Research Methods in Social Sciences: Terms and Definitions, Quizzes of Health psychology

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Empirical-

based on direct observations and measurements of reality. TERM 2

Probabilistic

DEFINITION 2 based on probabilities TERM 3

Causal

DEFINITION 3 pertaining to a cause-effect relationship TERM 4

Descriptive Studies

DEFINITION 4 designed to document what is going on or what exists. Ex: public opinion polls that seek to describe the proportion of peopel who hold various opinions are descriptive in nature. TERM 5

Relational Studies

DEFINITION 5 look at the relationship between two or more variables. Ex: a public opinion poll that compares the proportion of males and females that say they would vote democrat or republican in the next presidential election.

Causal Studies

are designed to determine whether one or more variables cause or affect one or more outcome variables TERM 7

Cross-sectional study

DEFINITION 7 a study that takes place at a single point in time. TERM 8

Longitudinal

DEFINITION 8 A study that takes place over time TERM 9

Repeated Measures

DEFINITION 9

- two or more waves of measurement over time. TERM 10

Time Series

DEFINITION 10 many waves of measurement over time

Attribute

a specific value of a variable. Variable:sex, Attribute:male or female TERM 12

Exhaustive

DEFINITION 12 the property of a variable that occurs when you include all possible answerable responsive. TERM 13

Mutually Exclusive

DEFINITION 13 the property of a variable that ensures that the respondent is not able to assign two attributes simultaneously. TERM 14

Third-variable problem

DEFINITION 14 An unobserved variable that accounts for a correlation between two variables. TERM 15

Sampling model

DEFINITION 15 taking a study and generalizing your results to other population groups

Proximal similarity model

model for generalizing from your study to another context based upon the degree to which the other context is similar to your study context TERM 17

reliability types

DEFINITION 17 inteer-rater, test-retest, parallel forms, internal consistency TERM 18

inter rater reliability

DEFINITION 18 degree to which different raters give consistent estimates of the same phenomenon TERM 19

test-retest reliability

DEFINITION 19 correlation between two observations on the same test administered to the same sample on two occasions TERM 20

parallel forms

DEFINITION 20 correlation between two observations between parallel forms of a test administered to the same sample

internal consistency-

In statistics and research, internal consistency is typically a measure based on the correlations between different items on the same test. TERM 22

Construct

validity

DEFINITION 22 approximate truth of the conclusion that your measure accurately reflects its constructs. TERM 23

Translation validity-

DEFINITION 23 face validity and content validity is the operationalization a good translation of the construct? TERM 24

Face

validity

DEFINITION 24 see whether "on its face" it seems like a good translation of the construct. TERM 25

Content validity-

DEFINITION 25 extent to which a measure represents all facets of a given social construct

criterion related

validity

the extent to which the measures are demonstrably related to concrete criteria in the "real" world Concurrent validity Predictive validity Convergent validity Discriminant validity TERM 27

Concurrent

validity

DEFINITION 27 established by simultaneously applying a previously validated tool or test to the same phenomenon, or database, and comparing the results. Concurrent validity is achieved if the results are highly correlated TERM 28

Predictive

validity

DEFINITION 28 extent to which a score on a scale or test predicts scores on some criterion measure. TERM 29

Convergent

validity

DEFINITION 29 how similar is the measure to other measures to which is theoretically should be similar TERM 30

Discriminant

validity

DEFINITION 30 how different is the measure compared to other measures to which it should theoretically be different

3 criteria before you have evidence of internal

validity:

temporal precedence -covariation of the cause and effect -no plausible alternative explanations TERM 32

temporal precedence

DEFINITION 32 cause happened before your effect TERM 33

-covariation of the cause and effect

DEFINITION 33 show that you have a relationship at all TERM 34

no plausible alternative explanations

DEFINITION 34 rule out other possibilities TERM 35

maturation threat-

DEFINITION 35 a threat to validity that occurs as a result of natural maturation between pre and postmeasurement

history threat

when some other event affects your program TERM 37

testing threat

DEFINITION 37 occurs when taking the pretest affects how participants do on the posttest TERM 38

instrumentation threat

DEFINITION 38 observers used on the posttest and pretest differ TERM 39

mortality threat

DEFINITION 39 occurs when a significant amount of participants drop out TERM 40

regression threat

DEFINITION 40 -statistical phenomenon on one measure to regress toward or appear closer to the mean of that measure than anticipated or predicted.-Occurs whenever you have a nonrandom sample from a population and two measures that are imperfectly correlated. -It will bias your estimate of the groups posttest performance and can lead to incorrect causal inferences

