ch2 Flashcards

1
Q

What Makes Research Scientific?

A

Precision

  1. Scepticism
  2. Reliance on Empirical Evidence
  3. Willingness to Make “Risky Predictions”
  4. Openness
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2
Q

. Precision

A
The scientific method is used to
explore observations and answer
questions.
 Systematic process- follows an
orderly pattern of action.
Theory
 System of principles that aim to explain
certain phenomena and how they are
related.
Hypothesis
 States the relationship between
variables.
Operational Definitions
 How variables are practically defined.

THEORYS make hypothesis that makes experiments

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3
Q

Theory

A

System of principles that aim to explain
certain phenomena and how they are
related.

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4
Q

Hypothesis

A

States the relationship between

variables.

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5
Q

Operational Definitions

A

How variables are practically defined.

example anxiety- a description of what it is

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6
Q
  1. Scepticism
A

Ideas are not accepted based on faith or
authority.
All conclusions are treated with caution.

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7
Q
  1. Reliance on Empirical Evidence
A

A scientist relies on empirical evidence to
determine whether a hypothesis is true.
Empirical Evidence is based on direct
experience or observation.

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8
Q
  1. Willingness to make “Risky Predictions”
A

Confirmation Bias
Only pay attention to information which confirms our belief.
Principle of Falsifiability
Scientific theory must be specific enough that is possible to
disconfirm it.

must preditc what will and what will not hapen

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9
Q
  1. Openness
A
Scientists must be willing to tell
others where they got their ideas,
how they tested them and what the
results were.
 Peer review, publishing, and
replicating research gives science a
built in system of checks and
balances.
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10
Q

Descriptive studies
what do they allow us to do

what do they include

A

Descriptive studies allow researchers to describe and predict

behaviour. Descriptive studies include:
1. Case Studies
2. Observational Studies
3. Psychological Tests
4. Surveys

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11
Q
  1. Case Study
A

Detailed description of an individual
being studied or treated.
Based on careful observation or on
formal psychological testing.

example childhood, dreams, etc. anything that provides insight in behaviror
Commonly used by clinicians.

purpose: To understand the development
of aggressive behaviour in a
particular individual; to
formulate research hypotheses
about the origins of
aggressiveness.

Example: Developmental history of serial
killer.

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12
Q

Disadvantages of Case Studies

A

Difficult to interpret - might miss things
Observer Bias- influences which facts are noticed
Participant Bias- inacurate memory
Unrepresentative sample- cant be generalized

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13
Q
  1. Observational Studies

what are the 2 types

A

Carefully and systematically observing
and recording behaviour.- dont intrude

 The two types include:
 Naturalistic Observation (example jane goodall 35years of observing chimps, also like anthropologists- participant observation) , hidden camera/microphone- because dont want to influence the study- dont want them to notice,  what people do in real life world)

Laboratory Observation (people watching taking notes in a lab/make fake situation, researchers only observe and record- they get more control, )

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14
Q

drawbacks on observational studies

A
  • observer bias: when researchers expectation/biases
    distorts/influence how they can record - take videos for others to observe

cannot make conclusision generalized

dont do cause and effect- they look at it , not explain it

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15
Q

reactivity

A

change behaviro when they know they are being filmed

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16
Q
  1. Psychological Tests

what do they include

A
Used to measure and evaluate
personality traits, emotional states,
aptitudes, interests, abilities, and values.
 Include personality tests, achievement
tests, and vocational aptitude tests.

give scores

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17
Q

Two types of Psychological Tests:

A
a) Objective tests
 Measure beliefs, feelings or
behaviours of which a participant is
aware of.-
 m/c , t/f, rating scales

b) Projective tests
Measure participant’s unconscious
feelings or motives or conflicts.
interpret weird looking pictures, uncouncious thoughts explained by answers

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18
Q

Test Construction

A

Standardized:
Uniform procedures for test
construction.

for example all participants get same instruction and same amount of time

develop Norms:
Established standards of
performance.- determine which scores are high, low or average

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19
Q

Psychological tests must be reliable.

