Research Method Exam 2 Study Guide

Parenthetical citations (2 ways)

(Brown, 2019) Uses &

Sensitization effect

After repeated exposures to an IV, participants realize (become sensitive to) what hypothesis is

References section of paper

Author1LastName, FirstInitial. MiddleInitial., & Author2LastName, FirstInitial. MiddleInitial. (Year#). Title with no uppercases: Except after colon. Capitalized Journal Name, volume#(issue#), articlefirstpage# - articlelastpage#. doi = Grady, J. S., Her, M., Moreno, G., Perez, C., & Yelinek, J. (2019). Emotions in storybooks: A comparison of storybooks that represent ethnic and racial groups in the United States. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 8(3), 207-217. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000185

____________ if each variable is correlated with ITSELF at MULTIPLE time points

Autocorrelations

__________ research studies association between exactly 2 variables ___________ research studies association between more than two variables

Bivariate correlational & Multivariate correlational

Non-parenthetical citation

Brown (2019) found ... Uses AND

3 things establish internal validity to conclude causal relationship

Cause leads to effect Cause 1st & effect 2nd Only causal variable is causing effect

Solution for minimizing regression to the mean threat

Comparison groups & experimental group are equally extreme at pretest! well be able see any regression effect in results

College student participants & adult participants recruited via online platforms (M-Turk) is example of what sampling?

Convenience sampling

___________ testing association between two variables (range from -1 to +1, vary in direction & magnitude)

Correlation statistics

___________ ensures all possible sequences of conditions are presented to participants reduce order effects (ex. Alone, Stranger & Stranger, Alone)

Counterbalancing

_________if earlier measures of 1 variable are correlated with later measures of other variable

Cross-lag correlations

_________if 2 variables, measured at SAME point in time, are correlated

Cross-sectional correlations

Fatigue effect

Decreased performance on task due to being more tired or less enthusiastic as study progresses

Why attrition threat is a threat to internal validity

Different rates of attrition between treatment & control groups can skew results. make variables appear correlated when they are not.

____________ occurs when attrition or dropout rates differ systematically between intervention & control group (proportion of control group & randomly assigned are missing).

Differential attrition

In study, theres association between deep talk & well being, both being measured short period, we cannot be sure whether people engaged in deep tlak first, followed by increase in well being or if people were happy first & later engaged in more meaningful conversation. Example of what problem?

Directionality

Regression to the Mean

Extreme measurements get less extreme with time (level next time its measured with or without experimental treatment or intervention)

Dr. Geerling is grading our final replication study papers, I graded them all in one sitting, in which she was tired/bored from performing tasks over and over again. Example of what effect?

Fatigue

_________ may indicate problems with IV or DV

Floor or ceiling effects

Posttest-Only Between-Subjects Experiment CONS

High risk of attrition bias Effect of intervention is not always clear Requires large sample size & Less generalizble

Dr. Geerling is grading our study papers. I find out shegraded your group's paper after a group that made her very frustrated, how do you feel?

I would feel bad because she will most likely to carryover her frustration on our exam, which can influence our grade

How can we use longitudinal designs to minimize the directionality problem in correlational research?

Longitudinal study help us see an effect over a long period of time, which allows us to see if there is a directionality problem in research (which same first & second).

Sleep quality (IV) affects quality of your work (DV) through alertness is ______ variable. Mental health status can moderate relationship between sleep & work quality, relationship is stronger for people without mental health conditions than for their counterparts is ______ variable.

Mediator & moderator

Posttest-Only Between-Subjects Experiment PROS

Meets all 3 criteria for causation Detecting differences in DV Establish internal validty & IV comes first in time

Treatment carryover effect solutions

Minimize any factors may influence other aspects of study OR counter balancing

How we can use moderators and mediators to minimize the third-variable problem in correlational research

Moderators & mediators give an important part of "story" of association between two variables (even though moderators & mediators are technically "third variables" )

2 author citations

Name both authors each time you cite the work. (Research by Brown and Smith (2019) supports... & Research supports a link between exercise and cognition (Brown & Smith, 2019).)

