Themes and Issues

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Chap 03 Research Methods

• Experimental design vs. Quasi-experimental design
• Descriptive research designs
• Layout for developmental designs
• Correlational designs
• Ethical issues in research

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Nature gives you the face you have at twenty it
is up to you to merit the face you have at
fifty. Coco Chanel 1983-1971
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descriptive research designs
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• Age, Cohort and Time of Measurement

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(No Transcript)
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• Characteristics of Descriptive Research Designs
  Longitudinal study design
• Advantage
• Measure age changes and therefore development
• Disadvantages
• Effects of aging cannot be separated from
  historical change
• Takes many years to complete
• Expensive
• Researcher will not have publishable results
• Selective attrition of respondents
• Practice effects on tests may lead to improved
  performance
• Original test may become outdated
• Corrective Step
• Devote administrative resources to maintaining
  the respondents in the study
• Use alternate forms of the test to avoid practice
  effects
• Rescore outdated measures using newer theoretical
  framework
• Examine data from multiple studies conducted at
  different time periods

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• Characteristics of Descriptive Research Designs
• Cross-sectional study design
• Advantage
• Quick and inexpensive
• Latest theories can be tested
• Disadvantages
• Measures differences between age groups and not
  changes overtime
• Results may reflect cohort differences and not
  differences due to aging
• Tasks may not be equivalent for different cohorts
• Survivor problems exist because the older adults
  are a select group
• Appropriate age ranges are difficult to determine
• Corrective Step
• Control for cohort differences by careful
  attention to selection of samples
• Validate test procedures on different age groups
  before comparing them
• Regard results as tentative rather than
  conclusive
• Replicate studies, preferably with more
  sophisticated methods

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sequential designs
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The Most Efficient Design
K. Warner Schaie, 1965
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Correlational designs
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Types of Correlational Studies
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How do multivariate designs help to clarify
research issues?

• Control for confounds related to age
• Allow investigations of "causality"
• Provide ways to examine change over time

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• Types of Research Methods
• Laboratory studies
• Qualitative studies
• Archival research
• Surveys
• Case reports
• Focus reports
• Observational methods

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• Measurement Issues in
• Adult Development and Aging
• Reliability
• Validity

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ethical issues in research
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APA Ethical Guidelines

• Informed consent
• Debriefing
• Suggest resources
• Right to withdraw
• Confidentiality of data

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REVIEW POINTS