by telephone does have some advantages. First, the survey can be conducted from home or office. If several people place the calls and the survey is relatively brief, it is possible to contact a fairly large number of participants in only a few days.
Describe the situations in which participant observation may be particularly useful.
In participant observation, a researcher does not observe from afar as in naturalistic observation. Instead, the researcher interacts with the participants and becomes one of them to observe and record behavior. This type of observation is needed in situations in which inconspicuous observation is not possible. For example, researchers certainly could not set up observation in the middle of a cult or gang meeting and expect that no one would notice them, that their presence would not alter behavior, or that the observed behaviors would be at all natural.
what is contrived observation?
Observation in settings arranged specifically to facilitate the occurrence of specific behaviors. Also known as structured observation.
Describe the strengths and weaknesses of the correlational research strategy including the third-variable problem and the directionality problem and identify these problems when they appear in a research study.
One of the primary advantages of a correlational study is that the researcher simply records what exists naturally. Because the researcher does not manipulate, control, or otherwise interfere with the variables being examined or with the surrounding environment, there is good reason to expect that the measurements and the relationships accurately reflect the natural events being examined. In research terminology, correlational studies tend to have high external validity. In general, a correlational study can establish that a relationship exists and it can provide a good description of the relationship. However, a correlational study usually does not produce a clear and unambiguous explanation for the relationship. In research terminology, correlational studies tend to have low internal validity. In particular, two limitations arise in explanations of results from a correlational study. Although a correlational study may establish that two variables are related, it does not mean that there must be a direct relationship between the two variables. It is always possible that a third (unidentified) variable is controlling the two variables and is responsible for producing the observed relation. A correlational study can establish that two variables are related; that is, changes in one variable tend to be accompanied by changes in the other variable. However, a correlational study does not determine which variable is the cause and which is the effect.
Most descriptive research designs gather information from a group of participants. However, the case study design focuses on a single individual. What are the advantages and disadvantages of describing a single individual as compared to describing a group?
Research in the behavioral sciences tends to emphasize the study of groups rather than single individuals. By focusing on groups, researchers can observe the effects of a treatment across a variety of different personal characteristics and form a better basis for generalizing the results of the study. At the same time, however, some fields within the behavioral sciences are more concerned with individual behavior than with group averages. This is particularly true in the field of clinical psychology, in which clinicians concentrate on treatments and outcomes for individual clients. For clinicians, research results averaged over a large group of diverse individuals may not be as relevant as the specific result obtained for an individual client. In fact, it has been argued that intensive study of individuals (called the idiographic approach) is just as important as the study of groups (called the nomothetic approach) for clinical research. Like all descriptive designs, the case study is necessarily limited because it simply describes and does not attempt to identify the underlying mechanisms that explain behavior. For example, a case study can provide a detailed description of the individual participant's characteristics (age, gender, family background, and the like), but it provides no means of determining how these variables influence the participant's response to treatment. A case study can tell how a specific individual with specific characteristics responded to a specific treatment, but it cannot explain why. Although a case study may offer an explanation for the observed results, alternative explanations are always possible. In research terminology, case studies lack internal validity. In addition to lacking internal validity, case studies also tend to be weak in external validity. Because a case study reports results for a single individual in a specific situation, it is difficult to justify generalizing the results to other individuals in other situations.
what is external validity?
The extent to which we can generalize the results of a research study to people, settings, times, measures, and characteristics other than those used in that study.
Define the goal or purpose of the correlational research strategy and distinguish between a correlational study and experimental and differential research.
The goal of the correlational research strategy is to examine and describe the associations and relationships between variables. More specifically, the purpose of a correlational study is to establish that a relationship exists between variables and to describe the nature of the relationship. Notice that the correlational strategy does not attempt to explain the relationship and makes no attempt to manipulate, control, or interfere with the variables.
Briefly identify the relative strengths and weaknesses of open-ended and restricted questions.
