Ch. 2 - Methods Flashcards
Hindsight bias
People’s tendency to be overconfident about whether they could have predicted a given outcome.
Hypothesis
A prediction about what will happen under particular circumstance
Theory
A set of related propositions intended to describe some phenomenon or aspect of the world.
Correlational research
Research that involves measuring two or more variables and assessing whether there is a relationship between them.
Experimental research
In social psychology, research that randomly assigns people to different conditions, or situations, and that enables researchers to make strong inferences about why a relationship exists or how different situations affect behavior.
Third variable
A variable, often unmeasured in correlational research, that can be the true explanation for the relationship between two other variables.
Self-selection
In correlational research, the situational in which the participant, rather than the researcher, determines the participant’s level of each variable (for example, whether they are married or not, or how many hours per day they spend playing video games), thereby creating the problem that it could be these unknown other properties that are responsible for the observed relationship.
Longitudinal study
A study conducted over a long period of time with the same participants.
Independent variable
In experimental research, the variable that is manipulated; it is hypothesized to be the cause of a particular outcome.
Dependent variable
In experimental research, the variable that is measured (as opposed to manipulated); it is hypothesized to be affected by manipulation of the independent variable.
Random assignment
Assigning participants in experimental research to different conditions randomly, so they are as likely to be assigned to one condition as to another with the effect of making the types of people in the different conditions roughly equal.
Control condition
A condition comparable to the experimental condition in every way except that it lacks the one ingredient hypothesized to produce the expected effect on the dependent variable.
Natural experiment
A naturally occurring event or phenomenon having somewhat different conditions that can be compared with almost as much rigor as in experiments where the investigator manipulates the conditions.
External validity
How well the results of a study generalize to contexts outside the conditions of the laboratory.
Field experiment
An experiment conducted in the real world (not a lab), usually with participants who are not aware they are in a study of any kind.
Internal validity
In experimental research, confidence that only the manipulated variable could have produced the results.
Reliability
The degree to which the particular way researchers measure a given variable is likely to yield consistent results.
Measurement validity
The correlation between a measure and some outcome the measure us supposed to predict.
Statistical significance
A measure of the probability that as given result could have occurred by chance.
Replication
Reproduction of research results by the original investigator or by someone else.
Open science
Practices such as sharing data and research materials with anyone in the broader scientific community in an effort to increase the integrity and replicability of scientific research.
Institutional review board (IRB)
A committee that examines research proposals and makes judgments about the ethical appropriateness of the research.
Informed consent
A person’s signed agreement to participate in a procedure or research study after learning all of its relevant aspects.
Deception research
Research in which the participants are misled about the purpose of the research of the meaning of something that is done to them.
