Research MEthods 1

any value or characteristic that can change or vary from one person to another or from one situation to another

description of some observable event in terms of the specific process or manner by which it was observed or measured

a set of all individuals, items, or data of interest about which scientists will generalize

a method of knowing based largely on an individuals hunch or feeling that something is correct

a method of knowing accepted as fact because it was stated by an expert or respected source in a particular subject area

a method of knowing based largely on habit or superstition

a method of knowing that requires the use of reasoning and logic

a method of knowing based on ones experiences or observations

"top-down" type of reasoning in which a claim is used to generate ideas or predictions and make observations

"bottom-up" type of reasoning in which a limited number of observations or measurements are used to generate ideas and make observations

the first internation code for ethical conduct in research consisting of 10 directives aimed at the protection of human participants

a published document that recommends three principles for the ethical conduct of research with human participants.

participants in a study must be autonomous agents capable of making informed decisions concerning whether to participate in research

it is the researchers responsibility to minimize the potential risks and maximize the potential benefits associated with conducting research

all participants should be treated fairly and equitably in terms of receiving the benefits and bearing the risks in research

to understand prejudice and intergroup conflict

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conceptual variable that is known to exist but cannot be directly observed

describes the variable or construct

measured along a continuum at any place beyond the decimal point (score on an exam)

measured in whole units or categories that are not distributed along a continuum. (# of brothers and sisters in your family)

varies by amount, measured as a numeric value and is often collected by measuring or counting

varies by class, often a category or label for the behaviors and events researchers observe, nonnumeric

a number is assigned to represent something or someone (zip codes, social security #s)

measurements that convey order or rank (finishing order in a competition)

have no true zero (temperature)

the consistency, stability, or repeatability of one or more measures or observations

the extent to which a measure or observation is consistent or stable at two points in time

a measure of reliability used to determine the extent to which multiple items used to measure the same variable are related

a measure for the extent to which two or more raters of the same behavior or event are in agreement with what they observed

extent to which the operational definition for a variable/construct is actually measuring that variable/construct

used when little is known about the characteristics of a target population. equal number of subjects are selected

used when the proportions of certain characteristics in a target population are known

all individuals in a population have an equal chance of being selected and are selected using sampling with replacement

a population is divided into subgroups or strata; participants then selected from each subgroup w/ simple random sampling and combined

first participant is selected using simple random sampling and then every nth person is systematically selected until all participants selec

a research design includes enough control of the conditions and experiences of participants that it can demonstrate cause and effect

observations made in a study generalize beyond the specific manupulations or constraints in the study