Chapter 1 1. A knowledge of research methods is increasingly needed by informed citizens in our society.

Research can help you read reports critically, evaluate the methodology employed, and decide if the results are valid. Many occupations also require the use of research findings and research has become increasingly important in decisions of public policy. 2. Scientists insist that scientific methods be used to evaluate assertions about the nature of behavior and refuse to trust either authority or intuition. The scientific approach provides an objective set of rules for gathering, evaluating, and reporting information. 3. Description of behavior is careful observation of the ways in which events are systematically related to one another. Prediction of behavior occurs when it has been observed that two events are systematically related to one another, it becomes possible to make predictions. Determination of cause is when we are able to accurately predict the occurrence of a behavior, but we might not have correctly identified its cause. Explanation of behavior is to explain the events that have been described. 4. Basic research tries to answer fundamental questions about the nature of behavior. However, applied research is concerned with any immediate practical application or the solution of a particular problem. 5. The first is the evaluation of need to ask whether there are problems that need to be addressed in a target population. The second is process evaluation or program monitoring to determine whether the program is reaching the target population being served. The third is outcome evaluation to study the impact of the program. The final program evaluation question addresses economic efficiency. The cost of the program is weighted against its benefits.

Chapter 2 1. A hypothesis is a type of idea or question. It is a tentative idea or question that is waiting for evidence to support or refute it. Hypotheses are often stated in more specific and formal terms. However, a prediction is making an educated guess as to the outcome of a situation. 2. Common sense is the things we all believe to be true. Observations of personal and social events can provide many hypotheses that merit testing. Theories organize and explain a variety of specific facts and generate new knowledge. Knowledge of past research leads to new research ideas. Research is also stimulated by practical problems that require immediate solutions. 3. A theory organizes and explains a variety of specific facts. Theories also generate new knowledge by focusing our thinking so that we notice new aspects of behavior. 4. Psychological abstracts publish nonevaluative summaries of the worlds literature in psychology and related disciplines. To find articles on a specific topic, you would use the index oat the end of each volume. The summaries of the articles are brief descriptions of the research findings. The social science citation index uses the key article method. It allows you to search for articles that have been published since then that cited the key article. PsycBooks is a resource to find books and chapters in psychology. 5. The abstract includes information about the hypothesis, a brief discussion of the procedure, and the general pattern of results. The introduction describes the problem that has been investigated and shows how past research and theory are connected to the current research problem and the expected results. The method is divided into subsections. The first subsection presents an overview of the design in order to prepare the reader for the material that follows. The next subsection describes the characteristics of the subjects. The results section presents the findings, usually in narrative form, statistical language and in tables and graphs. The discussion section talks about the research form various perspectives.

Chapter 3 1. A variable is a general class or category of objects, events, or situations. Examples of variables are cognitive task performance, noise level, spatial density, intelligence gender and reaction time. 2. Operational definition is a definition of the variable in terms of the operations or techniques the researcher uses to measure or manipulate. 3. The reliability of a measure refers to the consistency or stability of a measure of behavior. A true score is the real score on the variable and a measurement error is an unreliable measure. 4. Validity of a measure is the extent to which the operational definition of a variable actually reflects the true theoretical meaning of the variable. Face validity tells whether the measure appears to measure what it is supposed to measure. However, construct validity occurs when a measure does relate to other variables in meaningful ways. It emerges from research studies in which investigators use the measure to study behavior. 5. Reactive measure tells what the person is like when he or she is aware of being observed, but it does not tell how the subject would behave under natural circumstances. 6. In a positive linear relationship, increases in the values of one variable are accompanied by increases in the values of the second variable. In a negative linear relationship, increases in the values of one variable are accompanied by decreases in the values of the other variable. In a curvilinear relationship, increases in the values of one variable are accompanied by both increases and decreases in the values of the other variable. When there is no relationship between the two variables, the graph is simply a flat line. 7. The correlational method is nonmanipulative and behavior is observed as it occurs naturally. However, the experimental method involves manipulation of variables. The researcher directly manipulates one or more variables by establishing the conditions for studying behavior. 8. An independent variable is the manipulated variable while a dependent variable is the variable that is measured. 9. In a laboratory experiment, the independent variable is manipulated within the controlled confines of a laboratory. It allows researchers to more easily keep extraneous variables constant, thus eliminating their influence on the outcome of the experiment. However in a field experiment, the independent variable is manipulated in a natural setting. The independent variable is investigated in a natural context but the

researcher loses the ability to directly control many aspects of the situation. 10. The problem of direction of cause and effect is that with the correlational method, it is difficult to determine which variable causes the other and whether the opposite pattern might occur. The third-variable problem is that is no direct causal relationship between the two variables. 11. Experimental control means that all extraneous variables are kept constant. If a variable is held constant, it cannot be responsible for the results of the experiment. Randomization ensures that the extraneous variable is just as likely to affect one experimental group, as it is to affect the other group. 12. The correlational method allows the researcher to devise a variety of ways of operationally defining either of the variables. 13. Criterion validity when the test has demonstrated its effectiveness in predicting criterion or indicators of a construct. 14. If one thing is a necessary cause of another, then that means that the second thing can never happen without the first. However, if something is a sufficient cause, then every time it happens the outcome will follow. Chapter 4 1. Field observation is when the researcher makes observations in a particular natural setting over an extended period of time, using a variety of techniques to collect information. 2. They are descriptions of the observations themselves rather then quantitative statistical summaries. 3. A nonparticipant observer is an outsider who does not become an active part of the situation. However, a participant observer is an active participant who observes from the inside. Concealed observation is less reactive than nonconcealed observation since people are not aware that their behaviors are being observed and recorded. 4. Systematic observation refers to the careful observation of one or more specific behaviors in a particular setting. The researcher is interested in only a few very specific behaviors.