selection bias

any factor other than the program that leads to posttest difference between groups TERM 42

selection history threat

DEFINITION 42 a threat to internal validity that results from any other event that occurs between pretest and posttest that the groups experience differently TERM 43

selection-maturation threat

DEFINITION 43 arises from any differential rates of normal growth between pretest and posttest for the groups TERM 44

selection testing

threat

DEFINITION 44 occurs when a differential effect of taking the pretest exists between groups on the posttest TERM 45

selection instrumentation threat

DEFINITION 45 results from differential changes in the test used for each group from pretest to posttest

selection mortality threat

arises when there is a differential nonrandom dropout between the groups during the study TERM 47

selection regression threat

DEFINITION 47 occurs when there are different rates of regression to the mean in the two groups TERM 48

Social Interaction threats

DEFINITION 48 Diffusion imitation of treatments Compensatory rivalry Resentful demoralization Compensatory equalization of treatment TERM 49

Compensatory equalization of treatment

DEFINITION 49 when the control group is given a program or treatment TERM 50

Resentful

demoralization

DEFINITION 50 when the comparison group knows what the program group is getting and becomes discourages or angry and gives up

Compensatory rivalry-

occurs when one group knows the program another group is getting, and because of them develops a competitive attitude with the other group TERM 52

Diffusion imitation of treatments-

DEFINITION 52 a social threat to internal validity that occurs because a comparison group learns about the program either directly or indirectly from program to program TERM 53

Variability

DEFINITION 53 extent to which the values measured or observed for a variable differ TERM 54

Covariates

DEFINITION 54

• variables you adjust for your study TERM 55

Probabilistic equivalence

DEFINITION 55

- the notion that two groups, if measured infinitely, would on average perform identicallyin a real setting 2 groups that are probabilistically equivalent would obtain exact same avg score is seldom

ANOVA

analysis of variance- an analysis that estimates the difference between groups on a posttest. TERM 57

Factorial designs

DEFINITION 57 designs that focus on program or treatment, its components, and its major dimensions and enable you to determine whether the program has an effect, whether the different subcomponents are effective, and whether there are interactions in the effects caused by subcomponents TERM 58

Interaction effect

DEFINITION 58 an effect that occurs when differences on one factor depend on which level you are on another factor. Interaction is between factors, not levels TERM 59

Fully crossed factorial design

DEFINITION 59 a design that includes the pairing of every combination of factor levels TERM 60

Incomplete factorial design

DEFINITION 60 some cells or combinations in a fully crossed factorial design are intentionally left empty

Randomized block

design

Experimental designs in which the sample is grouped into relatively homogenous subgroups or blocks within which your experiment is replicated TERM 62

Switching replications design

DEFINITION 62 one of the strongest experimental designs. Addresses the need to deny the program through random assignment of the same participants to a no-program comparison group. 3 waves of measurement. Repetition of treatment in both phases. In the repetition the groups switch roles. Control becomes treatment and vice versa TERM 63

Regression Discontinuity Design

DEFINITION 63 a pre-test post-test program comparison group quasi- experimental design in which a cutoff criterion on the preprogram measure is the method of assignment to the group. Useful for determining if a treatment is effective C= cutoff score TERM 64

Proxy-pretest design

DEFINITION 64 a post only design in which after the fact, a pretest measure is constructed from preexisting data. Usually done to make up for the fact tgat research didnt inclue a true pretest TERM 65

Separate post

samples

DEFINITION 65 a design in which the people who receive the pretest are not the same as the people who take the posttest

Index

-It combines several distinct indicators of a construct into a single scoregenerally is a sum of scores of such indicators-A quantitative score constructed by applying a set of rules to combine two or more variables in order to reflect a more general construct TERM 67

Scale

DEFINITION 67 based on associating qualitative judgments about a construct with quantitative metric units TERM 68

semantic differential scale

DEFINITION 68 respondent assess an object on a set of bipolar adjective pairs (three-dimensional) - Typically a scale would consist of a minimum of five bipolar pairs and the score would be obtained by adding the numeric values. TERM 69

Likert scale

DEFINITION 69 -Unidimensional scaling method -items rated (usually 1-5, agree to disagree format) -ratings are summed to get final score TERM 70

Guttman Scaling

DEFINITION 70 -developing a scale in which items are assigned scale values that allow them to be placed in a cumulative ordering with respect to construct being scaled -one-dimensional continuum-set of items that a respodant who agrees with any question will also agree with all of the previous questions