ch 2 Flashcards
2 core beliefs of science
- the universe operates according to natural laws
- those laws can be discovered and tested
deductive reasoning
apply big general ideas to specific scenarios
ex. deduce that the home team will win because they have an advantage
first philosopher to question deductive reasoning? what idea did it lead to
Francis Bacon, led to the idea of bias
bias
distorted belief based on a person’s subjective view
What did Bacon propose to avoid bias
inductive reasoning
inductive reasoning
use controlled, direct/”small” observations to create a broad conclusion
ex. make careful observations of how a number of teams do at home and away over the course of several seasons, and then use the total of home and away wins to decide if there is a home arena effect
empirical observations/ideas
able to be tested in objective ways
hypothetico-deductive reasoning
scientists begin with an educated guess, perhaps based on previous research, about how the world works, and then set about designing small controlled observations to support or invalidate that hypothesis (uses both deductive and inductive reasoning)
hypothesis
specific statements that are objectively falsifiable (can be disproven)
A proven hypothesis
Theory
difference between psychology and chemistry/physics/biology
-not every part of psychology is observable (compared to a cell of DNA)
-thoughts are not observable, but behaviours are
What are the four goals of psychology?
What is the main difference between psychology and pseudo-psychology?
pseudo-psychology does not use the scientific method
independent variable
though to be a factor in changing another variable
dependent variable
a variable that you expect to be affected the the independent variable (“depends” on IV)
operationalize
to develop a working definition of a variable that allows you to test it.
sample
the group of people being studied, representing the demographic
random selection
identifying a sample in such a way that everyone in the population of interest has an equal chance of being involved in the study.
descriptive research methods
studies that allow researchers to demonstrate a relationship between the variables of interest, without specifying a cause
ex. surveys, naturalistic observation, case studies
case study
focuses on a single person. researcher may be biased
naturalistic observation
observing people as they normally behave; children in a daycare for example. researcher may be biased
Hawthorne effect
people behave differently when they are aware that they are being observed
experiment
controlled observation in which researchers manipulate the presence or amount of the independent variable to see what effect it has on the dependent variable.
experimental group vs. control group
experimental group is given the independent variable
control group is not given the independent variable
random assignment
assigning individual research volunteers to experimental and control groups using a random process so that uncontrolled variables are randomly or evenly distributed across all groups.
double-blind study
study in which neither the participant nor the researcher knows what treatment or procedure the participant is receiving.
correlation
relationship between two+ variables
correlation coefficient
statistic expressing the strength and nature of a relationship between two variable
positive correlation
two variable scores increase together on avg
negative correlation
one variable increases and the other decreases on avg
perfect correlation
one in which two variables are exactly related, such that low, medium, and high scores on both variables are always exactly related. (+1.00 or -1.00)
how to read correlation coefficient
-magnitude tells us strength of relationship
-sign tells us positive or negative correlation
-0.3 and above= they have some kind of predictable relationship
-0 = no correlation
correlation does not equal
causation!!!
mean
average of scores
standard deviation
statistical index of how much scores vary within a group.
replication
repeating experiment to ensure that results were not by chance
ethical psychology research must include (6 things)
- informed consent
- protect from harm/discomfort
- protect confidentiality
- participation is voluntary
- do not use deception
- provide complete debreifing
research ethics board (REB)
protect human rights
Canadian council on animal care (CCAC)
protect animal rights in experiments
observational methods
-naturalistic
-time-sampling: frequency of behaviour is recorded
-structured observation: lab situation
ethnography
anthropology; researchers live in a community to understand the effect of culture
Psychophysiological methods
biological processes involved in perception
(HR, eye tracking etc.)
cross-sectional research design
People of different ages studied at the same point in time
– One task; multiple age groups participate
longitudinal research design
– Same participants observed repeatedly over time
– Time period may be brief (6 months–1 year)
sequential research design
– Combination of cross-sectional and longitudinal
* Participants of different ages selected at outset
(like cross-sectional)
* All participants observed repeatedly for a period of time
(like longitudinal)
multiple regression analysis
predict the scores of a single variable using multiple variable predictors
ecological validity
assesses whether conclusions
drawn from laboratory studies apply to the real world
natural (quasi) experiment
naturally occurring. don’t know causation
Inferential statistics
help to draw conclusions about the data
* Are the groups in the sample different, and are the differences statistically
significant (not due to chance)?
* Using t-tests or ANOVAs, determine a p-value (the probability that the
results of your experiment are not due to chance)
o If the p-value is lower than .05, there is only a 5% likelihood that your results
occurred by chance
