Empirical Questions & Causality Flashcards

Empirical Questions

• Empirical questions can be answered by collecting data.
• Two types of empirical questions: Descriptive and Causal.

Descriptive Empirical Questions

• Focus on describing aspects of behavior, e.g., "What are people's attitudes towards...".

Causal Empirical Questions

• Aim to determine causes of behavior, e.g., "Does stress cause road rage?".

Simple Logical Method

• Steps include collecting current behavior data, changing suspected causes, and comparing pre- and post-change data.

Maturation Problem

• Refers to changes within participants over time.

History Problem

• Relates to external changes affecting participants during the research period.

Testing Problem

• Initial data collection may inadvertently bias participant responses.

Instrumental Problem

• Inconsistencies in data collection methods between the pre-test and post-test phases can occur.

Regression Problem

• Extreme pre-test scores can skew results, causing an automatic shift toward average scores.

Potential Complications

• Complications include Maturation, History, Testing, Instrumentation, and Regression.

More Complex Method

• Involves an experimental group with a changed suspected cause and a control group where the cause is unchanged, followed by data collection and comparison.

Hypothesis

• A hypothesis predicts the study's outcome.

Operationism

• Emphasizes the need for objectivity and precision in scientific terminology.

Operational Definitions

• Concepts must be defined through specific operations to be performed.

Converging Operations

• Understanding is enhanced when various investigations arrive at a common conclusion through different methods.

Basic Research

• Focuses on fundamental principles of behavior and mental processes without immediate practical application.

Applied Research

• Directly addresses real-world problems and has immediate relevance.

Laboratory Research

• Conducted in a controlled environment allowing for greater control by researchers.

Field Research

• Takes place in natural environments that replicate daily living situations more closely.

Mundane Realism

• Indicates how accurately a study replicates real-life experiences.

Experimental Realism

• Measures the impact of a research study on subjects, ensuring their engagement with the procedures.

Experiment Confederate

• A participant who is part of the experimenter's team, aiding in the study's procedures.

Quantitative Research

• Involves data presented in numerical format.

Qualitative Research

• Research findings presented as narratives summarizing key outcomes.

Field Experiments

• Conducted within natural settings as opposed to laboratories.

Situational Variables

• Features of the environment that participants may encounter during the study.

Task Variables

• Different types of problems given to various participant groups.

Instructional Variables

• Variations in how groups are instructed to perform tasks.

Experimental Group

• The group experiencing the treatment in an experiment.

Control Group

• This group does not receive the treatment, serving as a baseline for comparison.

Extraneous Variables

• Uncontrolled variables that could influence the outcome but are not the focus of the study.

Confound

• An uncontrolled extraneous variable that affects both the independent variable and the results.

Ceiling Effect

• Occurs when scores are too high to discern differences between groups.

Floor Effect

• Happens when all scores are extremely low, making it difficult to detect differences.

Testing Threat

• Pre-test administration can influence post-test scores, threatening internal validity.

Instrumentation Problem

• Changes in measurement instruments from pre-test to post-test can lead to issues.

Subject Selection Effect

• Arises when groups are not equivalent, affecting the validity of results.

Attrition

• Refers to participant dropout before study completion, known as subject mortality.

Construct Validity

• Measures the adequacy of operational definitions for independent and dependent variables.

External Validity

• Refers to the generalizability of research findings beyond the specific study context.

Ecological Validity

• Ensures research remains relevant to everyday cognitive activities in adapting to environments.

Internal Validity

• Assesses the methodological soundness and absence of confounds in an experiment.

This quiz focuses on empirical questions and their types, including descriptive and causal questions. Enhance your understanding of how to formulate and differentiate between these types of questions in research. Ideal for psychology and research methodology students.