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| Idea or mental construct that represents phenomena in the real world. |
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| Come from observing facts and processes and how they relate. All models are not accurate. |
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| The extent to which a measurement is a consistent measure of a concept. |
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| The extent a measurement records the true value of the intended characteristic and does not measure any unintended characteristics. |
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| Start with theory, hypothesis, test. arguments are attempts to show that a conclusion necessarily follows from a set of premises or hypotheses. |
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| Gather data, run test, discover relationship, make theories. Inductive reasoning allows for the possibility that the conclusion is false, even where all of the premises are true. |
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| Something that changes. Can be measured, or ranked. Gender can not be measured or ranked. |
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| Answers the question "What do I observe?" |
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| Answers the question "What do I change?" |
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| Farther removed in time. Occurs before the independent variable and the dependent variable. Would be one that influences both the independent variable and the dependent variable. |
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| Affected by the Antecedent Variable and closer in time to the (DV). Element that is presumed to explain or provide a link between other variables. |
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| No relationship between variables. |
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| Opposite of Null Hypothesis. There is a relationship between DV & IV. No direction indicated. |
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| Directional/Alternative Hypothesis |
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| There is a relationship between DV & IV and in what direction. |
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| What makes a good Hypothesis? |
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Definition
| Testable, empirical, general, plausible, specific concepts & variables. |
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| Normal Bell Curve 3 characteristics. |
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Definition
1. 3 measures of tendency (mean, median, mode) have the same value.
2. Symmetrical to the central point (mean, median, mode).
3. All cases fall under the curve. |
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| Review of info already published on the topic you plan to study. |
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| Can't talk about individuals when you are comparing groups. |
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| Nominal Level of measurement |
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| Lowest level of measurement. Categories that have no order to them. Examp: color, gender, countries. Can only be one. |
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| Ordinal Level of Measurement |
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| Higher than Nominal Level. Categories that have order to them. Examp: not liberal, some liberal, strong liberal |
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| Interval Level of Measurement |
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| Higher than Ordinal Level. Ordered categories that have meaning. Examp: age, temp, %, $, amount of something |
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| Ratio Level of Measurement |
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| Highest level of measurement. Same properties as Interval Level but has a 0 value. The absence of something. |
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| Rule for Levels of Measurement |
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| Higher levels can be measured at lower levels, but lower ones cannot be measured at higher ones. |
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| Formal detailed plan for research. |
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| 7 Components of a Research Design |
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| Specific research question, specify hypothesis, lit review, data (IV & DV), procedures used, findings, conclusions |
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| Groups or individuals in 1 point in time. Examp: Countries in 1990 |
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| Repeated observations of the same items over long periods of time -- often many decades. |
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| Form of Longitudinal Data in which observations are collected on the different groups over a period of time. |
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| Experimental Research Design |
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| Controlled environment, experimenter allowed to manipulate IV. |
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| Non-Experimental Research Design |
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| Used mostly in Political Science. No random assignment, directional hypothesis. |
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