CH 2 Flashcards
What is a hypothesis?
A tentative explanation or prediction about some phenomenon.
Often in the form of an “if-then” statement.
What is a theory?
A set of formal statements that explains HOW and WHY certain events are related to one another.
(Typically specify lawful relationships between certain behaviours and their causes.)
Broader than hypotheses.
What is the approach to understanding behaviour that has a major drawback?
Hindsight. Explanations are subject to variabilities: creative, reasonable or contradictory.
What is a variable?
Any characteristic or factor that can vary.
What is an Operational Definition?
Defining a concept or variable in terms of the specific procedures used to produce or measure it.
Explain social desirability bias.
The tendency to respond in a socially acceptable manner rather than according to how one truly feels or behaves.
In psychological testing, what is reliability?
The consistency with which a measure assesses a given characteristic, or different observers agree on a given score; the degree to which clinicians show high levels of agreement and their diagnostician decisions.
What is unobtrusive measurement?
Recording behaviour in a way that keeps participants unaware that they are being observed.
What are archival measures?
Records or documents that already exist.
How do you psychologists measure behavior?
Self reports and reports from others, directly observable behaviour using unobtrusive measures, analyze archival data, administer psychological tests, and record physiological responses.
What is the five step scientific process?
- Identify question of interest.
- Gather information and form testable hypothesis.
- Test hypothesis by conducting research.
- Analyze data, draw tentative conclusions, and report findings.
- Build a body of knowledge by asking further questions, conduct more research, develop and test theories.
Describe characteristics of a good theory.
It organizes existing information.
It is testable and generates new hypotheses and predictions which can be tested.
Predictions are supported by the findings of new research.
It conforms to the law of parsimony. (Simpler theory is preferred)
What are three key scientific attitudes?
Curiosity
Skepticism
Open-mindedness (prepared to challenge and discard cherished beliefs)
What is the scientific approach to understanding behaviour?
Prediction, control, and theory building.
What is the aim of descriptive research?
It seeks to identify behaviour, particularly in natural settings. May suggest potential cause-effect relations to be tested experimentally.
What is a case study?
An in-depth analysis of an individual, a group or an event, typically with the hope of discovering generalizable principles of behaviour.
Identify advantages of case studies.
1)Enable scientist to study rare phenomenon closely.
2)May challenge the validity of a theory or widely held scientific belief.
3)Can be a vibrant source of new ideas and hypotheses that may be further examined through controlled research methods.
What are the major limitation of case studies?
1) poor method for determining cause-effect relations
2) case study finding may not generalize to other people/situations
3) observers may not be objective in gathering evidence and interpreting the data
What is naturalistic observation?
A method in which the researcher observes behaviour in a natural setting and tries to avoid influencing the participants being observed.
Compare population to sample in surveys?
Population consist of all the individuals about whom are interested in drawing a conclusion.
Sample is a subset of individuals drawn from the larger population.
What’s a representative sample?
A sample that accurately reflects the important characteristics of the population. Typically using random sample.
What is Random Sampling?
A method of choosing a sample in which each member of the population has an equal opportunity to be included in the sample.
What are the advantages of survey research?
Findings can closely portray the population as a whole with representative sampling.
Are an efficient method for collecting a large amount of information about peoples opinions, experiences, lifestyles and changes in beliefs and habits over many years.
What are disadvantages of survey research?
1)Survey data cannot be used to draw conclusions about cause-and-effect.
2)Surveys rely on participants, which can be distorted by social desirability bias, interviewer bias, peoples perceptions of their own behaviour and misinterpretation of survey questions.
3)Unrepresentative samples can lead to faulty generalizations about how many entire population.
4)Sometimes by chance, a sample randomly chosen will not be representative of the larger population.
Define correlational research.
Research that measures two or more in actually occurring variables and examines whether they are statistically related.
Why are we unable to draw causal conclusions from correlational findings?
1) direction of causality could be opposite.
2) bidirectionality problem - both variables may have influenced the other
3) third variable problem - a different variable may be the cause of both
What is a correlation coefficient?
A statistic that indicates the direction and strength of a relation between two variables
Difference between positive and negative correlations?
Positive - as scores on one variable change, second variable scores change in same direction.
Negative - scores of one variable change in the opposite direction of the other variable
What are the benefits to correlational research?
1) can help establish whether relations found in laboratories generalize to the outside world
2) can discover associations that are subsequently studied under controlled lab conditions
3) to examine questions that cannot be studied with experiments for practical/ethical reasons
4) allow researchers to make predictions
What is an experiment?
A research method in the which the researcher manipulates an independent variable under controlled conditions and measures whether this produces changes in the dependant variable
What are three essential characteristics of experiments?
1) researcher manipulates/controls one or more variables
2) measures whether the manipulation influences other variables
3) attempts to control extraneous factors that may influence the outcome of experiment
Describe the logic of experimentation?
- Start with equivalent groups of participants
- Treat them equally in all respects except the variable of interest
- Isolate this variable and manipulate it
- Measure how the groups respond
What are independent and dependant variables?
Independent variable is the factor controlled/manipulated by experimenter. (Cause)
Dependant variable is the factor that is measured for influence by the independent variable. (Effect)
What is a between subjects experimental design?
A common experimental design in which each experimental group is composed of a different set of participants
What is random assignment?
A procedure in which each participant has an equal likelihood of being assigned to anyone group within an experiment.
What is a repeated measures design?
Each participant in an experiment is exposed to all the conditions of an independent variable.
What is counterbalancing in experimentation?
A procedure in which participants in an experiment are exposed to all the conditions; the order of conditions as varied so that no condition has an advantage relative to the others.
Why do researchers manipulate the independent variables in the same experiment?
To analyze the interaction of causal factors, the influence that the presents or strength of one factor can have on other causal factors.
What is validity in research?
The extent to which a test measures what it is supposed to; the degree to which a diagnostic system’s categories contain the core features of the behaviour disorders and permit differentiation among the disorders.
What is internal validity?
The degree to which an experiment produces clear casual conclusions; internal validity is high when there’s no confounding variables.
What is the term experimenter expectancy?
The subtle and unintentional ways in which an experimenter influences participants to behave in a way that will confirm the hypothesis
How do researchers, minimize experimenter expectancy effects?
Using a double blind procedure, in which both the participant an experimenter are kept unaware of the research condition to which the participants have been assigned.
How does external validity of differ from internal validity?
External validity is the degree to which the results of a study can be generalized to other people, settings and conditions compared to the conclusions just clearly causal within the experiment.
How is external validity determined?
By replication of an experiment - the process of repeating a study to determine whether the original findings can be duplicated.
What is a meta-analysis?
A statistical procedure for combining the results of different studies that examine the same topic.
What is cross cultural replication?
The process of repeating a study to determine whether their original findings generalize across different cultures.
What is the principle of informed consent?
Prior to agreeing to participate in research, a person should be fully informed about the procedures, risks involved, and the right to withdraw at any time without penalty.
