Barron's: Chapter 2 - Methods Flashcards
hindsight bias
when people have the tendency upon hearing about research findings to think that they knew it all along
applied research
a form of systematic inquiry involving the practical application of science. It accesses and uses some part of the research communities’ accumulated theories, knowledge, methods, and techniques, for a specific, often state-, business-, or client-driven purpose.
basic research
explores questions that are of interest to psychologists but are not intended to have immediate, real-world applications
hypothesis
expresses a relationship between two variables
variables
things that can vary among the participants in the research
theory
aims to explain some phenomenon and allows researchers to generate testable hypotheses with the hope of collecting data that support the theory
operational definition
you explain how you will measure it
valid research
when it measures what the researcher set out to measure; it is accurate
reliable research
when something is replicated and the results are consistent
random selection
when every member of the population has an equal chance of being selected
stratified samplig
a process that allows a researcher to ensure that the sample represents the population on some criteria
laboratory expiriments
conducted in a lab, a highly controlled environment
field experiment
conducted out in the world
confounding variable
any difference between the experimental and control conditions, except for the independent variable, that might affect the dependent variable
assignment
the process by which participants are put into a group, experimental or control
random assignment
means that each participant has an equal change of being placed into any group
experimenter bias
the unconscious tendency for researchers to treat members of the experimental and control groups differently to increase the chance of confirming their hypothesis
double-blind procedure
occurs when neither the participants nor the researcher are able to affect the outcome of the research
single blind
occurs when only the participants do not know to which group they have been assigned
demand characteristics
cues about the purpose of the study
response or subject bias
the tendency for subjects to behave in certain ways
social desirability
the tendency to try to give answers that reflect well upon them
Hawthorne effect
the alteration of behavior by the subjects of a study due to their awareness of being observed
placebo method
A remarkable phenomenon in which a placebo – a fake treatment, an inactive substance like sugar, distilled water, or saline solution – can sometimes improve a patient’s condition simply because the person has the expectation that it will be helpful
counterbalancing
using participants as their own control group
correlation
expresses a relationship between two variables without ascribing cause
positive correlation
between two things means that the presence of one things predicts the presence of the other
negative correlation
means that the presence of one things predicts the absence of the other
survey method
involves asking people to fill out surveys
naturalistic observation
observe participants i their natural habitats without interacting with them at all
case study method
used to get a full, detailed picture of one participant or a small group of participants
descriptive statistics
describe a set of data
y-axis (vertical)
always represents frequency
central tendency
attempt to mark the center of a distribution
mean
average of the scores in a distribution
median
the central score in the distribution
positively skewed
when a distribution includes an extreme score
negatively skewed
when the skew is cause by a particularly low score
measures of variability
another type of statistical measures
z scores
measure the distance of a score form the mean in units of standard deviation
normal curve
a theoretical bell-shaped curve for which the area under the curve lying between any two z scores has been predetermined
percentiles
indicate the distance of a score from 0
correlation
measures the relationship between two variables
correlation coefficients
- range from 1 and +1 where -1 is a perfect, negative correlation and +1 is a perfect, positive correlation
scatter plot
graphs pairs of values, one on the y-axis and one on the x-axis
line of best fit, or regression line
the line drawn through the scatter plot that minimized the distance of all points from the line
inferential statistics
used to determine whether or not findings can be applied to the larger population form which the sample was selected
sampling error
the extent to which the sample differs from the population
p value
gives the probability that the difference between the groups is due to chance
anonymity
when the researchers do not collect any data that enable them to match a person’s responses with his or her name
confidentiality
the researcher will not identify the source of any of the data
