CHAPTER 3

• non experimental approach

  • do not create levels of an independent variable nor randomly assign subjects
• non experimental approach

  • used when experiments are not ethical or possible or test hypothesis in realistic conditions.
• internal validity

  • can establish a causal relationship between IV and DV
• an internally valid experiment allows us to draw cause-and-effect conclusions
• external validity

  • research findings can be generalized to other settings
• phenomenology

  • personal subjective experience
• retrospective data

  • recollection of past events
• field studies

  • nonexperimental studies conducted in the field (real-life settings)
• naturalistic observation

  • subject's spontaneous behavior in their actual environments
• reactivity

  • alter their behavior when being observed
• participant-observer study

  • involves field observation in which the researcher is part of the studied group
• archival study

  • reexamine data that were collected for other purposes
• qualitative study

  • obtains data consisting of words instead of numbers
• paradigm shift

  • change in attitudes, values, beliefs, methods, and procedures accepted during a specific time
• contextual phenomena

  • behavior that can only be understood within its context