Chapter 2: Answering and Asking Research Questions

Question 1

scientific theory

Answer 1

A statement that satisfies three requirements: It is about constructs; it describes causal relations; and it is general in scope, although the range of generality differs for different theories.

Question 2

constructs

Answer 2

Abstract and general concepts that are used in theories and that are not directly observable.

Question 3

interventions

Answer 3

Practical steps taken to change people’s behavior or to solve social problems.

Question 4

construct validity

Answer 4

The extent to which the independent and dependent variables used in research correspond to the theoretical constructs under investigation.

Question 5

independent variables

Answer 5

A concrete manipulation or measurement of a construct that is thought to cause other constructs.

Question 6

dependent variables

Answer 6

A concrete measurement of a construct that is thought to be an effect of other constructs

Question 7

social desirability response bias

Answer 7

People’s tendency to act in ways that they believe others find acceptable and approve of.

Question 8

self-report measures

Answer 8

Those based on asking the individual about his or her thoughts, feelings, or behaviors.

Question 9

observational measures

Answer 9

Those based on directly watching and recording people’s behavior, including online behavior.

Question 10

archival measures

Answer 10

Those based on examining traces of past behavior.

Question 11

performance measures

Answer 11

Those that ask participants to perform some task as well as they can.

Question 12

physiological measures

Answer 12

Those based on measurement of some physiological process such as heart rate or muscle movements.

Question 13

EEG (electro-encephalographic) measures

Answer 13

Measures that use electrical signals on the scalp to very accurately detect the times at which specific neural events occur.

Question 14

fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging)

Answer 14

Indirectly measures the activation levels of specific brain regions

Question 15

internal validity

Answer 15

The extent to which it can be concluded that changes in the independent variable actually caused changes in the dependent variable in a research study.

Question 16

research design

Answer 16

A plan that specifies how research participants will be selected and treated.

Question 17

nonexperimental research designs

Answer 17

A research design in which both the independent and dependent variables are measured.

Question 18

random assignment

Answer 18

The procedure of assigning participants to different experimental groups so that every participant has exactly the same chance as every other participant of being in any given group.

Question 19

confederate

Answer 19

A research assistant playing a specific role in the study such as pretending to be another participant

Question 20

external validity

Answer 20

The extent to which research results can be generalized to other appropriate people, times, and settings.

Question 21

individualist cultures

Answer 21

Those in which people are particularly likely to think of themselves as separate from other people and to define themselves in terms of their uniqueness.

Question 22

collectivist cultures

Answer 22

Those in which people tend to think of themselves as linked to others, and to define themselves in terms of their relationships to others.

Question 23

field research

Answer 23

Research that takes place outside the laboratory.

Question 24

demand characteristics

Answer 24

Cues in a research setting that lead participants to make inferences about what researchers expect or desire and that therefore bias how the participants act.

Question 25

replications

Answer 25

Conducting new studies in an effort to provide evidence for the same theoretically predicted relations found in prior research.

Question 26

meta-analysis

Answer 26

A systematic technique for locating studies on a particular topic and summarizing their results.

Question 27

informed consent

Answer 27

Consent voluntarily given by an individual who decides to participate in a study after being told what will be involved in participation.

Question 28

deception

Answer 28

Keeping participants uninformed or actively misleading them about particular aspects of a study.

Question 29

debriefing

Answer 29

Informing research participants— as soon as possible after the completion of their participation in research— about the purposes, procedures, and scientific value of the study, and discussing any questions participants may have.