Reference no: EM131368820

The chapter appears to be divided into five main sections.  The first section describes three viewpoints, or metamodels, that guide developmental research - mechanistic, organismic, and contextual.  Each viewpoint has its own way of looking at the role played by the organism and by the environment during development.  Then the key propositions of the lifespan developmental perspective are listed, followed by a discussion of the proportion of developmental gains and losses over the life span.

The second section of the chapter on developmental research discusses the age variable, which is organismic, and the issue of age boundaries when an older age group is included in a research study.  Three basic factors must be considered when conducting developmental research: age, cohort, and time of measurement.  The latter two factors are discussed in detail and examples are given.  Three research designs are described.  The cross-sectional design, the most commonly used and most efficient, confounds age and cohort.  The longitudinal design follows individuals over time and confounds age and time of measurement.  The time-lag design focuses on only one chronological age group and confounds cohort and time of measurement.  Shay's sequential research designs attempt to disentangle confounded factors and determine which ones are significant.

The third section of the chapter covers measurement issues.  Reliability refers to the dependability of research instruments as well as the consistency of results obtained in research studies.  Once reliability is established, the concern is with validity.  Validity has to do with whether we are measuring what we think we are measuring.  There are several kinds of validity (internal, external, and ecological) and each is described.  Other issues discussed are the meaning of heterotypic continuity and the importance of sampling for the validity of a research study.

The fourth section covers approaches to conducting aging research.  With the experimental approach, studies have independent and dependent variables, study participants are randomly assigned to different levels of the manipulated independent variable, the outcome is measured by the dependent variable, and cause-and-effect statements can be made.  Quasi-experimental studies appear to have the same form as experimental studies, but study participants are not randomly assigned to levels of an "independent" variable, so cause-and-effect statements cannot be made.  An example is given for how each approach can be used to study activity level and memory in older adults.  Experimental and quasi-experimental approaches can have single-factor or multi-factor designs.  A third, descriptive, approach involves collecting data on variables of interest and measuring the relationship between them.  This relationship is computed statistically using correlations, which range from -1.0 to 0 to +1.0.  The strongest relationships occurring (in either direction) the further the point is away from 0.

The fifth section of the chapter discusses ethics in research on human aging and the history of what has lead to the safeguards we have today.  These include having study participants sign a consent form, maintaining their confidentiality, and insuring that a participation in a study will have benefits and no long-term negative effects.

1. A developmental scientist with a mechanistic metamodel ______.

a. emphasizes that development is multidirectional and adaptive

b. views development as a series of stages

c. focuses on quantitative differences between age groups

d. emphasizes that the w hole is greater than the sum of the parts

2. Which metamodel places the heaviest emphasis on the nurture (extrinsic, or environmental) side of the nature-nurture debate?

a. Mechanistic

b. Organismic

c. Contextual

3. Which metamodel views development as a progressive sequence of stages which are internally generated?

a. Mechanistic

b. Organismic

c. Contextual

4. Which metamodel views the organism and the environment as being in continuous interaction?

a. Mechanistic

b. Organismic

c. Contextual

5. According to which metamodel might the individual act rather react to the environment?

a. Mechanistic

b. Organismic

c. Contextual

6. Which of the following is NOT an important aspect of the lifespan developmental perspective?

a. Development is plastic.

b. Development is embedded in historical, social, and cultural contexts.

c. Development continues throughout life

d. Development proceeds in only one direction.

7. Which statement is closest to the lifespan development perspective?

a. There are gains and losses over the life span with a shift in proportion in older adulthood toward more gains than losses.

b. Up to the point of young adulthood there are only gains, after which there are losses in every aspect of functioning.

c. People make steady gains from young to older adulthood and there are never any losses.

d. There are gains and losses over the life span with a shift in older adulthood toward a greater proportion of losses than of gains.

8. Age is a(n)________ variable.

a. independent

b. dependent

c. experimental

d. organismic

9. In studies with an extreme age groups design, ________.

a. young adults are compared with adolescents.

b. young adults are compared with older adults.

c. young-old adults are compared with old-old adults.

d. young, middle-aged, and older adults are compared.

10. Which developmental research design confounds (is unable to separate) age and cohort?

a. Longitudinal

b. Cross-sectional

c. Independent samples

d. Time-lag

11. The most commonly used developmental research design that attempts to study age-related differences is ________.

a. time-lag

b. longitudinal

c. cross-sectional

d. cohort-sequential

12. The longitudinal research design confounds (is unable to separate) ________.

a. age and time of measurement

b. age and cohort

c. cohort and time of measurement

d. age, cohort, and time of measurement

13. In which research design is attrition the most obvious issue to consider?

a. Longitudinal

b. Cross-sectional

c. Time-lag

d. Experimental

14. Professor Gish wants to conduct a study on a sample of 60-year-old adults who expect to retire from their jobs in five years. He will administer a questionnaire that asks them what they plan to do once they do retire. Then he will locate these same people every five years (until they are age 75) to find out whether they followed their original plans for retirement. Which research design is Professor Gish using for his study?

a. Cross-sectional

b. time-lag

c. Experimental

d. Longitudinal

15. Professor Gish is interested in comparing the attitude today's 70-year-old adults have toward using computers with the attitude that 70-year-old adults had 10 years ago. Which type of research design might Professor Gish use for this study?

a. Longitudinal

b. Time-lag

c. Cross-sectional

16. Which two factors are confounded (unable to be separated) when measures of computer attitudes made today on a sample of 70-year-olds today are compared with measures of computer attitudes made 10 years ago on a sample of 70-year-olds?

a. Cohort and time of measurement

b. Cohort and age

17. Sequential designs are used in order to ________________.

a. complete research studies quickly and efficiently

b. disentangle the effects of age, cohort, and time of measurement

18. When a measurement instrument is reliable that means it is _________.

a. valid

b. consistent

19. The _______ of a study refers to whether there can be accurate identification and interpretation of the factor(s) responsible for an observation.

a. external validity

b. internal validity

20. Being able to generalize the findings obtained from a sample of research participants to the population from which this sample was drawn refers to the ___________ of a research study.

a. internal validity

b. external validity

21.  Which type of study is best for identifying cause and effect?

a. A correlation study

b. A cross-sectional study

c. An experimental study

22. In which kind of research studies are participants randomly assigned to levels of an independent variable?

a. Correlation studies

b. Quasi-experimental studies

c. Experimental studies

23. Which correlation shows the strongest association between two variables?

a. .55

b. .20

c. -.75

24. As far as the ethics of conducting research, which guideline(s) is (are) important?

a. Obtaining informed consent from study participants or their caretakers if they are unable to give it.

b. Safeguarding the privacy of the study participants.

c. Insuring that the benefits of the findings outweigh any temporary discomforts participants may experience.

d. All of the above

25. Regarding the SOC and ECO theoretical models and their relationship to the metamodels, the contextual model would have the closest fit in that both conceptualize development bi-directionally between the individual and environment.  More specifically to the ECO model and research designs, the longitudinal method holds usefulness in determining:

a. whether there are any changes in strategies one might use to maintain level of functioning.

b. which level of environment challenges most likely insures the highest level of adaption

c. whether losses of functioning had been compensated by gains during this period at various points of adult life span

d. A and B only

e. None the above

f. All of the above