H_D 101 1nd Edition Lecture 4 Outline of Last Lecture I. Aspects of ContextII. Human Development as an Area of ResearchIII. Physical DevelopmentIV. Cognitive DevelopmentV. Psychosocial DevelopmentVI. Life-Cycle ForcesVII. Recurring Issues Outline of Current Lecture II. Why Conduct ResearchIII. Scientific Method – Stages of ResearchIV. Are Results AccurateV. Research MethodVI. Research DesignVII. Research SampleVIII. CautionsIX. Communicating and Utilizing ResultsCurrent Lecture- Why Conduct Research:o Learn more about a specific population. What are personality characteristics of people who choose to become teachers?o Study a phenomenon. How do people take care of one another following a natural disaster?o Evaluate a program. How effective is a high school violence prevention program that is planned and implemented by the students?- Scientific Method – Stages of Research:o Formulate a research question.o Develop a hypothesis/design the study (determine design, select sample, determine data collection).o Test the hypothesis (observation, experiment, interview, combination of methods).o Draw conclusions/analyze results.o Report the findings.These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.- Are the Results Accurate?o Replication: repetition of a scientific study – science builds on science.o Reliability: is it a consistent measure of a characteristic?o Validity: does it measure what the researchers think it does?o Generalizability: can it be applied beyond the study?o Usefulness: does it solve real-life problems?- Research Method:o Systematic observation: observe and record behavior systematically and objectively. Naturalistic or structured settings.o Self reports: interview, questionnaire.o Case study: intensive study of one individual; often multiple sources of information/data.o Ethnography: observation of particular culture or social group.- Research Design:o Correlational: observe relationship between two phenomenon, not causation, but the relationship.o Cross-sectional: observe persons of different ages at one point in time.o Longitudinal: observe same group(s) at different points in time.o Experimental: observe when circumstances are carefully controlled.o Sequential: combines above designs; two groups over time.- Research Sample:o Demographics: Age. Income levels. Types/place of residence.o Special population. Autism. Single moms vs. partnered moms.o Random sample.o Convenience sample. College kids- Cautions:o Correlation: looks at the relationship between variables as they exist naturally in the world. Sleep deprivation is correlated with low test scores, but does not cause low test scores.o Causation: one variable causes a response in another. Smoking causes health problems.o Correlation and causation – results of analyses may show that variables are related, but cannot demonstrate what causes the response.o Quantitative data – can be categorized, ranked, or numbered.o Qualitative data – rich description of a phenomena (obtained from open-ended questions), not easily translated into numbers and categories.o Quantitative and qualitative Quantitative – difficult to get valid data.o Research ethics. Protection from harm. Informed consent. Confidentiality. Knowledge of results. Deception. Deliberate falsification of data. Bias.- Communicating and Utilizing Results:o Research journals: Textbooks. Popular press articles. News reports/newspaper.o Professional presentations. Universities, research institutions. Professional organization.o Social policy.o