2 - The Study of Learning and Behavior

Question 1

Parsimony

Answer 1

the simplest explanation that fits the data is best

Question 2

Operational Definition

Answer 2

a description of what the variable is

Question 3

Measurement Factors

Answer 3

-Reduction in errors
-Intensity
-Speed
-Latency
-Rate/Frequency
-Fluency

Question 4

Anecdotal Evidence

Answer 4

first hand or second hand reports about a sequence of events

Question 5

Short Comings of Anecdotal Evidence

Answer 5

-“grandma’s wisdom”

Question 6

Case Studies

Answer 6

looking at one particular individual in detail
Shortcoming: difficult to generalize to soceity
Benefit: learn a lot of information about things that were previously unknown

Question 7

Descriptive Studies

Answer 7

to describe a group of people that are similarly identifiable
-Benefit: being able to generalize more easily
-Shortcomings: not testing hypothesis

Question 8

Independent Variable

Answer 8

the thing you manipulate/what you are exposed to

Question 9

Dependent Variable

Answer 9

your reaction/experience

Question 10

Between-Subjects Experiments

Answer 10

different people test each condition, so that each person is only exposed to a single user interface

Question 11

Within-Subjects Experiments

Answer 11

one group of people being tested for both conditions/exposed all variables

Question 12

Randomly Sampling/Assignment

Answer 12

everyone has an equal change of being selected

Question 13

Matched Sampling/Assignment

Answer 13

similar variable put into different groups in order to balance variables

Question 14

Order Effects

Answer 14

occurs when participants’ responses in the various conditions are affected by the order of conditions to which they were exposed

Question 15

ABA Reversal Design

Answer 15

experimenter returns to baseline from intervention

Question 16

Limitations of Experimental Research

Answer 16

-not being able to generalize to the real world