Quantitative Methods
A study in which participants are randomly assigned to either a treatment or control group; the IV is manipulated.
What is a True Experiment?
Selecting a sample where each person has the same fixed probability of being included.
What is Random Sampling?
The consistency of a measure across time with the same population.
What is Reliability?
A study of a unique individual or group over time using method triangulation.
What is a Case Study?
A sample not representative of the population, reducing validity.
What is Sampling Bias?
The researcher manipulates the IV in a real-world setting without random assignment.
What is a Field Experiment?
Sampling based on naturally occurring groups or availability.
What is Opportunity Sampling?
The degree to which results represent real-world conditions.
What is Ecological Validity?
A group interview with 5–12 participants sharing a common trait.
What is a Focus Group?
Answering in a way that makes the participant look good to the researcher.
What is the Social Desirability Effect?
The study of a naturally occurring situation; no IV manipulation or random assignment.
What is a Natural Experiment?
Participants choose to take part by responding to an advertisement for the study.
What is Self-Selected Sampling?
The degree to which operational definitions accurately represent the phenomenon under investigation.
What is Construct Validity?
An observation where the researcher joins the group being studied.
What is Participant Observation?
Cues that may influence participants’ behavior or suggest expected outcomes.
What are Demand Characteristics?
The researcher manipulates the IV but does not randomly assign participants.
What is a Quasi-experiment?
Randomly assigning participants to conditions.
What is Random Allocation?
The extent to which a study’s design and controls ensure that changes in the dependent variable are caused by the independent variable, not by other factors.
What is Internal Validity?
An observation where the researcher’s identity and purpose are hidden.
What is Covert Observation?
When participants change behavior due to awareness of being observed.
What is Reactivity?
A design with more than one experimental group in which each participant experiences only one condition.
What is an Independent Samples Design?
The target population is divided into subgroups, then randomly sampled from each.
What is Stratified Random Sampling?
The degree of agreement among researchers recording behavior in an observation or interview.
What is Inter-Rater Reliability?
A qualitative analysis approach identifying themes from repeated readings.
What is Emergent Thematic Coding?
It’s unclear whether x causes y, y causes x, or if the relationship is coincidental.
What is Bidirectional Ambiguity?
A technique used to deal with order effects by reversing condition order for half the sample.
What is Counterbalancing?
Researchers select participants based on specific characteristics to ensure subgroups are proportionally represented, but there is no random selection within each group.
What is Quota Sampling?
The extent to which qualitative research results can be generalized to other people or situations.
What is Transferability?
A study that collects data early in life and retests periodically to measure change.
What is Prospective Research?
Differences in responses caused by the order in which participants experience conditions.
What are Order Effects?