Chapter 2 Flashcards
What are the three primary goals of science
description, prediction, explanation
what are the steps in the scientific method
- pose a specific, testable research question
- Do a lit review
- From hypothesis
- Design a study
- Conduct the study
- Analyze the data
- Report the results
why do we use the scientific method
we need an objective way to answer the questions we have about the mind
What is the dependant variable
that which is measured. it is the outcome that is measured after a manipulation occurs
what is an operational definition
to define something so that it can be measured
What is a true random sample
where you choose the group of people you want to study and pick from every place in the world that has those people. (taking a couple students from EVERY canadian uni if you’re studying canadian uni students)
what is a convenience sample
a sample taken at random from an immediately available group in the population
what are the three main research methods
descriptive, correlational, experimental
what are the three types of descriptive methods
observational studies, self reports, and case studies
what is an observational study
where you study by observing a behaviour that is occurring. for example studying the behaviours of children.
what is the self report method and why arent they used that much
asking a person for their experience and they tell you
often not used because people lie
what is a case study
used for things that are very rare (diseases, certain events). you take the very small amount of people experiencing this phenomenon or disorder and you study them specifically
Why are descriptive methods useful
you can describe the problem or behaviour that is occuring. BUT you cannot provide any explanation for the cause of the behaviour
what is naturalistic observation
Observing people behaving in a specific environment where they are not being told to do anything
what is structured observation
where a structured study of a behaviour is occurring.
what is correlational research
a type of research where there is no manipulation of variables, and you measure the direction and strength of a relationship between two things
what is the third variable problem
an issue that presents itself with correlational research. Since there is no manipulation of variables, and we are only seeing if there is a relationship between two things, there is always a chance there is a third variable that accounts for findings of the data you collected.
what is Experimental research
research that CAN explain behaviour because you can actively manipulate a situation to control and manipulate a variable
what is the independent variable
stands for differences between the groups (control group and manipulated group)
what is longitudinal research
where the same person is measured repeatedly over long timespans
this is expensive and difficult to make people keep coming back
cross sectional design
a cross sectional design is where there are people of different ages and groups all measured at the same time
what is the issue with cross sectional designs called and why is it an issue
called the cohort effect. how do you compare a 70 year old to an 18 year old, they were born in completely different worlds
what is replication of a study/ when a study is replicable
involves repeating the study to make sure the results are the same/similar. a study is replicable when the results come out to be the same.
what are some questionable research practices that decrease replicability?
Small sample sizes, HARKing (an after the fact prediction), P-hacking (where statistical tests are run over and over with diff variations until one of them yields a statistically significant result), and underreporting null effects.
what is preregistration
where researchers lay out their hypotheses methods and analysis plan ahead of time on a time stamped website
what is meta analysis
an analysis of multiple analyses - a study of studies that have already been conducted
what is the directionality problem in correlational research
where there is a problem with knowing the direction of the relationship between variables. Does wealth cause happiness or does happiness lead to wealth
what are the two levels of the independent variable
treatment and comparison level
what is the treatment level of the independent variable
the experimental group
what is the comparison level of the independent variable
yhe control group
what is a confound
anything that affects a dependent variable that might unintentionally vary between the studies different experimental conditions.
what is a random assignment
where each potential research participant has an equal chance of being assigned to any level of the independent variable
what is the Belmont report
a guideline for all researchers using human participants
what is construct validity
the extent to which variables measure what they are supposed to measure
what is external validity
the degree to which the findings of a study can be generalized to other people, settings, or situations
what is internal validity
the degree to which the effects observed in an experiment are due to the independent variable and not due to comfounds
what is central tendency
behaviour of the group as a whole
what are three measures of central tendency
mean, median, mode
what is standard deviation
the most common variability in the data, how spread out the scores are on a test