The primary advantage of an open-ended question is that it allows an individual the greatest flexibility in choosing how to answer. An open-ended question imposes few restrictions on the participant and, therefore, is likely to reveal each individual's true thoughts or opinions. Although the question may lead the participant in a particular direction or suggest a specific point of view, individuals are free to express their own thoughts. However, this can also be a major disadvantage. For example, different participants may approach the question from entirely different perspectives, leaving you with answers that are impossible to compare or summarize. A second disadvantage of open-ended questions is that the answers are often difficult to summarize or analyze with conventional statistical methods. The primary advantage of rating-scale questions is that they produce numerical values that can be treated as measurements from an interval scale. A secondary advantage of rating-scale questions is that participants usually find them easy to understand and easy to answer. Because the scale permits different degrees of response, participants are not forced into an absolute yes or no, all-or-none choice. Instead, they can qualify their answers by indicating degrees of agreement or approval. One criticism of rating-scale questions is that whenever questions in a series all have the same choices for responding, participants tend to use the same response to answer all (or most) of the questions. This tendency is called a response set.
a researcher uses content analysis to determine the amount of violence in a saturday morning cartoon television program. Describe the basic elements of content analysis.
To ensure that the measurements are objective and reliable, the processes of content analysis follows the same rules that are used for behavioral observation. Specifically, the measurement process involves the following: 1. Establishing behavioral categories to define exactly which events are included in each category being measured; for example, a list of specific examples is prepared to define television violence. 2. Using the frequency method, the duration method, or the interval method to obtain a numerical score for each behavioral category; for example, an observer records how many examples of violence are seen in a 30-minute television program or how many disciplinary actions appear on an individual's school records. 3. Using multiple observers for at least part of the measurement process to obtain a measure of inter-rater reliability.
Describe how correlations are used for prediction, measuring reliability and validity of measurement, and evaluating theories.
When a correlational study demonstrates a relationship between two variables, it allows researchers to use knowledge about one variable to help predict or explain the second variable. In this situation, the first variable is called the predictor variable and the second variable (being explained or predicted) is called the criterion variable. The concepts of reliability and validity are the two basic criteria for evaluating a measurement procedure. In general terms, reliability evaluates the consistency or stability of the measurements, and validity evaluates the extent to which the measurement procedure actually measures what it claims to be measuring. Both reliability and validity are commonly defined by relationships that are established using the correlational research design. Many theories generate research questions about the relationships between variables that can be addressed by the correlational research design. A good example comes from the age-old nature/nurture question as it applies to intelligence: "Is intelligence primarily an inherited characteristic, or is it primarily determined by environment?" A partial answer to this question comes from correlational studies examining the IQs of identical twins separated at birth and placed in different environments.
under what circumstances is it necessary to use sampling (time, event, or individual) during behavioral observation?
When an observer is confronted with a complex situation, it can be impossible to observe many different individuals and record many different behaviors simultaneously. One solution is to record the situation so the scene can be replayed repeatedly to gather observations. A second solution is to take a sample of the potential observations rather than attempt to watch and record everything. The first step in the process of sampling observations is to divide the observation period into a series of time intervals.
Describe the general characteristics of the case study design, identify the different situations for which this type of research is well suited, and explain its strengths and weaknesses.
a case study design is an.......in-depth study and detailed description of a single individual (or a very small group) (may involve an intervention or treatment administered by the researcher)
what is a case history?
a case study without any treatment or intervention
what is the survey research design?
a research study that uses a survey to obtain a description of a particular group of individuals "goal"---to obtain a "snapshot" of the group at a particular time
semantic differentail
a type of rating scale question that presents pairs of bipolar adjectives (such as happy, sad, boring, exciting) and asks each participant to identify the location between the two adjectives that best describes a particular individual
How are correlational and nonexperimental research similar?
both are designed to demonstrate that a relationship exists between two variables (do not try to explain the relationship)
sir francis galton
came up with correlation idea, nature vs. nurture, differences in races IQ, eugenics, was related to Pearson and Charles Dalton
what does correlational research do?
cannot explain, it can describe
what is the difference between case study and case history?
case study is actual history and a case history is creating a history of a person
what is frequency method?
counting in a time frame
directionality problem
demonstrating that changes in one variable tend to be accompanied by changes in another variable simply establishes that the two variables are related. The remaining problem is to determine which variable is the cause and which is the effect----(when you don't know which variable predicts the other)
what is reliability?
evaluates the consistency or stability of the measurements
what is validity?
evaluates the extent to which the measurement procedure actually measures what it claims to be measuring
what are the general characteristics of survey research design?
faster, specific, a lot of data faster
what are the applications of the case study design?
