Psychology Of The Workplace - Research Methods

Front 1

Define generalizability

Back 1

The same as external validity/applicability. Degree to which the conclusions based on one research sample are applicable to another, often larger, population.

Front 2

What are the five steps scientists take when conducting empirical research?

Back 2

1. State the problem
2. Design a research study
3. Measure variables
4. Analyze the data
5. Draw conclusions from the research

Front 3

Define theory

Back 3

A statement that proposes to explain relationships among phenomena, e.g. a theory of why individuals are attracted to each other.

Front 4

What is the 'inductive' method of science?

Back 4

A research process in which conclusions are drawn about a general class of objects or people based on knowledge of a specific member of the class under investigation.

Front 5

Define 'deductive method'

Back 5

A research process in which conclusions are drawn about a specific member of a class of objects or people based on knowledge of the general class under investigation.

Front 6

Define research design

Back 6

A plan for conducting scientific research for the purpose of learning about a phenomenon of interest

Front 7

Define internal validity

Back 7

The extent to which the relationships evidenced among variables in a particular research study are accurate or true. Or, Extent to which a study speaks to causality. internal validity means is that you have evidence that what you did in the study (i.e., the program) caused what you observed (i.e., the outcome) to happen.

Front 8

external validity

Back 8

Generalizability. The extent to which findings from a research study are relevant to individuals and settings beyond those specifically examined in the study.

Front 9

Primary research method

Back 9

A class of research that generates new information on a particular research question.

Front 10

Laboratory experiment

Back 10

A type of research method in which the investigator manipulates IVs and assigns subjects to experimental conditions.

Front 11

Quasi experiment

Back 11

Research method used for conducting studies in field situations where the researcher may be able to manipulate some IVs. (The people in the study do not perceive the setting as having been created to conduct the research).

Front 12

Questionnaire

Back 12

A type of research method in which subjects respond to written questions posed by the investigator

Front 13

Observation

Back 13

Research method in which investigator monitors subjects for the purpose of understanding their behavior and culture

Front 14

Secondary research method

Back 14

Class of research methods that look at existing information from research studies that used primary methods.

Front 15

Meta analysis

Back 15

A quantitative secondary research method for summarizing and integrating the findings from original empirical research studies.

Front 16

Qualitative research

Back 16

A class of research methods in which the investigator takes an active role in interacting with the subjects he or she wants to study.

Front 17

What three kinds of purposes did Maxwell (1998) propose for conducting a scientific study?

Back 17

Personal - eg to further your career in research
Practical - focus on accomplishing something
Research - focus on understanding something

Front 18

Ethnography

Back 18

A research method that utilizes field observation to study a society's culture

Front 19

Criterion variable

Back 19

A variable that is a primary object of a research study; it is forecasted by a predictor variable.

Front 20

Predictor variable

Back 20

A variable used to predict or forecast a criterion variable

Front 21

Variability

Back 21

The dispersion of numerical values evidenced in the measurement of an object or concept

Front 22

Standard deviation

Back 22

A statistic that shows the spread or dispersion of scores around the mean in a distribution of scores

Front 23

Participants in psychological research are granted which 5 rights as specified in the APA code of ethics?

Back 23

1. right to informed consent
2. right to privacy
3. right to confidentiality
4. right to protection from deception
5. right to debriefing

Front 24

What 3 features distinguish empirical research conducted in industry?

Back 24

1. Research questions in industry often arise from organizational problems, eg absenteeism
2. The way results are used (e.g. In industry, if research research are positive, they are used to 'sell' the findings within an organization
3. Research is done to enhance an organization's efficiency

Front 25

Define criteria

Back 25

Standards used to help make evaluative judgments

Front 26

Define empirical research

Back 26

Arriving at conclusions based on observations.

Front 27

Define hypothesis

Back 27

Speculation about the relationship between variables

Front 28

Define low reactivity

Back 28

Where people are more likely to respond honestly, e.g. if I wanted to measure workplace theft

Front 29

Define 'reactivity'

Back 29

The extent to which people change their behavior, or the reports of their behavior

Front 30

List three disadvantages of case studies

Back 30

Small sample size
Low generalizability
No cause-effect conclusions

Front 31

List one advantage of a case study

Back 31

Provides in-depth, detailed information

Front 32

List 1 advantages & 2 Disadvantages of observational study

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Rich source of information
Reactivity (people might modify their behavior if being observed)
Can't draw conclusions regarding cause and effect (don't know direction of causality + findings could be due to a 3rd variable)
personal biases and expectations of observer might influence

Front 33

Laboratory experiment

Back 33

A Research method in which the investigator manipulates IVs and assigns subjects to experimental and control conditions

Front 34

Advantage and disadvantage of lab experiments

Back 34

Adv: more control over extraneous variables
Disadv: unrealistic, artificial conditions

Front 35

Advantage / disadvantage of field (quasi) experiments

Back 35

Adv: More realistic, natural conditions
Disadv: less control over extraneous variables

Front 36

Example of a threat to internal validity

Back 36

Rosen (1970) study in which foremen were replaced them with actors. The actors were told to use different management styles: autocratic, democratic, nothing at all. For 10 weeks. – nobody changed their productivity no matter what the management style. The aspect that came out in the study was ‘demand characteristics’ – people found out in week 10 that they were in a study and they changed their productivity. That was a good example of a threat to internal validity – the employees only changed their productivity when they found out they were in a research study.

