Research Methods
This type of research design is used to find out how common something is.
What is descriptive research?
This refers to how consistently a measure produces similar results.
What is reliability?
In this sampling method, every person in the population has an equal chance of being selected.
What is simple random sampling?
This level of measurement uses categories with no meaningful order, such as "yes" or "no."
What is nominal?
This section of a research article generally introduces the problem, reviews previous research, and presents the hypothesis.
What is the Introduction?
In an experiment, this variable is manipulated by the researcher.
What is the independent variable (IV)?
Giving the same questionnaire to participants at two different times and comparing their responses tests this type of reliability.
What is test-retest reliability?
This sampling method involves dividing the population into groups and randomly selecting participants from each group.
What is stratified random sampling?
A participant rates how likely they are to hire someone on a 1–10 scale. According to the study guide, this represents what level of measurement?
What is interval?
When determining whether an abstract describes a primary research article, look for evidence that the authors are reporting findings that ____
What is they generated themselves?
In an experiment, this variable is the outcome that the researcher measures.
What is the dependent variable (DV)?
Cronbach's alpha can be used to determine whether multiple items designed to measure the same construct are consistent with each other. This is called what type of reliability?
What is internal consistency?
A researcher recruits participants who are easiest to reach because they are readily available. What type of sampling is this?
What is convenience sampling?
This level of measurement involves rankings, such as asking someone to rank several candidates from first to last.
What is ordinal?
In a research abstract, the first sentence asks whether media images of men influence the gender-role attitudes men express after exposure. This sentence represents what part of the study?
What is the hypothesis/research question?
A researcher wants to study whether the year of graduation listed on a resume affects the likelihood of being hired. Give one possible hypothesis for this experiment.
What is people with an earlier graduation year will be less likely to be hired than people with a later graduation year?
A researcher creates a questionnaire with 10 items designed to measure conversational self-focus. They want to know whether the items are measuring the construct consistently with each other. What type of reliability should they examine?
What is internal consistency?
Name two ethical principles researchers should follow when conducting research with human participants.
What are informed consent, confidentiality, and/or the right to withdraw?
A dataset is normally distributed. Which measure of central tendency would generally be most appropriate, and which measure of variability would you report?
What are mean and standard deviation?
In a research article, this section explains how the study was conducted, including who participated, how they were selected, and what procedures were used.
What is the Method section?
A researcher wants to study whether wearing a name tag affects nervousness when speaking. Participants are randomly assigned to wear a name tag or not. Identify the IV, DV, and what makes this an experiment.
What are IV = name visibility/name tag, DV = nervousness, and manipulation of the IV with random assignment?
A researcher creates a questionnaire measuring conversational self-focus. They compare participants' questionnaire scores with observations of their actual conversations. What type of validity are they examining?
What is convergent validity?
A researcher wants their findings to apply to a broad and diverse population. Name one way they could improve the external validity of their study.
What is using a diverse sample or using diverse ways of measuring the constructs?
A dataset is negatively skewed because of two unusually low scores. Which measure of central tendency would be most appropriate?
What is the median?
Put these sections of a research report in the correct order: Discussion, Method, Abstract, Results, Introduction.
What is Abstract → Introduction → Method → Results → Discussion?