Experimental Design and Problem Formulation
If two variables are correlated, what is an assumption many researchers might make?
That one variable caused the other
Using the _______ _______ method, researchers ask open-ended questions to discover how participants in a study understand the significant events and meanings in their own lives
What concept refers to what would happen if a professor were to give an exam on a Monday, and then give the following exam a few days later to assess differences in the scores?
Reliability
Concealing the nature of the study from those being observed violates the norm of what?
voluntary participation
What can be said about measurements that are used successfully for one gender?
That they may not be successful or useful for another gender
Single-system design or single-case designs
Pre-experimental designs are considered what?
Qualitative research methods are more likely to generate theoretically rich observations that are not easily reduced to numbers
True or False?
True
What can be said about external validity?
The problem is the ability to generalize your results to the larger population
When recruiting minority and oppressed populations in research studies, what is one thing that the researcher should do?
Obtain endorsement for your study from community leaders.
Every kth element in a list is chosen for inclusion in the sample in:
Systematic sampling
This type of practitioner will use research methods to evaluate whether the actions they take will result in outcomes they seek to achieve?
Evidence-based practitioners
The number of incidents of child abuse refers to what level of measurement
Ratio
In qualitative inquiry, purposive sampling can be used to select _________ cases as well as representative cases
What does content validity refer to?
That the items on a scale or instrument appear to measure what they intend to measure
What are some areas to avoid related to gender bias and insensitivity in research (3)?
- do not look for differences in men and women, and assume that there are no differences
- do not assume that if a measurement instrument can be used successfully with one gender that it would be valid for the other gender.
This type of nonprobability sample is generated by asking participants that have been interviewed to suggest additional people to be interviewed?
Snowball sample
What does p-value or probability level refer to?
That the likelihood that the results supporting the hypothesis can be attributed to chance is less than .05
p value
The results will be considered statistically significant if the p value is at or below .05, meaning there is a 5 in 100 chance that the relationship can be contributed to chance.
If we find that test performance improves as the level of anxiety increases from low to moderate amounts, and then worsens as level of anxiety increases beyond moderate amounts, what type of relationship exists? (what does the graph depict)
Curvilinear
What is grounded theory?
A study that begins with observations and then looks for patterns, themes, or common categories is using what method.
What is the weakest form of validity and what is an example?
Face validity is the weakest form of validity as it assumes that some characteristic makes it seem reasonable.
An example might be that those who attend church are aligned with a specific religious preference.
In order to avoid measurement error in a questionnaire, it's a good idea to do some of these things (3)?
- use terms that the participants will understand
- test out your instruments during a dry run with a few people in the target population
What are some examples of assumptions about qualitative sampling methods? (2)
- they do not rely on available subjects
- they are less complicated
what is contemporary positivism referring to? What are some strategies to enhance rigor from this perspective? (3)
This is referring to the pursuit of objectivity in research and our quest to observe and understand reality. Examples include:
- prolonged engagement
- Triangulation or multiple sources of data
- having a paper trail in the event of an audit
For causal relationships to exist, there must be evidence of these 3 things?
1. A relationship between the variables
2. One variable precedes the other in time &
3. That a third variable did not cause the changes observed in the first two variables
What does the qualitative researcher do (4)?
They will seldom approach tasks with precisely defined hypotheses to be tested, they will attempt to make sense out of an ongoing process that cannot always be predicted in advance, they will alternate between induction and deduction, and they will make initial observations to develop tentative conclusions that suggest further observations and to revised their conclusions
What are three different forms of reliability?
- internal consistency; this divides the instrument into equivalent halves (split halves) and then calculates the correlation of the scores between those two halves
- Test/retest; this refers to the consistency or stability of a meaure over time
- interrater; this refers to the consistency among different observers in their judgements.
- Critically examine and keep current with emerging knowledge relevant to social work
- use research to guide their practice
- base practice on empirically based knowledge
Why are probability samples advantageous to the researcher?
Because the method by which they are selected limits conscious and unconscious sampling bias, the representativeness of the sample can be reasonably estimated
What does the time dimension in research refer to? what are some examples (4)?
the time dimension is a factor that influences the research process during which observations will be conducted. The following are some examples:
trend studies - longitudinal studies that monitor a given set of characteristics of a population over time
panel study - examines the same set of people each time
cohort study - examine specific subpopulations as they change over time
cross-sectional studies; studies that are based on observations that represent a single point in time