3 - Three Claims, Four Validities Flashcards
Association claim
A claim about two variables, in which the level of one variable incentive very systematically with the level of another variable, such that when one variable changes, the other variable tends to change too.
Causal claim
A claim arguing that a specific change in one verbal is responsible for influencing the level of another variable.
Claim
The argument an author or scientist is trying to make.
Conceptual definition
A researcher’s definition of a variable at an abstract level.
Constant
Something that could potentially very but that has only one level the study in question.
Construct validity
A measure of how well the variable was measured or manipulated in a study.
Correlate
covary.
To occur or vary together systematically (as two variables).
Covariance
One of the three rules for establishing causation, stating that the propose causal variable must vary systematically with changes in the proposed outcome variable.
Curvilinear association
And association in which, as one variable increases, the level of the other variable changes it’s pattern (such as increasing and then decreasing).
Dependent variable
In an experiment, the variable that is measured, or the outcome variable. In a regression analysis, the single outcome, or criterion variable, that the researchers are most interested in understanding or predicting.
Experiment
A study in which one variable is manipulated and the other is measured.
External validity
A measure of how well the results of the study generalized to, or represent, individuals or context besides those in the study itself.
Frequency claim
A claimed that describes a particular rate or level of the single variable.
Generalizability
The extent to which the subjects in a study represent the populations they are intended to represent; how well the settings in a study represent other settings or context.
Independent variable
A variable that is manipulated in an experiment. In the regression analysis, it is the variable used to explain variance in the criterion variable.
Internal validity
The ability to rule out alternative explanations for a causal relationship between two variables.
Manipulated variable
A variable in an experiment that researchers control by assigning participants to its different levels.
Measured variable
A variable in a study whose levels are observed and recorded.
Negative association
An association in which high levels of one variable go with low levels of the other variable.
Operational definition
operationalization.
The specific way in which a concept of interest is measured or manipulated as a variable in this study.
Positive association
And association in which high levels of one variable go with high levels of the other variable, and low levels of one variable go with low levels of the other variable.
Random assignment
The use of a random method (e.g. flipping a coin) to assign participants into different experimental groups.
Scatterplot
A graphical representation of an association, in which each dot represents one participant in the study measured on two variables.
Statistical validity
statistical conclusion validity.
The extent to which statistical conclusions derived from the study are accurate and reasonable.
Temporal precedence
One of the three rules for establishing causation, stating that the proposed causal variable comes first in time, before the proposed outcome variable.
Value
One of the possible variations, or levels, of a variable.
Variable
And attribute that varies, having at least two levels, or values.
Zero association
Zero correlation.
A lack of systematic association between two variables.
Three rules for causation
Covariance, temporal precedence, internal validity.
