Study Guide 1

Dr, Gass

HCOM 308

Summer 2009

Study Guide for Test 1

Your first test will cover chapters 1, 2, 3, 4 (pp. 65-73), 5, 6, 9, 13 (pp. 258= -267). Your tests will consist of 50-55 multiple choice questions. Co= ncepts with more asterisks (****) will be tested more heavily than concepts with f= ewer asterisks (*).

Key terms and concep= ts from Chapter 1

*know what “social science” research is and why it is important, pp. = 1-3

**communication versus communications, pp. 6-7

****three pillars of experimental research

manipulation

&= nbsp; measurement

&= nbsp; control

****a variable must vary, otherwise it is a constant

&= nbsp; variations in attributes, levels, values, or condition= s

***treatment versus control group

***comparison groups (no control condition)

***random assignment

assumption of equivalenc= e of groups created via random assignment

***intact groups or self-selected groups

Key terms and concep= ts from Chapter 2

**Scientific/quantitative research versus humanistic/qualitative research, p. 12

theory defined, p. 13

**purposes of theories; explain, predict, control, p. 15

***falsifiability requirement, p. 15

***observation (e.g. measurement), pp. 17-19

***control, p. 18

&= nbsp;

**Clever Hans example pp. 18-19

**gender differences, p. 20

Anatomy of an Experi= ment

Know the basic elements, and their order, of a controlled experimental study

&= nbsp; (see online guide)

SPSS Statistical Pac= kage for the Social Sciences

opening a data file

data view versus variable view

creating a variable

&= nbsp; data types

values<= /span> and value lab= els

columns (variables)

rows (cases)

cells (one specific score or observation)

Key terms and concep= ts for chapter 3

**Tuskegee syphilis study, p. 25

**Humphreys study on anonymous gay sex, p. 25

**Stanley Milgram’s research on obedience to author= ity, p. 26

**Wendell Johnson’s stuttering study

*ends versus means controversy, p. 23

***four ethics quadrants; good means/good ends, good means/bad ends, bad means/good ends, bad means/bad ends, pp. 27-28

*Machiavellian ethic (ends justify the means), p. 27

***Belmont report, pp. 28-29

&= nbsp; autonomy (free choice, informed consent), p. 28

&= nbsp; beneficence, p. 29

&= nbsp; justice, p. 29

***informed consent, p. 28, pp. 32-33

&= nbsp; all studies entail risks

&= nbsp; must be voluntary informed consent

participants with diminished autonomy, p. 28

**risks to participants, p. 29

***institutional review boards (IRBs), pp. 30-31

*privacy, p. 31

***anonymity, p. 31

***confidentiality, p. 31

*no protected researcher-participant privilege, p. 32

*deception, pp. 34-35

*ethics of participant-observation

*debriefing, p. 35

*APA standards on plagiarism, p. 40

Key terms and concep= ts for Chapter 4

*types of research gaps, p. 45

*primary versus secondary sources, p. 50

***scholarly refereed journal articles, p. 51

*scholarly versus popular sources, p. 52

*electronic databases, p. 57

*limitations of web sources, p. 61

****APA style references, p. 66

****APA style citations, p. 67

Key terms and concep= ts for Chapter 5

*abstract, p. 76

*significance of the topic, p. 80

*thesis and preview, p. 80

*define, explain key concepts, p. 83<= /p>

*developing a rationale, p. 83, p. 88

**identifying gaps in the literature, p. 83

*developing an argument, p. 83

***hypotheses, p. 89

***one-taile= d (or unidirectional) hypothesis, p. 90

***two-taile= d (or bidirectional) hypothesis, p. 90

***null hypothesis (H₀), p. = 91

**research questions, p. 92

****methods section, p. 93-96

**results section, pp. 96-97

**discussion, p. 97-100

Key terms and concep= ts from chapter 6

****variable defined, p. 104

&= nbsp; independent variable is manipulated<= /p>

&= nbsp; dependent variable is measured

&= nbsp; confounding variables (extraneous variables) are contr= olled

*concrete versus abstract variables, p. 104

***continuous versus categorical variables

***unit of analysis, p. 105

&= nbsp; individuals, dyads, groups, organizations, cultures, messages

***ecological fallacy (sweeping generalization), p. 105

***attributes versus values, p. 106

&= nbsp; attributes are categorical

&= nbsp; values are numerical

***relationships versus differences, p. 106

***positive, negative, and neutral (no) relationship, pp. 106-107

***independent variables, pp. 108-109

&= nbsp; ***operationalization of the independent variable

***dependent variables, p. 109

**intervening variables, p. 110

***variable levels, p. 110

***nominal level variables, p. 111

&= nbsp; nominal categories (occupation, religion, culture)

&= nbsp; dichotomous variables (female/male, liberal/conservati= ve)

***ordinal level variables, pp. 111-112

&= nbsp; ordered or hierarchical variables (military rank, educational degrees)

****interval level variables, pp. 112-113

&= nbsp; continuous variables (age, self-esteem)

&= nbsp; scale data (equidistance)

**ratio level variables, pp. 114-115

**moderating or intervening variables

Key terms and concep= ts for Chapter 9

***Dr. Gass’ view: any concept that can be defined precisely can be measured=

***measurement defined, p. 167

*importance of isomorphic ratings, p. 169

**Likert scales, pp. 172-173

**Semantic Differential scales, pp. 173-174

*Personality traits/state measures, p. 175

***Operationalization, pp. 177-179

*Scale construction, pp. 179-181

*direct measures

&= nbsp; physiological measures

&= nbsp; behavioral measures

*self-reports

&= nbsp; oral interviews

&= nbsp; surveys, quiestionnaires

&= nbsp; standardized scales

*indirect measures

&= nbsp; indirect questioning (what the other person wou= ld think or do)

&= nbsp; unobtrusive measures (Google search terms)<= /span>

*archived data (court records, marriage licenses)

*retrospective data (family history, crime rates over time)

***nominal level data, p. 169

&= nbsp;

***ordinal level data, pp. 169-170

&= nbsp;

****interval level data (scale data), p. 170

**ratio level data, p. 177

Key terms and concep= ts for Chapter 10

***reliability (just know the general concept, not all the sub-types), pp. 187-191

**Chronbach’s alpha, p. 192

*improving reliability, p. 202

***validity, (just know the general concept), pp. 202-207

**validity threats pp 207-210

Pitfalls in Research=

**conceptual slippage

&= nbsp; **triangulation=

**faulty manipulation

&= nbsp; **manipulation check

**loose procedures

pilot study

**order effects

multiple versions of questionnaires

**sensitization

&= nbsp; avoid pre-tests

*recording errors

***social desirability bias, p. 208, 209

&= nbsp; importance of anonymity

*acquiescence bias and “screw you” bias, pp. 209-210

response set, p. 210

Chapter 13

***random assignment, pp. 260-261

***manipulation of the independent variable, p. 262

&= nbsp; stimulus conditions, p. 263

&= nbsp; stimulus materials, p. 263

&= nbsp; stimulus videos or recordings, p. 263

&= nbsp; hypothetical situations, role plays, p. 263=

***measurement of the dependent variable, p. 265

***control, p. 266

*threshold effects, basement effect, ceiling effect, p. 266

&= nbsp; use sensitive, precise measures

*experimenter effects, p. 266

&= nbsp; blind and double-blind experiments

***Hawthorne effect, p. 266

&= nbsp; cover stories

&= nbsp; unobtrusive measures

**extraneous, intervening, and confounding variables, p. 267

**history, p. 270

**maturation, p. 270

*regression to the mean, p. 270

*attrition and mortality, p. 270