research methods

4 steps of measurement process

1. Define the concept theoretically 2. Develop an operational definition 3. implementing the measure 4. evaluate the measure

Measures of different constructs

Allows the researcher to address more research questions in a single study

BRUSO

Brief, Relevant, Unambiguous, Specific, and Objective

Which of the following are not a type of counterbalancing?

Incomplete Counterbalancing

Which of the following is not a type of control condition?

Leave Out Control Condition

Measures of the same construct

Multiple measures of the same construct, Can be analyzed separately, Or can be combined to produce single measure of that construct, Must have strong internal consistency reliability

why would a researcher create a measure?

No existing measure of the construct of interest, Existing measures are either too difficult or time-consuming to use

Which of the following best describes the effect where participants perform a task better in later conditions because they have had a chance to practice it?

Practice Effect

Quasi-experiments are missing which of the following safeguards?

Random Assignment and Counterbalancing

At which part of the procedure is a manipulation check usually completed?

Right at the end of the procedure

Which of the following is a disadvantage of using a within-subjects design?

This design makes it easier for participants to guess the hypothesis

operational defintion

a definition of the variable in terms of precisely how it is to be measured

concurrent validity

a form of criterion validity where the criterion is measured at the same time as the construct

convergent validity

a form of criterion validity whereby new measures are correlated with existing established measures of the same construct

predictive validity

a form of validity whereby the criterion is measured at some point in the future

ratio level

a measurement that involves assigning scores in such a way that there is a true zero point that represents the complete absence of the quantity

ordinal level

a measurement that involves assigning scores so that they represent the rank order of the individuals

interval level

a measurement that involves assigning scores using numerical scales in which intervals have the same interpretation throughout

split half correlation

a score that is derived by splitting the items into two sets and examining the relationship between the two sets of scores in order to assess the internal consistency of a measure

Cronbach's alpha

a statistic that measures internal cnsistency among items in a measure

factoral designs

a study with multiple independent variables

Psychometrics

a subfield of psychology concerned with the theories and techniques of psychological measurement; psychological measurement is referred to as psychometrics

experiment

a type of research study, different that correlational research or descriptive research

criterion

a variable that theoretically should be correlated with the construct being measured

between subjects design

an experiment where each participant is tested in one condition

within subjects design

an experiment where participants are tested in all conditions

confounding variable

an extraneous variable that varies systematically with the independent variable.

context affect

context affects responses

conceptual definition

describes the behaviors and internal processes that make up a psychological construct, along with how it relates to other variables.

random assignment

each participant has an equal chance of being assigned to each condition, different from random selection

the big five

five broad dimensions that capture much of the variation in human personality. openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism

levels of measurement

four categories, or scales, of measurement (nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio) that specify the types of information that a set of scores can have, and the types of statistical procedures that can be used with the scores

close ended question

how old are you, quantitative

Measurment

is the assignment of scores to individuals so that the scores represent some characteristic of the individuals

survey formats

mail, in person, online, phone

self report measures

measures in which participants report on their own thoughts, feelings, and actions

behavioral measures

measures in which some other aspect of participants behavior is observed and recorded

physiological measures

measures that involve recording any of a wide variety of physiological processes, including heart rate and blood pressure, galvanic skin response, hormone levels, and electrical activity and blood flow in the brain

double blind study

neither experimenters nor participants know what group participants are in

the weakest quasi experimental research design

one group posttest only

linear regression

predictor variable predicts the value of a criterion variable

constructs

psychological variables that represent an indivduals mental state or experience, often not directly observable, such as personality traits, emotional states, attitudes, and abilities.

which level of measurement has a true zero?

ratio

reliability

refers to the consistency of a measure

Quasi-experimental research

research that resembles experimental research but is not true experimental research

item order effect

responses are effected by earlier survey questions

When creating a new measure, a researchers ought to strive for measures that are

simple and include clear instructions and practice items

When a participants respond in a way they are expected to, this is known as

social desirability

Which of the following validities best describes an experiment where the data are properly treated and the researcher's conclusions are sound?

statistical validity

demand characteristics

subtle cues that reveal how the researcher expects them to respond in the experiment

counterbalancing

systematically varying the order of conditions across participants

internal consistency

the consistency of peoples responses across the items on a multiple item measure

main effect

the effect of one independent variable average across levels of all other independent variables

content validity

the extent to which a measure reflects all aspects of the construct of interest

face validity

the extent to which a measurement method appears on a superficial examination, to measure the construct of interest

inter rater reliability

the extent to which different observers are consistent in their judgements

criterion validity

the extent to which peoples scores on a measure are correlated with other variables that one would expect them to be correlated with

discriminant validity

the extent to which scores on a measure of a construct that are not correlated with measures of other, conceptually distinct, contructs and thus discriminate between them

validity

the extent to which the scores from a measure represent the variable they are intended to

single blind study

the participants do not know what condition they are in

open ended questions

what do you enjoy about doing your job, qualitative

psychosocial effects

when an experimenters attitude/personality affects participants behavior

biosocial effects

when an experimenters characteristics affect participants behaviors

socially desirable responding

when participants respond in ways that they think are socially acceptable

converging operations

when psychologists use multiple operational definitions of the same construct, either within a study or across studies

experimenter bias

when researchers biases inadvertently affect the participants behaviors

test retest reliability

when researchers measure a construct that they assume to be consistent across time, then the scores they obtain should also be consistent across time

sampling bias

when sample is not representative of the whole population