A

must be able to get same results from one time and place to the next

can measure by test- retest to see if they are similar

but ppl tend to do better the second time . its better to give variations of the thest:

Alternat-form reliability- not identical- this way they are not familiar with the test, but still may do better because learned procedure

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20
Q

To be useful, psychological tests

must be valid

A

must measure what they want to measure

content validity: broadly represent the trait in question. for example only ask 1 questions rather than the other factors

criterion validity: do the test results prodict other measures of the trait. - go back and see if the results where accurate and could predict what could happen

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21
Q
  1. Surveys
A
Questionnaires or interviews that
ask participants about their
experiences, attitudes, or
opinions.
 Generate a large amount of
information about.
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22
Q

Challenges of Surveys:

A

Representative Sample (group that accurately represent the larger sample)

Volunteer Bias (people who want to share their opinion might be different from those who dont)

Social Desirability Bias (may lie when they think others will judge them)

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23
Q

Media for Representative Sample

A

take small sample and it be representative- sex, age, culture

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24
Q

Representative Sample

A

makes computer system that randomly selects participants

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25
Positive Correlation
correlation: how one thing relates to another Increase in one variable is associated with an increase in another variable. Decrease in one variable is associated with a decrease in another variable both go the same direction , either up or down
26
Negative Correlation
Increase in one variable is associated with decreases in another variable. Correlations may be represented by scatterplots correlation coefficient r: -1 to +1: determine strenght by how close to 1
27
Experiment: what do they include
Controlled test of a hypothesis in which the researcher manipulates one variable to discover its effect on another. Includes: 1. Variables of interest 2. Experimental and Control conditions 3. Random assignment
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experimental values
indipedant variable X violent video games- is the manipulated variable by the researcher dependant variable Y: being aggresive: measured for change “If the Experimenter does X, the Participants will do Y”
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Experimenter Effects:
``` Unintended changes in participants’ behaviour due to cues inadvertently given by the experimenter. Single-blind and Double-blind Studies are used to prevent experimenter effects. ```
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Single-blind Study
participants are not told
31
Double-blind Study
both researcher and participant dont know who is assigned to what
32
Bobo Doll Experiment
children who observed adults models behaving aggressively would be more likely to imitate the adult and engage in similar aggressive behaviro than children who were not exposed to the aggressive model dependant v: how many time the kids kicked the doll - the kids who watched a parent kick a doll where they then had the opportunity to play with the doll- they were more agressive
33
Naturalistic Observation purpose and example
To describe the nature of aggressive acts in early childhood. Observation tallying, and description of hitting, kicking etc., during free play periods in preschool.
34
Correlational | Study
To examine the relation between aggressiveness and television viewing. ``` Example: Administration to university students of a paper and pencil test of aggressiveness and a questionnaire on number of hours spent watching TV weekly; computation of correlation coefficient. ```
35
Experiment purpose and example
To find out whether high air temperatures elicit aggressive behaviour. ``` Arrangement for individuals to “shock” a “Learner” (actually a confederate of the experimenter) while seated in a room heated to either 200C or 300C. ```
36
Laboratory | Observation
``` To find out whether aggressiveness in pairs of same- sex and different-sex children differs in frequency or intensity. ``` ``` Observation through a one-way window of same-sex and different-sex pairs of preschoolers, pairs must negotiate who gets to play with an attractive toy that has been promised to each child. ```
37
Test
To Compare the personality traits of aggressive and nonaggressive persons. Administration of personality tests to violent and non-violent prisoners.
38
Survey
To find out how domestic violence is in the general population. ``` Questionnaire asking anonymous respondents (in sample representative of the population) about the occurrence of slapping, hitting etc., in their homes. ```
39
Advantages Disadvantages | of case studies
``` ad Good source of hypotheses. Provides in-depth information of individuals. Unusual cases can shed light on situations or problems that are unethical or impractical to study in other ways. ``` ``` dis Vital information may be missing, making the case hard to interpret. The person’s memory may be selective or inaccurate. The individual may not be representative or typical ```