PRO of using correlational design

Natural/real world = more realistic (no manipulation) Can only use correlation in certain situations where things cant be manipulated (like age) Typically easier, faster, cheaper for researchers

Are all large samples representative of their respective population?

No, sample size is not a guarantee of ability to accurately represent target population

Why we do not use the one group, pretest-post test design in psychology?

Only one group, no comparison condition (ALL THREATS TO INTERNAL VALIDTY TO HAPPEN!), NO control group makes it difficult to see if attribute gains lead to results

Posttest-Only Between-Subjects Experiment

Participants are randomly assigned to IV groups & are tested on DV group ONCE (experiment using an independent group design)

Pretest-Posttest Between-Subjects Experiment

Participants are randomly assigned to at least two groups & are tested on DV twice, once before & once after exposure to IV (experiment using an independent group design)

Subject variables

Participants characteristics arent of primary interest but may influence study results (gender identity, ethnicity, race, income, education, etc.)

Interest & motivation is a _______ correlation Interest & boredom is a _______ correlation

Positive & negative

Participants are random assigned to a laptop or handwriting condition , and they were tested only once on the video they watched. Example of what experiment?

Posttest-Only Between-Subjects

Confounds

Potential threats to internal validity (in form of possible alternative explanations)

Participants completed a verbal GRE score, then are random assigned to two groups, mindfulness classes or nutrition classes, then after completion of group, participants take same verbal GRE score again This is an example of what experiment?

Pretest-Posttest-Between-Subjects

Importance of using double blind study procedures?

Prevents bias from both increases validity & reliability of the results

Random assignment to condition helps establish internal validity why?

Random assignment ensures cause is only reason for change, differ between two groups is IV exposure

Consequences of WEIRD Samples using American college students

Represent single stage in lifespan "sharp" cognitive abilities Less formed sense of self & attitudes Specific emotional experiences

One group, pretest-posttest design

Researcher recruits one group of participants, measures them on pretest by exposing them to treatment/intervention & then measures them again on posttest to determine change/difference between initial (pre-) & second (post-) measurement.

______________ is an error arising from taking a sample, rather than full population (equally likely to go in each direction)

Sampling error

Randoms assignment decreases __________ if we address DV at study beginning

Selection effect

Solution for minimizing instrumentaiton threat

Standardized & control of measurements, administration or data collection procedures, study personnel training

Addressing the Third-Variable Problem may use ________ variables

Statistical control

Effect size

Strength of relationship between variables ( .1 - small, .3 - moderate, .5 - large)

Longitudinal Designs

Studies measuring same variables in same people at several points in time

Correlational research

Studies where all variables are MEASURED, examine naturally-occurring relationships, without manipulating (bivariate & multivariate)

Double-blind study

Study in which assignment to condition is unknown to both participant & researcher (ex. both researcher & participants unaware which people are receiving actual drug or placebo)

_____________ is an error in data values obtained from a sample deviate by a fixed amount from true values within population (MORE PROBLEMATIC SINCE BIAS SAMPLES)

Systematic error

Pretest-Posttest Between-Subjects Experiment PROS

Testing of DV before & after intervention with IV (directionally of research) Enable researchers to track peoples change in performance over time no selection effects

Within-subjuect studies arent perfect because?

Threats to internal validity still exist! Reduces establishing direct relationship between variables effects can influence outcomes Carryover effects meaning specific order of different treatments affect outcomes

Large Within-Groups Differences

Too many individual differences within each condition & Too much situational noise (causes are measurement error, individual differences, situation noise)

Treatment carryover effect

Treatment administered earlier in study, some form of contamination carries over from one condition to next (affects participants)

Remember a sample coming from population is different from that sample being representative of population True or False

True

Solution for minimizing testing threat

Use different but equivalent forms of a test for pre-test & post-test (or no pretest) Use control group

3+ authors citations

Use only the first author's last name, followed by "et al." (Brown et al., 2019) or Brown et al. (2019) found ...)

Solution for minimxing maturation & history threat

Using comparison groups! using control group from same background to compare Shorter duration of experiment

External validity

Validity from ability to generalize study's results outside of a particular sample & context (generalizability is key!)

