Midterm Study Guide EDHD 306 Research Methods in Human Development Spring 2014 What is research o Instead of having someone teach you about something you find out for yourself the answers to questions you are interested in and share the answers with a community with the hope of building a knowledge base that comes as close as possible to the truth Scientific writing and APA style o Writing Scientifically convention uniformity clarity organization o How Format Times New Roman 12 Double space 1 margins running head Precision and clarity of expression Economy of expression Organization Work of others is acknowledged o APA 6th Edition L and page numbers R Organization Introduction Title Page Abstract Method Results Discussion References between authors and reviewers Reasons for conducting research Curiosity o Limitations of intuition o Limitations of authority The empirical approach The Big picture o Observations accurately reported to others o Search for discovery and verification of ideas o Open exchange and competition among ideas o Peer review of research Goals of science o To describe behavior o To predict behavior o To determine the causes of behavior Peer Reviews improve quality of what is published back and forth Temporal precedence cause comes before effect Covariation of cause and effect when cause present effect is present When cause absent effect absent Elimination of alternative explanations o To understand and explain behavior Basic vs applied research o Basic Research addresses theoretical issues o Applied Research addresses applied issues and solutions to problems immediate practical implications Sources of ideas for research how do ppl come up with ideas for research o Observation personal experience Curiosity about your own experiences Conflicts of interest Student does well in school but bad on standardized test vice versa o Theory Systematic body of ideas about a particular topic or phenomenon Theories serve 2 main functions Organize and explain behavior Generate new knowledge Characteristics of good theories Ability to account for data Explanatory relevance Testability Prediction Expectancy Value Theory Achievement related choices what causes it to happen Ie Women not in STEM track o Previous research What have other researchers found Familiarity with the literature allows you to notice patterns and inconsistencies Can also address Prior methodological flaws New contexts Different samples Research questions and hypotheses o Research questions What does the researcher want to know Ask a research question in terms that will allow you or others to test it empirically Isolate specific variable that need to be explored o Hypotheses A tentative explanation for an observation phenomenon or scientific problem that can be tested Must be posed in a form that allows it to be rejected Boredom is related to student s academic performance negative Non directional or positive Directional Boredom increases academic performance decreases and vice versa directional hypotheses are also sometimes referred to as predictions The Belmont report o Provides ethical guidelines for psychological and medical researchers o Laid out 3 ethical principles for research o Beneficence Research should maximize benefits and minimize harm to every extent possible o Autonomy o Justice Ex benefits treatment money Risks physical psychological harm Participants are capable of making their own decisions and are treated as such Informed consent form Issues special populations withholding information deception Both the researcher and participant should share in the costs and potential benefits of the research Tuskegee syphilis study government gave free medical care and food for the study but weren t aware of the health risks weren t balancing costs and benefits Institutional Review Board o Required for all institutions that receive federal funds o Research is categorized reviewed and approved based on the amount of risk involved o Categorization of risk Exempt research Minimal risk research Greater than minimal risk research Fraud and plagiarism Variables o Fraud the fabrication of data o Plagiarism taking another s work and representing it as your own o Variable an event behavior situation or individual characteristic that varies o Different types Latent variable not easily observable measurable Observable measurable variable height weight ethnicity o Conceptual and operational definitions Operational Concrete expression of how a variable will be measured or manipulated Discuss abstract concepts in concrete terms Should align with conceptual definition Conceptual definition of stress bodily or mental tension that results from changes to one s current state Operational definition of stress heart rate increase how irritated sweat Aligns closely with conceptual but not perfect find best for particular study Nonexperimental method o Definition Simply measuring variable NOT manipulating or changing anything in the environment Words related associated with relationship between o General issues Direction of cause and effect Third Variable problem Experimental Method o Definition Directly manipulating or changing something in the environment Eliminates outside influence of other variable through randomization and experimental control Words influence cause effect o Experimental control and randomization Eliminate outside influence of other variables o General issues Some variables cannot be manipulated for practical or ethical reasons Artificiality Relationships between variables o Curvilinear Relationship If strength or direction of relationship changes o Linear Relationships o No Relationship o Experimental Studies Independent predictor and dependent outcome variables Independent variable is manipulated Dependent variable is measured o Nonexperimental Studies Predictor variable is measured Outcome variable is measured o Weaker correlation when harder to predict Internal and external validity about the study as a whole o Internal The extent to which you can make casual conclusions that x caused y Higher when smaller sample more control experimental higher internal o External the extent to which your results can be generalized to other populations and contexts Higher external more generalizable o High on one and probably lower on other Quantitative versus qualitative research o Quantitative uses numerical data to explore a research question Looks for overall patterns Conclusions primarily rely on statistical