for rare phenomena and unusual clinical cases
what is internal validity?
he extent to which a research study produces a single, unambiguous explanation for the relationship between two variables.
what is quantifying observations?
how we measure/calculate observations....(frequency, duration, and interval)
what is event sampling?
identify specific event or behavior
what is nonresponse bias?
in survey research involving mailed surveys, individuals who return the survey are not usually representative of the entire group who received the survey (A THREAT TO EXTERNAL VALIDITY)
nonresponse bias
individuals who return the survey are not usually representative of the entire group who received the survey. (a threat to external validity) (not representative of the people who didn't respond)
what is open-ended questions?
introduce a topic and allow participant to respond in their own words
anchors
labels that identify the opposite ends of the rating scales
what is archival research?
looks at historical records (archives)---measure behaviors or events that occurred in the past
what is a correlation coefficient?
measures and describes the relationship between two variables (describes direction, form, and consistency or strength)
Habituation
normalize, repeated exposure to participants, in observational studies
what is time sampling?
observe for interval (write down stuff)------different from duration
response set
on a rating-scale question, a participant's tendency to answer all (or most) of the questions the same way
what is individual?
one participant at a time
idiographic approach
one person or case study research
multiple regression
only can describe, not explain, but can predict (may look at more than one variable)
what are the types of survey questions?
open-ended, restricted, and rate-scaling questions
what are some problems with self report survey questions?
people can lie, and can have a lot of problems
what are some of the different ways a correlation may be referred to?
positive or negative
what is restricted questions?
present a limited number of response alternatives Ex: multiple choice
spearman's rank order correlation
r_s (can be used for ordinal, interval, and ratio) (curvilinear or monotonic)
Likert scale
ranking scale (it is ordinal), and it's numerical scale of ranking
what is rating-scale questions?
require selection of a numerical value on a predetermined scale
regression
statistical technique we can use in correlation to predict one variable from another-----(linear equation)
what are the strengths and weaknesses of telephone surveys?
strengths==can be conducted anywhere by the phone, participants can stay at home or office weaknesses: time consuming, and potential for interviewer bias
what are the strengths and weaknesses of mail surveys?
strengths==convenient and anonymous, nonthreatening to the participants, easy to administer weaknesses==can be expensive, low response rate and nonresponse bias, unsure exactly who completes the survey
what are the strengths and weaknesses of internet surveys?
strengths==efficient to administer to a larger number or participants, access to a large number of individuals with common characteristics, and the survey can't be individualized based on the participant's responses weaknesses==initial expense for site, sample may not be representative, and cannot control composition of the sample
what are the strengths and weaknesses of in-person surveys?
strengths==efficient to administer with groups, 100% response rate, flexible (groups or individual interviews) weaknesses== time-consuming with individual interviews, risk of interviewer bias
statistical significance of a correlation
the higher the number===means very unlikely to happen by random variation===(there is a more true relationship)..........[coefficient of determination, taking our correlation and squaring it]
what is interviewer bias?
the influence of the researcher verbally asking participants questions on the participants' natural responses
third-variable problem
the possibility that two variables appear to be related when, in fact, they are both influenced by something else and causes them to vary together-----(unseen variable, potentially and varying with the other variables)----(example: ice cream sales, crime rate, and temp)
what is coefficient of determination?
the squared value of a correlation----measures the percentage of variability in one variable that is determined, or predicted, by its relationship with the other variable ---"R" is the strength in which X can predict Y
nomothetic approach
the study of groups
describe the purpose of the descriptive research strategy, explain how it differs from the purpose of other research strategies, and identify this strategy when it is used in a research study.
to describe a single variable or to describe each individual when several are involved-----NOT CONCERNED WITH RELATIONSHIPS.......... we want natural behavior to describe (number, mean, percent)
what is the goal of the correlational research strategy?
to establish that a relationship exists between variables and to describe the nature of the relationship RELATIONSHIPS CAN BE DESCRIBED------NOT EXPLAINED THERE IS NO ATTEMPT TO MANIPULATE, CONTROL, OR INTERFERE WITH THE VARIABLES
pearson's "r"
used only for linear (ratio and interval) for correlation
what is content analysis?
uses techniques of behavioral observation to measure the occurrence of specific events in literature, movies, tv programs, or similar media presenting replicas of behaviors
