Module 4

Researchers that study the online behavior of people focus on their:

Virtual language behavior

Imagine that researchers were interested in learning about public support for gay marriage. If the researchers analyzed Facebook posts regarding the acceptance or rejection of homosexuality (via opinions in status updates, article posts, or groups they officially like), they would be:

studying online behavior

The ability to arrive at broad conclusions based on smaller ones is known as __________. It requires that the sample under investigation be representative of the larger population from which it was drawn.

generalizability

The degree to which a study allows unambiguous causal inferences has ________.

internal validity

Kenneth has a portable signal recording device that can measure his cortisol levels throughout the day. This information is useful in seeing his daily levels in his natural environments. This type of measurement is an example of a(n) ____.

Ambulatory assessment

The degree to which the effect, or findings, have been obtained under conditions that are typical for what happens in everyday life and daily routines.

Ecological Validity

The degree to which a study ensures that potential findings apply to settings and samples other than the ones being studied refers to:

External Validity

It is important to design research experiments that are associated with real-world situations in order to ______ findings to a larger population.

Generalize

Dr. Hart is interested in the role of relationships in preventing heart disease. As her patients come into her office in Bluebell, Alabama, she asks them two questions: Are you a in a relationship? Have you experienced any heart problems in the last 8 years? Based on her findings, she concludes that relationships cause cardiovascular (heart) problems. One issue with her methodology is that the results are not generalizable. What does this mean?

Her results may not be true for the entire population.

When researchers take special care to include and control for every possible variable, the study is likely to have high ___________, even though the results may not generalize to a more realistic situation.

Internal Validity

Dru is reading about the different types of research. If he reads, "This type of research has the primary advantage of allowing a scientist to determine cause and effect relationships," what kind of research method is he studying?

Laboratory experiment

What type of research highlights causality, allowing the cause to be separated from the effect?

Laboratory experiments

For Lindsey's dissertation, she has e-mails sent out to people 4 times a day for 4 weeks. In these e-mails, she asks about current emotional experiences and activities. What method is she using?

Experience sampling

____ refers to the degree to which causal inferences can be made in the study; ____ refers to the degree that the study's findings can be applied to the larger population.

Internal validity; external validity

Dr. Sharma wants to study the extent to which stress is related to suicidal ideation in people who suffer from depression. She gathers information about the level of stress, depressive symptoms, and suicidal thoughts a set of participants experience the day after they attend the funeral of a loved one. Because this study is assessing people under conditions that are not typical of everyday life, it is lacking in __________ validity.

ecological

Dr. Tylka is conducting research about the risk of developing eating disorders in adolescent boys. She concludes that her findings apply not only to the sample of high school boys she studied, but to other males in other settings and contexts. In this regard, Dr. Tylka is stating that her findings have high __________ validity.

external

The development of _________ has provided a new level of advantage for gathering information from research participants at specific times, often randomly selected, throughout a given day.

smartphones

As a researcher, you decide that you are very interested in peoples' everyday behavior (i.e., daily social interactions and activities). Therefore, you decide to use an electronically activated recorder, or EAR device, to capture the acoustic diary of participants' days as they naturally unfold. In this scenario, you are:

studying daily behavior

Dr. Fikshunal is interested in how our bodies respond to being excluded from a group. Therefore, she decides to monitor the heart rate and cortisol levels of participants as they engage in their environment and indicate experiences when they felt ostracized. In this scenario, Dr. Fikshunal is:

studying daily physiology