Front 37

Example of a threat to external validity

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Gordon, Slade & Schmitt (1986) looked at studies involving college students and those that didn't - found big diff. in results

Front 38

ecological validity

Back 38

For a research study to possess ecological validity, the methods, materials and setting of the study must approximate the real-life situation under investigation. Unlike internal and external validity, ecological validity is not necessary to the overall validity of a study.

Front 39

Example of threat to ecological validity

Back 39

Study using 'paper people' - researchers took fake resumes with a gender neutral name and manipulate the picture. They were looking at to what extent race, gender, attractive versus non-attractive would impact people’s views. They found a variety of results. One of the issues was that they were using ‘paper people’ – to what extent were these ‘paper people’ on the resume valid compared to the rest of the population.
Other example: mock-jury research is designed to study how people might act if they were jurors during a trial, but many mock-jury studies simply provide written transcripts or summaries of trials, and do so in classroom or office settings. Such experiments do not approximate the actual look, feel and procedure of a real courtroom trial, and therefore lack ecological validity. However, the more important concern is that of external validity--if the results from such mock-jury studies generalize to real trials, then the research is valid as a whole, despite its ecological shortcomings. Nonetheless, improving the ecological validity of an experiment typically improves the external validity as well.

Front 40

Advantages of surveys

Back 40

Inexpensive
Efficient
Everybody gets the same stimulus (survey) compared with an interview where the interviewer might be tired, using a different tone, etc.
Low reactivity – people are more likely to respond honestly, e.g. if I wanted to measure workplace theft

Front 41

Define reactivity

Back 41

The extent to which people change their behavior, or the reports of their behavior

Front 42

Disadvantages of surveys

Back 42

People often only give responses when they feel strongly (e.g. maybe only the people dissatisfied with their jobs will respond to a job satisfaction survey)
Tend to get low response rate – a response rate of 50% is considered good
People sometimes don’t understand questions
Some people don’t read

Front 43

Advantages of interviews

Back 43

good for non-literate popns
Better response rates
less bias in responses

Front 44

Disadvantages of i/views

Back 44

time consuming
expensive
stimulus may differ
reactivity

Front 45

Define non-reactive measure

Back 45

Don't require any cooperation from population being studied. Looks at traces of behavior, e.g. to assess whether a program designed to help employees be healthier might involve looking at vending machine sales (water vs Coke).

Front 46

Advantages and Disadvantages of non-reactive measures

Back 46

Adv: no change in subjects' behavior
Disadv: open to misinterpretation (e.g. museum exhibit where carpet is worn could just be because it's on the way to bathroom)

Front 47

Correlation

Back 47

= r/ship b/w variable X and variable Y

Front 48

Zero correlation means....? What would scatterplot look like?

Back 48

No r/ship b/w variables
Dots all over the place

Front 49

Positive correlation means....?

Back 49

Variables changing in the same direction (as one variable increases, the other variable increases)

Front 50

negative correlation + give example

Back 50

as one variable increases, the other decreases
People with higher salaries have shorter distances to front door

Front 51

Reliability

Back 51

Consistency in measurement. In order for us to measure something, we need to be measuring it consistently. If I measured the height of every student every single day, it would fluctuate slightly, e.g. due to the person slouching or due to the tester not measuring correctly. This is termed unreliability.

Front 52

Validity

Back 52

Are we measuring what we’re supposed to be measuring, i.e. a standard for evaluating tests that refers to the accuracy or appropriateness of drawing inferences from test scores. eg. I give a test to job applications, and to test validity, we can give job applicants a test, and then hire them and after a while measure their job performance and measure a correlation b/w scores on selection test and their job performance scores. if the test scores point to job performance, we can say the test has validity.

Front 53

Give an example of ‘Restriction of range’

Back 53

Study showed that a spelling test is not a good predictor of job performance in directory assistance operators. That's because If you don’t have really high or low performers, you won’t have the whole range of performers on variable X and variable Y and because of this, you’ll have a lower correlation coefficient between X and Y than what might exist in reality. The really bad spellers weren’t hired in the first place and the really good spellers had been promoted so what was left was a whole bunch of people in the moderate range.

Front 54

Problems with Pearson's R correlation coefficient

Back 54

Doesn't capture non-linear r/ships
Restriction of range
Correlation does not mean causation
Direction of causality not known
Possible 3rd variable

Front 55

Examples of 3rd variable

Back 55

Correlation between infant mortality and tons of cement poured

Front 56

What 4 APA ethical issues relate to I/O Psychology

Back 56

Responsibility: psychologists have to accept the responsibility to ensure their services are used appropriately. It’s not enough for someone to provide services but you have to ensure they are used appropriately.
Competence: psychologists have to recognize the boundaries of their training. You can’t do things that you haven’t been trained to do.
Confidentiality:
Assessment techniques: in psychology, we’re trying to measure people: skills, abilities, etc. When we are trying to assess these things, we are not perfect at it. We are never perfect at selecting people for jobs.

Front 57

What are 'demand characteristics'?

Back 57

An experimental effect where participants form an interpretation of the experiment's purpose and unconsciously change their behavior accordingly.