Statistical control variables

Variables that are considered to have an effect on DV in study but arent of particular interest to researcher

Small Between-Groups Differences

Weak manipulation & Insensitive DV (& ceiling or floor effects)

What does it mean that our participants in psych tend to be WEIRD?

Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic & convenient/easy to use as sample

How to interpret a correlation statistic

When 1 variable increases as other increases = postive correlation (strong & high) when 1 decreases as other increases = negative (weak & low)

Selection Effect

When differences between groups exist before manipulation even occurs (really bad study idea!)

When is maturation & history a problem?

When it happens for everyone!

Why maturation threat is a threat to internal validity

When its internal to individual participant, mental or physical changes occur within participants themselves that could affect results

When is regression to the mean a problem?

When we selected our sample based on extreme scores at pretest, can expect them to regress towards mean for post test

Directionality problem is threat for internal validity of correlational studies?

Which variable came first & which came second if we cannot tell which came first, we cannot infer causation!

Statistical power

ability to detect a statistically significant effect, if one exists

Within-subjects experimental design

all participants are exposed to all treatment conditons (same partipant tests all conditons, repeated measures)

On dating show, participants match with potential date, only some participants choose to go to love camp with their date. Only certain people, those in love, are left in the study and finish the study leaving as couples from the camp. Only couples are left. This is an example of what threat?

attruton

Selection effects affect our results at the ________

beginning

Imagine sipping OJ right after brushing your teeth, first taste is yuck ruins experience of the second sip. Example of what effect?

carryover

Correlation, DOES NOT EQUAL _________

causation!

________ effect scores cluster together at HIGH end of scale & ________ effect scores cluster together at LOW end of scale

ceiling & floor

Systematic attrition is when only a ?

certain kind of participant drops out

Low difficultly, high-volume studies?

conducting is easier by cheap online data collection platforms only takes days & larger sample

How third variable problems is a threat for the internal validity of correlational studies.

correlation between two variables can be misleading & even confusing (if third vairbale is not taken into account)

Solutions for practice effect?

counterbalancing or Give participants some time to warm up with each tasks before experiment begins

___________ is solution for order effects (important for within-subjects designs!)

counterbalaning

In longitudinal studies, 3 types of correlations to minimize directionality problem

cross sectional autocorelation crosslag

The sign of a correlation indicates the ________ of association, positive or negative.

direction

Random sampling

each member of population has an equal chance of being selected for sample or being assigned to condition (ex. Hunger Games, the reaping everyone 50/50 shot)

Random assignment to condition

each participant has equal & independent chance of being assigned to each condition in experiment (50/50 chance to go in condition)

Between-subjects experimental design

each participant is exposed to only one treatment condition (everything else/variables are same expect IV in which participants are assigned)

Between-Subjects Experiments & Random assignment to condition helps with internal validity because?

establish only cause for changes in DV is the IV

Why history is a threat to internal validity

events occuring outside of experiment can influence participants in a study (such as historical events)

Design confound

experimenter's mistake in designing study, when second variable happens to vary systematically along with IV

Mediators variables Asks why/how

explains process through which 2 variables are related (connection between two variables)

Consequences of random sampling for external validity

external validity is compromised since random assignment represents "ideal" conditions, which different from really happens

Study is __________ if results can be generalized to other groups in population, situations, settings, measures, apart from sample studied. (generalizability is key!)

externally valid

Dr. Geerling is grading our final replication study papers. If you find out that your group's paper is the last one I am grading, how do you feel?

good because of practice effect, she will probably grade it good

Moderator variables ask when/for whom

influencing strength & direction of relationship between 2 variables

When researcher rate behavior, they often improve over times. They become more accurate with pracice, but instrument used to collect data (i.e., trained observers) has changed from beginning to end of study. Example of what threat?

instrumentation

Random assignment to condition help us establish ______________

internal validity

History threat

its unclear wheather change in treatment group is caused by treatment or by external or historical factors effecting most members of group

When something changes, but it's not manipulation is _______ &___________

maturation & history

Threats to Internal Validity include

maturation, history, regression to the mean, attrition, testing, instrumentation

Consequences of conducting low-difficult, high-volume studies in pscyh?

