| scientific method | The use of measurable and replicable techniques in framing hypotheses and collecting and analyzing data to test a theory's usefulness.
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| sample | A group of individuals who are representative of a larger population.
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| representativeness | The degree to which a sample actually possesses the characteristics of the larger population it represents.
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| national survey | A method of sampling in which a very large, national representative group of people are selected for a particular study.
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| self-report | Information that people provide about themselves, either in a direct interview or in some written form, such as a questionnaire.
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| direct observation | A method of observation in which researchers go into settings in the natural world to observe behaviors of interest.
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| speciman record | A technique by which researchers record everything a person does within a given period of time.
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| event sampling | A technique by which investigators record subjects' behavior only when an event of particular interest occurs, not at other times.
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| time sampling | A technique by which researchers record any of a set of predetermined behaviors that occur within a specified time period.
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| structured observation | A form of observation in which researchers structure a situation so that behaviors they wish to study are more likely to occur.
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| correlational method | A research design that permits investigators to establish relationships among variables as well as the strength of those relationships.
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| correlation coefficient | A numerical measure of how closely two factors are related to each other.
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| laboratory experiment | A research design that allows investigators, through controlling variables and treatments and assigning participants randomly to treatments, to determine cause and effect.
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| experimental group | In a formal experiment, the group that is exposed to the treatment, that is, the independent variable.
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| control group | In a formal experiment, the group that is not exposed to the treatment, that is, the independent variable.
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| random assignment | The technique by which researchers assign individuals randomly to either an experimental or a control group.
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| independent variable | The variable, or factor, that researchers deliberately manipulate in a formal experiment.
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| dependent variable | The variable, or factor, that researchers expect to change as a function of change in the independent variable.
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| ecological validity | The degree to which a research study accurately represents events and processes that occur in the natural world.
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| laboratory analogue experiment | An experiment in which investigators try to duplicate in the laboratory features or events of everyday life.
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| field experiment | An experiment in which researchers deliberately create a change in a real-world setting and then measure the outcome of their manipulation.
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| observer bias | The tendency of researchers-observers to be influenced in their judgments by their knowledge of the hypotheses guiding the research.
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| natural experiment | An experiment in which researchers measure the results of events that occur naturally in the real world.
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| case study method | A form of research in which investigators study individual persons.
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| ABAB design | A technique in which an experimental treatment is administered, withdrawn, and readministered in order to measure its effects. Also called a reversal design.
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| cross-sectional method | A research method in which researchers compare groups of individuals of different age levels at approximately the same point in time.
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| longitudinal method | A method in which investigators study the same people repeatedly at various times in the participants' lives.
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| age cohort | People born within the same generation.
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| sequential method | A research method that combines features of both the cross-sectional and the longitudinal methods.
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| informed consent | Agreement to participate in a research study that is based on a clear and full understanding of the purposes and procedures of that study.
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