Empiricism (direct observation) /empirical

based on observations of individuals or objects of interest – planned in advance

Rationalism

principal that accepts reason as the supreme authority; doctrine that reason only is the source of knowledge and is independent of research

Triangulation

more than one way of collecting data is being use; to try to verify the data by using multiple methods

Indicator

when you cannot acquirer information through standard; something that represents something else

Inter-subjectivity

everyone involved in the research understands the concept in the same way

Qualitative vs Quantitative

Qualitative – can use numbers but not dependent on them, paradigms that privileges the use of words; use of participants and respondents – we are doing it together; quality over quantity

Quantitative paradigms – use of numbers for representing data and analyzing; uses the term subjects – very objectifying; Quantity over quality

Levels of data/scales of measurement

aka data or information; helps researcher determine what type of statistical analysis is appropriate for a given set of data; No Oil In Rivers (NOIR)

Independent

those that are (probably) cause, influence, or affect outcomes; called treatment, manipulated, antecedent, or predictor

Dependent variable

those that depend on the independent variables, they are outcomes or results of the influence of the independent variables; called criterion, outcome, and effect

Experiment

a study in which treatments are given to see how the participants respond to them; want to identify cause and affect relationships

Descriptive

summarize data; tell a story; average, percentage, range

Inferential statistics

tools that tell us how much confidence we can have when generalizing from a sample to a population; prediction statistics

Non-experimental

descriptive study; a study in which observations are made to determine the status of what exists at a given point in time w/o the administration of treatments

most frequently used average; called average; 5, 6, 7,10,12,15 = 55/6 = 9.17 balance point in a distribution; includes total population; depends on the outlier; can be pulled in direction of extreme scores

middle point in a distribution; insensitive to extreme scores; best for when you have a skew

most frequently occurring score; used as average in nominal data

Measures of dispersion

standard deviation, range, interquartile range, variance

Conceptual understanding of s.d.

a statistic that provides an overall measurement of how much participants’ scores differ from the mean

the most frequantly used measure of variability; aka spread &dispersion

Population

Sample

Parameter

Statistics

consist of all members of a group in which a researcher has an interest

a subset of a population

populations yield parameters; summarized results

– the range of the middle 50 % of the participants; takes away outliers

Normal distribution

normal curve; most important curve; used as the basis for a number of inferential stats; the shape of a polygon becomes smoother and is referred to as a curve

positive goes to the right

negative goes to the left

leans towards one direction

Relationships of measures of central tendency in skew

mean, median, and modes; they report the data in terms of the center

moves from more specific observations to broader generalizations and theories

reasoning works from the more generel to the more specific

Hypothesis/hypotheses

Alternative

Null

One-Tailed

a specific statement of prediction

supported by you

one that describes the remaining possbile outcomes

if your prediction specifies a direction

laws and rules that pertain to the general case

laws and rules that relate to individuals

Anonymity

stricter standard; means that the participant will remain anonymous throughout the study, even to the researchers themselves

Confidentiality

assuring that identifying information will not be made available to anyone who is not directly involved in the study

Longitudinal study

one that takes place over time; at least two, often more waves of measurement in a longitudinal

Repeated measures

if you have less than two waves of measurement

Third variable problem

when an outside variable affects the relationship between to other different variables

Variable

any entity that can take on different values; anything that can vary

Attribute

a specific value on a variable 1= strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 =neutral,… etc.

Level of variable

Informed consent

prospective research participants must be fully informed about the procedures and risks involved in research and must give their consent to participate

Voluntary participation

requires that people not be coerced into participating in research; prisons, universities, etc.

Institutional Review Board

a panel of persons who reviews grant proposals with respect to ethical implications and decides whether additional actions need to be taken to assure the safety and rights of participants