1-13-16 Notes Flashcards
What 2 precepts are scientists guided by?
- The world is intelligible
- This process is hard, and our minds are prone to illusions and processes.
People tend to be shackled to their __________.
ideology
Let the _________ dictate what you believe.
evidence
What are variables?
Elements investigated in studies that are manipulated, compared or controlled.
An independent variable is the ________ variable.
predictor
A dependent variable is the _________ variable.
outcome
What are the goals of applying the scientific method to Psychology?
Description
Prediction
Explanation
Application
Describe the 1st goal of description and give and example.
What is the phenomenon and its characteristics?
Example: What is hunger? or What is love?
Describe the 2nd goal of Prediction and give an example
What is associated with the phenomenon? Are two things related?
Example: Poverty predicts school dropout rate
One variable that can predict another means that they are __________.
correlated (but correlation doesn’t tell you why 2 variables are correlated)
Describe goal 3 of explanation and give an example.
Why does something occur? Example: Does reading before class increase participation?
When a 2nd event is a cause of the 1st, it is known as _____________.
causation
Experiments determine causality by eliminating ___________.
confounds
What are confounds?
Other variables that are causing an effect.
Prediction = ___________
correlation
Explanation = ____________
causation
Describe the 4th goal of Application and give an example.
Applied research vs. basic research. Can basic research be applied to improve findings?
Name the steps of the research process
1) Ask a question
2) Study the literature
3) Develop a hypothesis
4) Design a method
5) Collect data
6) Enter and analyze data
7) Interpret the data
8) Disseminate the results
For a hypothesis to be testable, what needs to happen?
Constructs must have a good operational definition.
What is a construct and what are some examples?
A construct is a psychological concept or idea like intelligence or aggressiveness.
What is an operational definition?
Defining constructs in terms that can be objectively measured.
A testable hypothesis makes a __________.
prediction
Is “self esteem in teenage girls” a good hypothesis?
No.
Give an example of an adequately defined hypothesis.
Intelligent people are happier
T/F: Hypotheses cannot be circular.
True
Given an example of a circular hypothesis.
People who are highly aggressive will be more likely to hit another person.
Give an example of a non-circular hypothesis.
Children with ADHD will pay less attention during a task.
Hypotheses also need to be able to be _________.
falsifiable
Give an example of a falsifiable assertion.
Women are better than men at recognizing emotion
Give an example of an assertion that is not falsifiable.
Stealing is wrong
A good hypothesis offers a relationship between variables that is supported by ______________.
previous research
Once you have a hypothesis with operationally defined construct, you must choose __________ measures with previous support.
reliable, valid
What is reliability?
How consistent a measure is.
What is validity?
Does it measure what it’s supposed to?
A sample should be __________ of the population you want to test.
representative
Describe descriptive statistics.
Summarizing your data
Testing for meaningful group differences.
Inferential statistics
