E. Mavis Hetherington,
University of Virginia
Ross D. Parke,
University of California
Mark Schmuckler,
University of Toronto at Scarborough
Below are this chapter's featured key terms. The textbook's full glossary is also available for online searching.
| ABAB design | A technique in which an experimental treatment is administered, withdrawn, and re-administered in order to measure its effects. Also called a reversal design.
|
 |
|
|
| age cohort | People born within the same generation.
|
|
|
|
| case study method | A form of research in which investigators study individual persons.
|
|
|
|
| cohort effects | The possibility that observed differences between ages are actually a result of the fact that children of the same age (age cohorts) have grown up during different historical epochs than children of a different age.
|
|
|
|
| control group | In a formal experiment, the group that is not exposed to the treatment.
|
|
|
|
| correlation coefficient | A numerical measure of how closely two factors are related to each other.
|
|
|
|
| correlational method | A research design that permits investigators to establish relations among variables as well as the strength of those relations.
|
|
|
|
| cross-sectional method | A method of research in which researchers compare groups of individuals of different age levels at approximately the same point in time.
|
|
|
|
| dependent variable | The variable, or factor, that researchers expect to change as a function of change in the independent variable.
|
|
|
|
| direct observation | A method of observation in which researchers go into settings in the natural world to observe behaviours of interest.
|
|
|
|
| ecological validity | The degree to which a research study accurately represents events and processes that occur in the natural world.
|
|
|
|
| event sampling | An observational technique in which investigators record participants' behaviour only when an event of particular interest occurs, not at other times.
|
|
|
|
| experimental group | In a formal experiment, the group that is exposed to the treatment.
|
|
|
|
| external validity | The degree to which the results of an experiment can be easily generalized outside the immediate context of the study.
|
|
|
|
| field experiment | An experiment in which researchers deliberately create a change in a real-world setting and then measure the outcome of their manipulation.
|
|
|
|
| independent variable | The variable, or factor, that researchers deliberately manipulate in a formal experiment.
|
|
|
|
| informed consent | Agreement to participate in a research study that is based on a clear and full understanding of the purposes and procedures of that study.
|
|
|
|
| laboratory analogue experiment | An experiment in which investigators try to duplicate in the laboratory features or events of everyday life.
|
|
|
|
| laboratory experiment | A research design that allows investigators, through controlling variables and treatments and assigning participants randomly to treatments, to determine cause and effect.
|
|
|
|
| longitudinal method | A method of research in which investigators study the same people repeatedly at various times in the participants' lives.
|
|
|
|
| national survey | A method of sampling in which a very large, nationally representative group of people are selected for a particular study.
|
|
|
|
| natural experiment | An experiment in which researchers measure the results of things that occur naturally in the real world.
|
|
|
|
| observer bias | The tendency of researcher-observers to be influenced in their judgments by their knowledge of the hypotheses guiding the research.
|
|
|
|
| random assignment | The technique by which researchers assign individuals randomly to either an experimental or a control group in a formal experiment.
|
|
|
|
| representativeness | The degree to which a sample actually possesses the characteristics of the larger population it represents.
|
|
|
|
| sample | A group of individuals who are representative of a larger population.
|
|
|
|
| scientific method | The use of measurable and replicable techniques in framing hypotheses and collecting and analyzing data to test a theory's usefulness.
|
|
|
|
| self-report | Information that people provide about themselves, either in a direct interview or in some written form, such as a questionnaire.
|
|
|
|
| sequential method | A research method that combines features of both the cross-sectional and the longitudinal methods.
|
|
|
|
| specimen record | An observational technique in which researchers record everything a person does within a given period of time.
|
|
|
|
| structured observation | A form of observation in which researchers structure a situation so that behaviours they wish to study are more likely to occur.
|
|
|
|
| time sampling | An observational technique in which resear-chers record any of a set of predetermined behaviours that occur within a specified time period.
|
2002 McGraw-Hill Higher Education