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research methods

Terms in this set (45)

1- evaluation of scientific claims
2- draw valid conclusions
3- make informed decisions
3 reasons why research methods important
evaluation of scientific claims
example- 4 out of 5 dentists surveyed recommend. know if you have a bias sample
draw valid conclusions
older people differ from younger people in many ways other than chronological age. different attitudes (married younger) ( are observed differences due to age or preexisting differences in health and education - back then the highest education you got was high school
make informed decisions
whether to use Cognex in early AD
descriptives and explanatory
types of research
descriptive research
goal: describe age differences in performance on some experimental task. age alone is the variable of interest
descriptive research
select samples of adults to represent each age level and test them on some performance measure. mean of old sample is compared to the mean of the young sample. evaluate statistical significance of the relationship using a t or f test. draw conclusions about the relationship between chronological age and performance. most common- cross-sectional design
descriptive research
maps it out but does not tell us why
explanatory research
goal: test hypotheses that are theory based. theories spell out the mechanisms presumed to be responsible for age-related changes in performances
longitudinal research design and cross-sectional design
one approach is to explain changes is through __ and __ in explanatory research
explanatory research
this tells us why
intraindividual change
means within. a change in traits, behaviors, abilities, or performance levels within a specific person at any point in time
interindividual differences
changes between people
cohort
a collection of people who were all born within 10 years of each other. a group of peers who have experienced the same historic events in life at about the same age. (people who were young adults during the depression are all elderly adults today)
cohort effects
represents a "past history" which is unique to a particular generation of people and contributes to all measurements of that generation
the relationship between age differences in performances in performances and age-related maturational changes
are the result of developmental process is complex and difficult to understand
challenge for researches in interpretive and measurement issues
isolate genuine maturational change form extraneous factors
measurement issues
design selection and related issues and data collection
data collection
minimize experimental error
reliability and validity
two criteria used to evaluate tests
reliability
does the measurement instrument (test) yield consistent results every time its used
? A test produces similar results every time it is administered (ACT, GRE)
validity
does the test measure what it is supposed to
validity
content, criterion, construct
construct validity
requires two sources of evidence: convergent and divergent validity
cross-sectional design
subject from different age groups are compared on some behavioral measure at the same point in time. most popular developmental research design.
main advantage in cross-sectional designs
they are efficient and relatively easy to use in experimental settings
problems with cross-sectional designs
age isnt an independent variable. cohort effects. sampling issues
age isnt an independent variable
chronological age isnt a true IV, because its value cannot be manipulated. researchers can not make people age
cohort effects
subjects are sampled from different birth cohorts and consequently grew up different periods, so it is quite possible that 2 comparison groups differ in many ways other than just chronological age
sampling issues
it is very difficult to obtain representative samples of individuals from each age group
longitudinal designs
explore the individual's response over time. a sample of persons from the sample generation (birth cohort) are studied over time. these designs are much more revealing about the true nature of maturational processes than cross-sectional designs
longitudinal designs
individual aging trends can be studied, thus providing a better picture of genuine maturational changes. greater sensitivity for testing age differences as a result of greater statistical power associated with participants serving as their own controls
problems with longitudinal designs
time, expense and inflexibility; sampling issues; historical/ cultural effects
time, expense and inflexibility
these studies take a very long time to do. very ___, institutions rather than individual researchers typically conduct longitudinal studies. they are __ because once the study begins, the researcher is obliged to continue with original procedures
sampling issues
difficult to find subjects who are willing to participate in a long term project that are also representative of the population (have to ask the same thing over and over years later). even if you start with a representative sample, there is no guarantee you'll end with one (selective attrition) -people die and quit
historical/cultural effects
not possible to control for external environmental events that occur between the different times of testing
age effect, cohort effect, time of measurement effect
in sequential designs the most efficient design builds on the measurement of 3 things
age effect
variance due maturational changes within people over time. intraindividual change is what most scientists are interested in. sequential research design
cohort effect
variance due to birth cohort, reflects historic influences (Great Depression) typically considered a source of confounding. sequential research design
time of measurement effect
variance due to the year subjects are tested, reflects current environmental conditions (with internet, Google, people are more computer savvy today) typically considered a source of confounding. sequential research designs
problems with sequential designs
similar to longitudinal designs with time, expensive and inflexibility and sampling issues. can only account for two out of 3 sources of variance
account for age and cohort effect, time of measurement varies. account for age and time of measurement effect, cohort varies. account for time of measurement and cohort effect, age varies
what does it mean with sequential designs to only account for 2 out 3 of the source variances
ethics in research
psychological research can be used for betterment of destruction.
ethical issues in research
in order to protect the rights of the participants, psychologists must pay attention to
principle A- beneficent and non maleficence( no harm) principle b- fidelity and responsibility principle c- integrity principle d- justice and principle e- repsect for people's rights and dignity
there are 5 guidelines for research with human participants
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