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Based on Dr. Chen's research goals, diagnose what the population is for her study and justify your answer using the definition of a population.
Case context: Dr. Chen is setting up a new research project. She is primarily interested in the cognitive development milestones of children with autism. While she will only be able to directly observe a small number of these children at local clinics, her ultimate objective is to understand this phenomenon broadly within that specific demographic.
Question: Based on Dr. Chen's research goals, diagnose what the population is for her study and justify your answer using the definition of a population.
Sample answer: The population for Dr. Chen's study is all children with autism. This is because a population is defined as the entire, often very large, group of individuals that a researcher is interested in studying and drawing conclusions about, which perfectly aligns with her goal to understand this specific demographic.
Key points:
- The population is all children with autism
- It represents the entire group of interest
- It is the group the researcher wants to draw conclusions about
- The population is defined by the researcher's specific goals
Rubric: The response must identify 'children with autism' as the population and justify this by explaining that it represents the entire group the researcher wishes to draw conclusions about based on her specific goals.
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Research Methods in Psychology - 4th American Edition @ KPU
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Sample
In the context of psychological research, how is a 'population' defined?
A developmental psychologist is studying the language acquisition skills of children with autism. She observes 50 children with autism at a local clinic. In this research context, what term best describes the entire group of 'all children with autism' that the psychologist ultimately wants to draw conclusions about?
True or False: In psychological research, a population must always consist of a broad group, such as all human beings, in order to allow researchers to draw valid conclusions.
In psychological research, the 'population' is defined by the specific group a researcher intends to draw conclusions about. Match each study description to the correct population that represents the researcher's overall group of interest.
A researcher is planning a study on the impact of social media on self-esteem. Evaluate the logical sequence for defining their 'population' by arranging the following steps in order, from the initial conceptual interest to the finalized group for conclusion-drawing.
In psychological research, what does the term 'population' refer to?
In psychological research, which of the following best describes how a researcher's goals influence the definition of a population?
In research, the entire group of individuals that a researcher is interested in studying and drawing conclusions about is called the _____.
True or False: If a researcher changes their study's objective from understanding the behavior of all human beings to understanding the behavior of professional athletes, they have redefined the population of interest, because the scope of a population is determined by the specific goals of the researcher.
Evaluate the goals of each research study scenario and match it to the most logically justified population of interest.
Define the term 'population' in the context of psychological research and explain what determines its breadth or specificity.
Based on Dr. Chen's research goals, diagnose what the population is for her study and justify your answer using the definition of a population.
If you were designing a study to investigate the injury recovery times of professional athletes, what would your population of interest be, and why?
Dr. Vance is investigating the relationship between screen time and attention span in middle school students in the United States. She administers a cognitive attention task to a group of 150 middle schoolers recruited from three schools in Chicago. In this study, the broader group of 'all middle school students in the United States' that Dr. Vance ultimately wishes to draw conclusions about represents the ____.