may not always be replicable or yield accurate results internet samples have even crowded out college student samples! (short online studys increased frequency over time)

Consequences of using WEIRD Samples in psych?

may not be demographically or psychologically representative of humans as whole

3 possible reqasons null effects may occur

maybe no difference between groups in study we are just wrong between-groups differences = too small OR Maybe within-group differences = too large

When we get a null effect, its sad because?

means our hypothesis is wrong

CON of using correlational design

no cause & effect statements (NO CAUSATION)

Nonprobability Sampling Results biased (unrepresentative) sample Poor External Validity! (Hunger Games, katiness volunteering as tribute for prim) What kind of sampling?

non random

Maturation threat

oberved change in experiemental group have emgered more or less spontaneously over time

Sampling

obtaining our sample from our population (decide upon population of interest & obtain your sample)

Curriculum or teacher assessments, as teachers frequently use the _________ research design to assess their own effectiveness as teachers or effectiveness of the curriculum.

one-group pretest-posttest

Solution for minimizing attrition threat

only look at scores of participants who completed all of study (remove those who left) Recruit large participant group

Order effects

order in which IV is administered has an impact on DV

Practice effect

participants performance improves over time from previous practice with test (not because of manipualiton or treatment) (ex. taking ACT multiple times, will get better with practice)

Testing threat affect our conclusions?

partipants may get different/better scores if they have had repeated exposer to test, gives you practice

According to APA style, what tense should the Methods section be written in?

past tense!! intended to describe completed actions

___________ is set of all individuals in particular area of research & ___________ is subset of population from whom we collect data in our study

population & sample

Order effects types

practice effects, fatigue effects, sensitization effects, treatment carryover effects

Probability sampling unbiased & representative sample Great External Validity! generalizability to population of interest What kind of sampling?

random

Randomized within-subjects design

randomly determines, for each individual, sequence of treatment

Groups average is extremely depressed at pretest, since participants volunteered for therapy when they were feeling much more depressed than usual. Example of what threat?

regression to the mean

Consequences of non random sampling for external validity?

result in biased samples, creates poor generalizability to population (unrepresenative)

Null effect

results indicate there is NO difference between conditions in study

Participant in within-subjects design may behave very differently during last trial of experiment (participant knows what experiment is about) than participant did in arly trials (when participant unware what manipulation was). Example of what effect?

sensitization

Solutions for fatigue effect?

shortening procedures & time, making task less intense & more interesting/fun to keep participants engaged

By reducing random error due to differences between participants, we increase _____ power

statistical

The numerical value of a correlation indicates____________

strength of association

An attrition threat becomes a problem for intenal validty when the attition is _______

systematic

Testing threat

taking test twice changes one's scores, scores change over time as participants have taken test more than once (practice effects) (ex. participants take same survey at start & end, show improvement since shown test multiple times)

Experimental Studies

test cause-&-effect relationships MANIPULATE IV & measure its effect on DV, other variables controlled so they cant impact study results. (internal validity is proirtized)

Pretest-Posttest Between-Subjects Experiment CONS

testing threat, threat to internal vality, due to interaction between pretest & treatment

"Icecream sales increase crime", however summer is causing crime & ice cream sales, both are assocated with third variable which is summer season (icecream & crime is correlated but summer is causation of crime & icecream sales. Example of what problem?

third variable

The third-variable problem

third variable may be causing changes in both of our variables (in correlational studys)

Solutions for small between group differences that result in null effects

use manipulation check to fix ineffective manipulation, check for IV (for ceiling & floor effects)

Solutions for large within group differences that result in null effects

use precise measure & measure more often (for measurement error) measure more people use a controlled environment (for situation variability/noise)

The directionality problem

we cannot determine which variable came "first" & which came "second" we cannot tell which came first, we cannot infer causation!

Why Conduct a Within-Subjects Study?

we take care of individual differences problem & get more data out of our participants (only needs small sample)

Instrumentation threat

when measuring itself or measuring instrument changes over time causes misleading conclusions about intervention effect

Attrition threat

when only certain types of people make it to end of study (some participant drops out of study before it ends)