Dev Psych Test 2

Front 1

hypothesis

Back 1

a prediction drawn from a theory

Front 2

Naturalistic observation

Back 2

method: go into the field, or natural environment, and record the behavior of interest

Front 3

structured observations

Back 3

investigator sets up a lab situation that evokes the behavior of interest so that every participant has an equal opportunity to display the response

Front 4

event sampling

Back 4

the observer records all instances of a particular behavior during a specified time period

Front 5

time sampling

Back 5

procedure where the researcher records whether certain behaviors occur during a sample of short intervals

Front 6

observer influence

Back 6

the effects of the observer on the behavior studied

Front 7

observer bias

Back 7

when observers are aware of the purposes of a study, they may see & record what they expect to see vs. what participants actually do

Front 8

clinical interview

Back 8

researchers use a flexible, conversational style to probe for the participant's point of view

Front 9

structured interview

Back 9

each individual is asked the same set of questions in the same way

Front 10

neurobiological methods

Back 10

measure the relationship between nervous system processes and behavior

Front 11

clinical or case study method

Back 11

brings together a wide range of info on 1 child, including interviews, observations, test scores & sometimes neurobiological measures

Front 12

ethnography

Back 12

like the clinical method, eth. research is a descriptive, qualitative technique. Instead of aiming to understand a single indiv.,... culture or a distinct social group through participant observation.

Front 13

reliability

Back 13

refers to the consistency, or repeatability, of measures of behavior

Front 14

validity

Back 14

must accurately measure characteristics that the researcher set out to measure

Front 15

internal validity

Back 15

Do conditions internal to study's design permit accurate test of the hypothesis or question?

Front 16

external validity

Back 16

the degree to which their findings generalize to settings and participants outside the original study

Front 17

correlational design

Back 17

Info on indiv.'s, generally from real natural life. Relationships between their characteristics & behavior/dev.

Front 18

correlation coefficient

Back 18

a number that describes how two measures, or variables, are associated with each other

Front 19

experimental design

Back 19

allows cause and effect; researchers use evenhanded procedure to assign people to 2+ treatment conditions

Front 20

independent variable

Back 20

the one the investigator expects to cause changes in another variable

Front 21

dependent variable

Back 21

the one the investigator expects to be influenced by the independent variable

Front 22

confounding variables

Back 22

so closely associated that their effects on an outcome cannot be distinguished

Front 23

random assignment

Back 23

Unbiased, e.g. coin flip. Ups chances characteristics will be evenly distributed throughout group

Front 24

matching

Back 24

kids high & low on a prev. measured factor assigned in equal numbers to each treatment condition.

Front 25

natural or quasi-, experiments

Back 25

Pre-existing treatments (like diff fam environments) compared. Diff from correlational because all groups hopefully are the same, on purpose.

Front 26

longitudinal design

Back 26

participants are studied repeatedly at diff ages, & changes are noted as they get older

Front 27

biased sampling

Back 27

the failure to enlist participants who represent the population of interest

Front 28

selective attrition

Back 28

Move away/ drop out. Continue-ers are likely to differ in important ways from drop outs.

Front 29

practice effects

Back 29

with repeated testing, participants may become "test-wise". Improved performance from familiarity

Front 30

cohort effects

Back 30

kids dev in same time period/culture. Results based on one cohort may not apply to other kids dev-ing

Front 31

cross-sectional design

Back 31

groups of people differing in age are studied at same point in time

Front 32

sequential designs

Back 32

several cross-sectional or longitudinal investigations called sequences. ex: same ages but diff years

Front 33

microgenetic design

Back 33

like longitudinal. presents kids with novel task, follows mastery over a series of closely spaced sessions.

Front 34

risk-versus-benefits ratio

Back 34

weighing costs to kids (inconvenience, possible psych or physical harm) against study value

Front 35

informed consent

Back 35

people's right to have all aspects of a study explained to them that might affect their willingness to do it

Front 36

debriefing

Back 36

researcher provides a full account and justification of the activities