Flashcards
Chapter 3 - Research Design
Flashcards do conjunto (36)
- 1Steps for Resolving the Causality Problem1. Demonstrate that a relationship exists between the key variables
2. Specify the time order of the relationship
3. Eliminate rival causal factors - 2rival causal factorsvariables that could conceivable explain away the original relationships the researchers had claimed
- 3spurious relationshipa false relationship; one that is not caused by the believed variables but can be explained by other variables
- 4internal validityaccuracy within the study itself
- 5external validityaccuracy in the ability to generalize or infer findings from a study to a larger population
- 6historyspecific events other than the treatment that during the course of a study may be responsible for producing the results
- 7maturationbiological or psychological changes in the respondents during the course of a study that are not due to the treatment variable
- 8testing (pretest bias)the bias and foreknowledge introduced to respondents as a result of having been pretested
- 9instrumentationchanges in the measuring instrument during the course of a study that invalidate comparisons
- 10statistical regressiontendency of groups that have been selected for study on the basis of extreme high or low scores to regress (fall back) toward the mean (average) on second testing
- 11selection biasinvolves choosing nonequivalent groups for comparison
- 12experimental mortalityloss of subjects over the course of time
- 13selection-maturation interactioncombination of errors introduced by selection bias plus the differential maturation of groups
- 14testing effectspretest effects or bias that is introduced as a result of having occurred events that actually occurred before the reference period
- 15reactivityatypical or artificial behavior produced by respondent's awareness of being studied
- 16multiple-treatment interferenceoutcome produced by combinations of treatments; it may be difficult to isolate the specific combinations responsible
- 17Hawthorne Effect(named for an experiment at the Hawthorne plant of Western Electric Company). Subjects behave atypically if aware of being studied
- 18halo-effectobserver bias; observers follow an initial tendency to rate certain objects or subjects in a biased manner
- 19post hoc errorincorrect assumption that because one variable precedes another in time, it is the cause of the outcome
- 20placebo effecttendency of control groups to react to believed treatment in a positive manner
- 21double-blind experimentneither the subjects nor administrators in an experiment know which group is receiving the treatment
- 22research designsa major way of controlling for invalidity in research; a means of excluding rival causal factors
- 23experimental designsrandom assignment to treatment and control groups and include the classical, posttest-only control group, and Solomon four-group designs
- 24Quasi-experimental designsthese do not use random assignment groups and instead employ matching or other means of obtaining equivalence groups; include time-series and counterbalanced designs
- 25preexperimental designslack any equivalence of groups and include one- and two-group ex post facto and one-group before-after designs
- 26classical experimental designcontains 3 key elements: equivalence, pretests and posttests, experimental and control groups
- 27equivalencethe attempt on the part of the researcher to select and assign subjects to comparison groups in such a manner that they can be assumed to be alike in all major respects
- 28randomizationthe random assignment of subjects from a similar population to one or the other groups to be compared in such a way that each individual has an equal probability of being chosen and an equal probability of being assigned to any of the groups to be compared
- 29matchingassuring equivalence by selecting subjects for the second or other comparison groups on the basis of matching certain key characteristics such as age, sex, and race, so that the groups are similar or equivalent with respect to these characteristics
- 30pretestexploratory test of an instrument on subjects who are similar to the group to be studied; observation prior to exposure to treatment
- 31post testmeasurement after exposure to treatment
- 32experimental groupthe group exposed to treatment
- 33control groupthe group that is not exposed to the stimulus or predictor variable
- 34dualistic fallacythe assumption that prisoners (who are supposed to represent criminals) and groups from the general population (all of whom are supposed to represent noncriminals) represent mutually exclusive groups (or are nonoverlapping)
- 35time-series designsmeasuring a single variable at successive points in time
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