Descriptive Research * Recording events * DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH: describes behaviour of organisms in natural settings * CASE STUDY: in-depth analysis of an individual, group, or event. * detail; observation, interview, tests, etc. * closely study rare phenomena; challenge validity of other theories; new hypotheses * does not accurately determine cause-effect; inaccurate generalization; researcher bias * RESEARCHER BIAS: lack of objectivity in gathering & interpreting data * NATURALISTIC OBSERVATION: observing behaviour as it occurs in natural setting; no influence * rich description of behaviour * does not permit clear causal conclusions; researcher bias; influence of researcher’s presence * HABITUATION: participants adapt to researcher presence, becoming unaware * SURVEY RESEARCH: info about a topic obtained through questionnaires/interviews * POPULATION: all individuals of interest * SAMPLE: subset of individuals drawn from the population of interest * REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLE: reflects/represents important characteristics of the population * RANDOM SAMPLING: every member population has equal chance of participating * portrays population as a whole * unrepresentative sample inaccurate generalizations; desirability/research bias; cannot conclude cause-and-effect relations * CORRELATIONAL RESEARCH: measuring statistical relationships between 2+ variables * correlation studies measure variables; NOT manipulate: 1. Measure one variable (X) 2. Measure second variably (Y) 3. Statistically determine if X & Y are related (X Y) * BIDIRECTIONALITY PROBLEM: X Y, X Y, or X Y * THIRD VARIABLE PROBLEM: X Z Y * determines if association between variables exists * cannot draw causal conclusions * CORRELATION COEFFICIENT:
