Test One Review For Psci 2300

Front 1

What is an independent variable?

Back 1

A phenomenon thought to influence, affect, or cause some other phenomenon

Front 2

How is a typical scientific paper structured? 6 ways

Back 2

1. Introduction: specify research question
2. Literature Review: Review previous research and identify relevant theories
3. Hypothesis: derive specific hypothesis from each of the theories
4. Research design and data: discuss how you test your hypothesis and look for data
5. Analysis and Findings: examine your data to test your hypothesis
6. Conclusion: discuss whether your hypothesis is supported by the data and draw implications

Front 3

What is a dependent variable?

Back 3

The phenomenon thought to be influenced, affected, or caused by an independent variable

Front 4

Define a spurious relationship

Back 4

A relationship between two variables caused entirely by the impact of a third variable.

Front 5

In a hypothesis what is meant by a positive relationship and a negative relationship?

Back 5

A positive relationship would be a prediction that concepts are thought to increase in size together or decrease in size together.
A negative one says that as one concept increases the other one will decrease in size

Front 6

What is cross-level analysis? Give example from class

Back 6

It is the use of data collected for one unit of analysis to make inferences about another unit of analysis.
Hypothesized linkage: The more educated a person is the more likely they are to vote
Observable Linkage: The greater the percentage of college graduates in the state population the greater the voter turnout rate

Front 7

What is an Ecological Inference?

Back 7

The use of aggregate data to study the behavior of individuals and is a frequent goal of cross-level analysis.
i.e. poorer children have poorer test scores
Hypothesis tested- # of subsidized lunches and the average standardized test score

Front 8

What is Ecological fallacy?

Back 8

Using information that shows a relationship for groups to infer that there is the same relationship for individuals when in fact there is no relationship at the ind. level

Front 9

Define concepts and what does it explain?

Back 9

The words that we choose to describe behaviors or actions. They must be explained so that a measurement strategy can be developed and so that the reader can decide if your definition is in accordance with theirs. i.e. Democracy

Front 10

What is a causal relationship?

Back 10

A connection between two entities that occurs because one produces, or brings about the other with complete or great regularity

Front 11

What are the four objectives of Research design?

Back 11

1. Establish a relationship between two or more variables
2. Demonstrate that the results are generally true in the real world
3. Reveal whether one phenomenon precedes another in time
4. Eliminate as many alternative explanations for a phenomenon as possible

Front 12

What is our goal of a scientific research project regarding conclusions?

Back 12

We want to be able to draw sound conclusions that are supported by evidence

Front 13

In order to make a valid causal inference research design must show these three things?

Back 13

1. Covariation- basically that x does in fact covary with y
2. Temporal Sequence- shows that the cause (X) preceded the effect (y)- X must come before Y
3. Elimination of possible alternative causes- make sure that there is no spurious relationship

Front 14

How do we eliminate confounding variables? for both experimental design and non-experimental design

Back 14

In an experimental design the randomization solves the problem. In a non-experimental design you must identify and control these confounding variables

Front 15

In a randomized controlled experiment what is a treatment group and a control group?

Back 15

A treatment group is simply the experimental group and the control group is the group who does not receive the experimental testing

Front 16

How are the experiment and control groups kept identical in all aspects?

Back 16

Through randomization

Front 17

What are the advantages and disadvantages of experimental designs?

Back 17

You get high internal validity but low external validity meaning that you actually do have high covariation, that x precedes y and that, and you eliminate spuriousness. However it is not generalizable and therefore you achieve low external validity. It is also more difficult to conduct laboratory and field experiments

Front 18

What are the advantages and disadvantages of non-experimental designs?

Back 18

Non-experimental designs are more practical and allow you to study aggregate data from larger sources and can be applied to a wide variety of topics but they have a low internal validity and therefore lack strong causal inference like experimental designs do

Front 19

What are the two non-experimental designs we study?

Back 19

Time-series design and cross-section design

Front 20

What are the advantages and disadvantages of the time-series design?

Back 20

Time-series design- disadvantages: the researcher does not control the introduction of the independent variable and must rely on others for measurement of the dependent variable. Advantages- the change in the level of variables or conditions can be measured as you have data of variables at two points in time you can also show that x caused why. However your research could be flawed by the introduction of a spurious relationship that you didn't think of. It can be generalized so it has a higher external validity

Front 21

What are the advantages and disadvantages of the cross-sectional design?

Back 21

They are a good way of naturally observing a phenomena on a large scale in a realistic setting rather than experimental and your findings increase the external validity of your hypothesis by testing a large pop for a particular time of analysis. However since you don't control independent variables and merely observe you sacrifice internal validity or cause and effect relationship between dependent and independent variables and a spurious relationship could easily develop. You also can't establish that x precedes y. An example would be if you were to say that if students watched more television they received worse grades

Front 22

What are the initial steps in an empirical research project? 5

Back 22

1. Specify the question or problem
2. Propose a suitable explanation for the phenomena under study
3. Formulate testable hypothesis
4. Identify the most appropriate research design (exp vs. non-experimental
5. Define the concepts identified in the hypothesis. Then operationalize and measure the concepts in the hypothesis i.e. democracy

Front 23

How is the accuracy of your measurement evaluated? 2 criteria

Back 23

1. Reliability or the consistency by repeated measurements
2. Validity or the correspondence between the measure and the concept it is thought to measure

Front 24

What are the problems of reliability and validity?

Back 24

Reliability can be altered in a re-test method due to a change in the persons attitude toward the question validity could be affected by the person in the experiment not telling the truth i.e. city crime rates being underreported and overreported

Front 25

Can you have reliability without validity? which is considered more important

Back 25

yes validity is more important because if something is valid it inherently is reliable

Front 26

How is the precision of measurements analyzed? what does it involve?

Back 26

By the level of Measurement, it involves the type of information that we think our measurements contain and the type of comparisons that can be made across a number of observations on the same variable.

Front 27

What are the levels of measurement going form lowest to highest?

Back 27

1.Nominal
2. ordinal
3. interval
4. ratio

Front 28

What are characteristic of a nominal measurement?

Back 28

Values assigned to variables represent only different categories which can't be sorted as they are mutually exclusive. i.e. religion or political systems

Front 29

What are characteristic of an ordinal measurement?

Back 29

Intervals between the numbers have no meaning but more or less of a variable can be measured and they are mutually exclusive. i.e. Education or social status

Front 30

What are characteristic of an interval measurement?

Back 30

The intervals between the categories have values or meaning and you can measure larger or smaller, but a value of zero is arbitrary like temp. or a year

Front 31

What is characteristic of a ratio measurement?

Back 31

Intervals have meaning, the value of zero has meaning and it means an absence of the attribute being measured. i.e. unemployment rate, welfare spending

Front 32

Why is identifying the level of measurement of variables important?

Back 32

Because it affects the data analysis technique that can be used

Front 33

Can you transform from a higher-level measurement to a lower-level measurement and vice-versa?

Back 33

You can transform from a higher-level measurement to a lower level but not vice versa.