chapter 2 Flashcards
(49 cards)
Three primary goals of science
Description
Prediction
Explanation
theory
explanation or model of how a phenomenon works
Should be falsifiable meaning some hypothesis can show the theory is wrong
Hypothesis
testable prediction
Occam’s Razor/law of parsimony
two competing theories exist to explain the same phenomenon the simpler of the two theories is generally preferred
operational definition
a definition that qualifies (describes) and quantifies (measures) a variable so the variable can be understood objectively
False-positive
a result that occurs when there is no real effect but a study produces a statistically significant result by chance
Small sample
psychology researchers estimate how larger populations of people would respond by testing smaller, representative samples of people
ex: Larger populations are required to achieve accurate estimations of the population effects
Harking
hypothesizing after the results are known instead of generating a theory before running the study and analyzing the results
ex:Random chance could have led to support for any number of hypotheses
P-hacking
running statistical tests over and over with different variations until one of them yields a statistically significant (trustworthy) result
Underreporting null effects
can cause readers to draw invalid inferences because entire studies or hypothesis tests are missing from the story
Null effects means finding no difference between conditions or no relationship between variables
Preregistration
when researchers lay out their hypotheses, methods, and analysis plan ahead of time and publish it on a time-stamped website
Meta-analysis
an analysis of multiple analyses (study of studies that have already been conducted)
Provides stronger evidence than the results of any single study
Descriptive research
observing behavior to describe that behavior objectively and systematically
Cannot achieve the goal of explanation
Case studies
intensive observation, recording, and description of an atypical person or organization
Describe the events or experiences that led up to or resulted from the exceptional feature of the person or organization
Major limitation is that their findings might not generalize, or apply, to people beyond the particular case
Participant observation
researcher is involved in the situation
Naturalistic observation
the observer is passive, remains separated form the situation and makes no attempt to change or alter ongoing behavior
Self-report methods and interviews
can be used to gather data from a large number of people in short time
Correlational studies
examine how variables are naturally related in the real world without any attempt by the researcher to alter them or conclude that one variable causes the other
Cannot be used to determine causal relationships between variables
Does not equal cause and effect
Positive correlation
describes a situation where both variables either increase or decrease together (they move in the same direction)
Negative correlation
variables move in opposite directions
An increase in one variable predicts a decrease in the other variable and vice versa
Zero correlation
a change in one variable does not predict a change in the second variable
correlation coefficient
descriptive statistic provides a numerical value that indicates the strength of the relationship and direction of the relationship between the two variables
Directionality problem
the researcher find the relationship between the two variables but they cannot determine which variable may have caused the changes in the other variable
Third variable problem
Instead of variable A producing variable B as a researcher might assure it is possible that a third variable C is responsible for both A and B
