Читать книгу Interpreting and Using Statistics in Psychological Research - Andrew N. Christopher - Страница 38

Let’s dissect this research study and introduce some basic statistical considerations that are critical for any research study to consider. First, there are, as you saw in the last Learning Check, several variables in Terrell et al.’s (2008) study. As mentioned briefly in the previous chapter, a variable is a quality that has different values or changes among individuals. For instance, qualities such as height, age, personality, happiness, and intelligence differ among people; hence, each is a variable. Variables can also be environmental features, such as noise level in the room. We all probably have some idea of what is meant by variables such as height and age. However, research in psychology specifically and social sciences more broadly needs to be able to measure variables that are not as readily apparent. In Terrell et al.’s research, they measured personality. What exactly does “personality” mean? I bet we all have an idea of what it means, but those ideas may not be the same for all of us. We need to know precisely what “personality” means in this example. Three aspects of personality were examined: tendency to act aggressively (Buss & Perry, 1992), narcissism (Raskin & Terry, 1988), and venturesomeness (Eysenck, Pearson, Easting, & Allsopp, 1985).

These sorts of “internal” variables, such as personality, are called constructs; they cannot be observed directly but instead must be inferred in some way. We know what specific aspects of “personality” Terrell and her colleagues (2008) measured, and I bet you have an idea of what a “tendency to act aggressively,” “narcissism,” and “venturesomeness” each mean. For instance, when we say someone is a “narcissist,” we might think of someone who is self-absorbed and thinks highly of his or her abilities. But this is not good enough in research. We need to know precisely how each one of these aspects of personality was measured.

Constructs: variables that cannot be directly assessed but must be inferred in some way.