2. Methods Flashcards
Applied research vs Basic research
Applied- real world, practical application
Basic - interesting but no immediate application
I knew it all along
Hindsight bias
_____ aims to explain some phenomenon and allows researchers to generate testable hypothesis
Theory
The “how” part of a research
Operational definition
Good research is both _____ and _____
Valid and reliable
Process by which participants are selected
Sampling
What is the goal in selecting a sample?
To be representative of a larger population
What takes place after selection to put participants into separate groups?
Assignment
Random sampling vs Stratified sampling
Stratified: ratios to represent same proportions
Best method of research and can identify cause-and-effect relationships:
What are two types of this research method?
Experiment
Laboratory and field
Any difference between the experimental and control conditions, except for the independent variable, that might affect dependent variable
Confounding variable
Each participant has equal chance of being placed into any group
Random assignment
What is the other way of assigning other than random assignment? It’s like stratified sampling but in assignment.
Group matching
Random assignment ______ for participant-relevant confounding variables.
Equivalent environments ______ for situation-relevant confounding variables.
Controls
Unconscious tendency for researchers to treat participants differently
Experimenter bias
This procedure can be used to eliminate experimenter bias.
This can be used to eliminate participant bias.
Double-blind procedure
Single-blind
What is social desirability
A response bias, a tendency to try to give answers that reflect well on them
Merely selecting a group of people on whom to experiment has been determined to affect the performance of that group. This finding is known as
Hawthorne Effect
_____________ controls for the possible placebo effect
Placebo method
Is control group the only method of control?
No
Order effects can be eliminated by this control method
Counterbalancing
What is correlation and what does it NOT imply?
Relationship between two variables.
Does not imply causation
Research method used to get full, detailed picture of one participant or a small group of participants
Case study
The two types of Descriptive Statistical measures?
measures of central tendency (mean, median, mode)
measures of variability (range, variance, and standard deviation)
What distorts the accuracy of the mean?
outliers
positively skewed vs. negatively skewed
positive: outlier is higher than average scores, making mean higher than median
negative: outlier is lower than average scores
What does the measures of variability attempt to depict
the diversity of distribution
relationship btwn standard deviation and variance
S.D. is square root of variance
Both standard deviation and variance essentially relate the avrg distance of any score in the distribution from the mean.
That means, the higher the variance and standard deviation:
the more spread out the distribution
In normal curve,
__% of scores fall w/in one z score from the mean.
__% fall w/in two z scores
__% fall w/in three z scores
- 68
- 95
- 99
Correlation Coefficient measures
strength of a correlation
Opposite of Descriptive Statistics:
Inferential Statistics
The smaller the p value, the (more/less) significant the results of a study. Scientists decided that p value of .05 is cutoff for _______________ results.
more
statistically significant
APA Ethical Guidelines for Human Research must meet these standards: (4)
- No coercion
- Informed consent
- Anonymity, confidentiality
- Debriefing
