AP Psych Barrons Chap 2 Flashcards
basic research
research that explores questions that are of interest of psychologists that are not intended to have immediate, real-world applications
valid
measures what it’s supposed to measure; accurate
reliable
can be replicated, consistent
hypothesis
a relationship between two variables
dependent variable
This is the variable that is studied. Let’s say we are experimenting to find out the effect that the simpsons has on people’s tendency to be violent. The dependent variable would be the violence people experience after watching the Simpsons. The Simpsons episode would be the independent variable.
operationalize
to explain how you will measure variables such as the independent and dependent variables
sampling
the process by which subjects are selected
population
anyone or anything that could possibly be selected to be in the sample
random selection
randomly selecting the sample group, increases the likelihood that the sample represents the population
stratified sampling
randomly sampling each strata (category of people, for example race or gender) of the population, so that the final sample reflects the population more accurately
laboratory experiment
conducted in a lab, a highly controlled environment. Psychologists prefer laboratory setting for experimenting, because a controlled experiment can more easily show a relationship
field experiment
conducted in the world, more realistic than laboratory experiment
experiment
only experiments can show cause and effect relationships through the manipulation of the independent variable and subsequent observation of the dependent variable while controlling for confounding variables
confounding variable
any difference between the experimental and control conditions, besides the changes of the independent variable
assignment
the process by which subjects are put into a group, experimental or control
random assignment
each subject has an equal chance of being placed in either the experimental or the control group
group matching
Assigning to either control or experimental based on specific requirements. If you were testing the relationship between IQ and gender, then you would group match so that the experimental and control groups had equal amounts of both genders
situation-relevant confounding variables
differences between the experimental and control situations that may affect the experiment
experimenter bias
the unconscious tendency for researchers to treat members of the experimental and control groups differently to increase the chance of confirming their hypotheses
demand characteristics
cues about the purpose of the study. You want to reduce these, so that the subjects have no idea what is being studied so that the subjects can experience less response bias
response/subject bias
when subjects behave in ways they think the observer wants them to behave
Hawthorne effect
Being selected for an experiment inherently changes behavior, since the subject know that they are being studied
counterbalancing
using subjects as their own control group by having half of them be experimental first and half of them be control first
correlation
a relationship between two variables without ascribing cause
order effect
the order of the experimental/control group activities may affect the results. So if we were testing IQ and alcohol. Then taking 1 IQ test before alcohol and the taking another IQ test after alcohol, might produce results that state that IQ goes up with alcohol, because the subject had the practice of IQ test number 1 before taking test number 2. The problem of order effect can be fixed by counterbalancing. Having one person take the IQ test first and then alcohol, and having another person take IQ with alcohol and then take an IQ when sober
ex post facto study
research in which subjects are chosen based on a pre-existing condition; all other variables are controlled
survey method
kind of correlational research in which surveys are filled out; difficult to control for confounding variables, because surveys are mailed out and people take the survey at different times of the day, different places, take different amounts of time to fill out the survey. Surveys are a research method where the independent variable is not manipulated
naturalistic observation
unobtrusive observation on subjects in their natural habitats, control is sacrificed
case study
a full, detailed picture of one subject or a small group of subjects; not reflective of population, as a result findings cannot be generalized
frequency polygon
line graph
frequency distribution
a distribution of observed frequencies of occurrence of the values of a variable. Such as types of pets owned by the class. A graph showing a bar for dogs, cat, turtles
frequency polygon
Frequency distribution can be easily represented by frequency polygon aka a line graph
histogram
Frequency distribution can be easily represented by histogram aka a bar graph
positively skewed
when a distribution has a high outlier, there are more low scores than high scores due to the outlier. This makes sense since the high score is considered to skew the graph. It is difficult to make times between outliers and mode, because mode is really not effected too much by outliers
negatively skewed
when a distribution has a low outlier, there are more high scores than low scores due to the outlier
measures of variability
attempt to depict the diversity of the distribution. range, variance, and standard deviation
variance
the average of the squared differences of each number from the mean
standard deviation
the square root of the variance
range
the distance between the highest and lowest score in a distribution
normal curve
theoretical bell-shaped curve for which the area under the curve lying between any two z scores has been predetermined
percentile
the distance of a score from 0
correlation coefficient
range from -1 and +1. If there is a positive correlation, the presence of one thing indicates the presence of the other. If there is a negative correlation, the presence of one indicates the absence of the other. -1 and +1 indicate strong correlations, 0 indicates the weakest type of correlation.
line of best fit
the line drawn through the scatter plot that minimizes the distance of all the points from the line
scatter plot
a series of points plotted on a graph. Used to plot correlations
line of best fit
the line drawn through the scatter plot that minimizes the distance of all the points from the line. The slope of this best fit line can reveal correlation coefficient
sampling error
the extent to which a sample differs from the population
p value
the percent chance that the findings were due to chance
institutional review board
reviews research proposal for ethical violations and/or procedural errors
informed consent
participants must know that they are involved in research and give their consent
coercion
participation must be voluntary
anonymity/confidentiality
both protect privacy
risk
participants cannot be placed in significant mental or physical risk
debriefing procedures
participants must be told the purpose of the study and provided with ways to contact the researchers about study results
measures of central tendency
mean, median, mode
