Exam 2: Theory and Method in Studying Aging and Older Adulthood

Sequential designs are used in order to ________________.

The best way to compare a sample of young and older adults on how they perform on a memory test is to test a group of young adult undergraduates and a group of older adult nursing home residents.

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

Define what is meant by the ecological validity of a test that is given to young and older adults.Give an example.

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

Which statement is closest to the lifespan development perspective?

Describe the longitudinal research design and state which factors are confounded.What is the advantage of this design and what is the role of selective attrition?

Many traditional psychometric tests of intelligence measure abilities that children or young adults use in school.Some psychologists have argued psychometric tests are not appropriate for measuring the kinds of cognitive intellectual abilities older adults use in their everyday lives.These psychologists are worried about the _________ when these are used for older adults.

Which method of research is best for keeping track of age-related changes over time in an individual person (intraindividual variability)?

A group of young adults and a group of older adults are instructed to study a list of words and then are given a memory test.The researcher conducting the study finds that,on average,the memory test scores of the older group are lower than the memory test scores of the young group.This study is an example of a _________.

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

What is the difference between a true experimental and a quasi-experimental research design?

In an extreme age groups design,_________________.

Age is a(n)________ variable.

A developmental researcher asks young and older adults to study a list of words.Half of the young and half of the older adults are told to use visual imagery when they study the list and the other half are given no imagery instructions.After they study the list,all participants are tested for how many words they can remember.This research has a __________.

Describe the cross-sectional research design.Which factors are confounded in this design and why is this design the most commonly used in developmental research?

What are the three factors that must be considered when researchers conduct developmental studies?

Professor Jones 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 Jones using for his study?

Define what is meant by the reliability and the validity of a test that is used to measure intelligence.

_______ refers to whether a measure used to assess an underlying characteristic (for example,depression) has the same degree of internal validity for different age groups.