Research Methods: Terms and Definitions in Quantitative Data Collection, Quizzes of Psychology

Download Research Methods: Terms and Definitions in Quantitative Data Collection and more Quizzes Psychology in PDF only on Docsity! TERM 1 Survey DEFINITION 1 A series of self-report measures administered either through an interview or a written questionnaire. TERM 2 Interview DEFINITION 2 Questions are read to the respondent in person or over the telephone. TERM 3 Unstructured Interview DEFINITION 3 The interviewer talks freely with the person being interviewed about many topics. A general list of topics is prepared beforehand but the actual interview focuses in on those topics that the respondent is most interested in or most knowledgeable about. TERM 4 Focus Group DEFINITION 4 Type of unstructured interview where a number of people are interviewed at the same time and share ideas both with the interviewer and with each other. TERM 5 Structured Interview DEFINITION 5 Interview that uses quantitative fixed-format items. Questions are prepared ahead of time and the interviewer reads questions to the respondent. TERM 6 Questionnaire DEFINITION 6 A set of fixed-format, self-report items that is completed by respondents at their own pace, often without supervision. TERM 7 Response Rate DEFINITION 7 The percentage of people who actually complete a questionnaire and return it to the investigator. TERM 8 Census DEFINITION 8 Measuring each person about whom we wish to know about TERM 9 Sampling DEFINITION 9 The selection of people to participate in a research project, usually with the goal of being able to use these people to make inferences about a larger group of individuals. TERM 10 Population DEFINITION 10 The entire group of people that the researcher desires to learn about. TERM 21 Oversampling DEFINITION 21 Researcher draws a sample that includes a larger proportion of some strata than they are actually represented in the population. TERM 22 Cluster Sampling DEFINITION 22 Sampling when the population is broken down into a set of small groups called "clusters" for which there are sampling frames and then to randomly choose some of the clusters for inclusion in the sample. Every person in the cluster may be sampled or a random sample of the cluster may be drawn. TERM 23 2 Conditions of Representativeness DEFINITION 23 1. There must be one or more sampling frames that list the entire population of interest.2. All of the selected individuals must actually be sampled. TERM 24 Sampling Bias DEFINITION 24 When the sample is not actually representative of the population because the probability with which members of the population have been selected for participation is not known. TERM 25 Snowball Sampling DEFINITION 25 A type of non-probability sampling where one or more individuals from the population are contacted, and these individuals are used to lead the researcher to other population members. TERM 26 Convenience Samples DEFINITION 26 Sampling whatever individuals are readily available without any attempt to make the sample representative of a population. TERM 27 Raw Data DEFINITION 27 Collected data- not very useful for gaining desired snapshot because of too many numbers TERM 28 Frequency Distribution DEFINITION 28 A table that indicates how many, and in most cases what percentage, of individuals in the sample fall into each set of categories. TERM 29 Histogram DEFINITION 29 Graph where bars are drawn so that they touch each other, indicated that the original variable is quantitative TERM 30 Frequency Curve DEFINITION 30 Graph where the frequencies of the groups are indicated with a line TERM 31 Stem & Leaf Plot DEFINITION 31 Method of graphically summarizing the raw data such that the original data values can still be seen. TERM 32 Descriptive Statistics DEFINITION 32 Numbers that summarize the pattern of scores observed on a measured variable. TERM 33 Distribution DEFINITION 33 The pattern of scores observed on a measured variable. TERM 34 Central Tendency DEFINITION 34 The point in the distribution around which they data are centered. (mean, median, mode) TERM 35 Dispersion DEFINITION 35 Spread of data (variance, standard deviation); the extent to which the scores are all tightly clustered around the central tendency