40
Naturalistic Observation ad/dis
``` Allows description of behaviour as it occurs in the natural environment. Often useful in the first stages of the research program. ``` ``` Allows researcher little or no control of the situation. Observations may be biased. Does not allow firm conclusion about cause and effect. ```
41
Laboratory Observation Advantages Disadvantages
ad: Allows more control than naturalistic observation. Allows use of sophisticated equipment. ``` dis: Allows researcher only limited control of the situation. Observations may be biased. Does not allow firm conclusions about cause and effect. Behaviour may differ from behaviour in th ```
42
Test Advantages Disadvantages
Yields information on personality traits, emotional states, aptitudes and abilities. Difficult to construct tests that are reliable and valid.
43
Survey ad/dis
``` ad/dis Provides large amount of information on large numbers of people. If sample is non-representative or biased, it may be impossible to generalize from the results. Responses may be inaccurate or untrue. ```
44
Correlational Study ad/dis
Shows whether two or more variables are related. Allows general predictions Does not permit identification of cause and effect.
45
Experiment
``` Allows researchers to control the situation. Permits researcher to identify cause and effect, and to distinguish placebo effect from treatment effects. ``` ``` Situation is artificial and may not generalize well to the real world. Sometimes difficult to avoid experimenter effects. ```
46
Descriptive Statistics:
Statistical procedures that summarize behavioural observations Examples Include: mean, median, and mode standard deviation 1) Introduces variability, range and standard deviation 2) Range Defined 3) Range - Disadvantage 4) Standard Deviation 5) Standard Deviation (Interactive) 6) Standard Deviation Formula 7) Standard Deviation and Normal Distribution
47
Central Tendency: Representative Scores
Mean : Arithmetic average Median : Middle value of scores Mode : Most frequent score
48
Normal Distribution
Scores clustered around the mean in the form of a bell-shaped curve mean median and mode are all the same number ``` bimodal distribution is when there are 2 modes and the gragh is shapped like an M for example taking the grades of people who come to class and those who dont ```
49
Variability
Degree to which a group of scores are clustered or distributed. lots of spread- highly variable
50
Range
Difference between the largest and smallest scores in a distribution.
51
Standard Deviation:
Indicates average difference between scores in a distribution and their mean. the further the scores from the means the higher the SD
52
Inferential Statistics
Allow researchers to draw inferences about how statistically meaningful a study’s results are Inferential Statistics: math procedure used to make inferences abouit a population from a sample- Inferential Statistics Significance Tests: tell researches how likely a result was to have occured merely by chance. can same results be obtained with different participants Null Hypothesis: Statistical Sig: if happend 5 or fewwer times in repetition of the same study
53
Effect size:
The amount of variance among scores in a study accounted for by the independent variable.
54
Meta-analysis:
A procedure for combining and analyzing data from many studies. Determines how much variance in scores across all studies can be explained by a particular variable.
55
Interpretation of results depends on how the research was conducted.
Cross-selctional study: looks at old and younger groups at a given time longitudinal study: follows same people over time and reassess at regular interval
56
Three Levels of Monitoring Ehtical gUIDELINES
1. Federal Level 2. Institutional Level 3. Individual Level
57
federal gove: The Tri-Council
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Canadian Institute for Health Research (CIHR) need research ethics boards- make sure they conform to the guidelines
58
Tri-Council’s Eight Main Principles
1. Respect for Human Dignity 2. Respect for Free and Informed Consent 3. Respect for Vulnerable Persons 4. Respect for Privacy and Confidentiality 5. Respect for Justice and Inclusiveness 6. Balancing harms and benefits 7. Minimizing harm 8. Maximizing Benefit must be able to make informed consent and withdraw, must be able to make proper decisions
59
Animals are used in studies to:
Conduct basic research Discover practical applications Clarify theoretical questions Improve the welfare of both humans and animals Study issues that cannot be studied experimentally with human beings
60
2.1 What Makes Research Scientific?
The five characteristics of the ideal scientist are: 1) Precision, 2) Scepticism, 3) reliance on empirical evidence, 4) willingness to make “risky predictions”, and 5) openness
61
2.2 Descriptive Studies
Descriptive studies allow researchers to describe and predict behaviour. Four types of descriptive studies include case studies, observational studies, psychological tests, and surveys.
62
2.3 Correlational Studies
Correlational studies reveal the strength of the relation between two variables. A correlation does not show causation.