Chapter 2 - Conducting Research In Psychology Flashcards
Behavioral measures
Measures based on systematic observation of people’s actions either in their normal environment or in a laboratory setting.
Big data
Extremely large amount of data captured from online behaviors (especially social media), Which are then collected and analyzed for patterns by sophisticated analytic programs.
Case study
A study design in which psychologist, often a therapist, observes one person over a long period of time.
Confounding variable
The variable who’s influence on the dependent variable cannot be separated from the independent variable being examined.
Control Group
A group of research participants who are treated in exactly the same manner as the experimental group, except that they do not receive the independent variable, or treatment.
Correlation designs
Studies that measure two or more variables in their relationship to one another; not designed to show causation.
Correlation coefficients
Statistics that range from -1.0 to +1.0 and assess the strength and direction of association between two variables.
Debriefing
The explanation of the purposes of a study following data collection.
Demand characteristics
Subtle, often unconscious, cues given by experimenters to the participants as to how they should behave in the role of participant.
Dependent variable
In an experiment, the outcome or response to the experimental manipulation.
Descriptive designs
Study designs in which the researcher defines a problem and variable of interest but makes no prediction and does not control or manipulate anything.
Descriptive statistics
Measures used to describe and summarize research.
Double-blind studies
Studies in which neither the participants nor the researchers administering the treatment know who has been assigned to the experimental or control group.
Effect size
A measure of strength of the relationship between two variables or the extent of an experimental effect.
Ethics
The rules governing the conduct of a person or group in general or in a specific situation - or more simply, standards of right and wrong.
Experiment
A research design that includes independent independent variables and random assignment of participants to control and experimental groups or conditions.
Experimental group
A group consisting of those participants who will receive the treatment or whatever is predicted to change behavior.
Experimenter Expectancy effects
A result that occurs when the behavior of the participants is influenced by the experimenters knowledge of who is in the control group and who is in the experimental group.
Fabrication
Presenting or publishing scientific results that are made up.
Falsification
Is the changing, altering, or deleting scientific data.
Fraternal twins
Twins that developed from two different eggs fertilized by two different sperm.
Frequency
The number of times a particular score occurs in a set of data.
Gene–by–environment interaction research
A method of studying heritability by comparing genetic markers; allows researchers to assess how genetic differences interact with the environment to produce certain behaviors and some people but not in others.
Hypothesis
A specific, informed, and testable prediction of the outcome of a particular set of conditions in a research design.
Identical twins
Twins that develop from a single fertilized egg that splits into two independent cells.
Independent variable
A property that is manipulated by the experimenter under controlled conditions to determine whether it causes the predicted outcome of an experiment.
Inferential statistics
Analyses of data that allow us to test hypotheses and make an inference as to how likely a sample score is to occur in a population.
Institutional review boards (IRBs)
Organizations that evaluate research proposals to make sure research involving humans does not cause undue harm or distress.
Interviews
Occur between two people, one asking questions and the other answering them and the answers are open ended. Sometimes interview questions are predetermined and sometimes they are spontaneous.
Longitudinal designs
Make observations of the same people overtime, ranging from months to decades.
Mean
The arithmetic average of a series of numbers.
Measures
The tools and techniques used to assess thought or behavior.
Median
The score that separates the lower half of scores from the upper half.
Meta-Analysis
A research technique for combining all research results on one question and drawing a conclusion.
Mode
A stastic that represents the most commonly occurring score or value.
Naturalistic observation
A study in which the researcher unobtrusively observes in records behavior in the real world.
Normal distribution
A bell curve; a plot of how frequent data are that is perfectly symmetrical, with most scores clustering in the middle and only a few scores at the extremes.
Physiological measures
Measures of bodily responses, such as blood pressure or heart rate, used to determine changes in psychological state.
Placebo
A substance or treatment that appears identical to the actual treatment but lacks the active substance.
Plagiarism
Is when someone presents words or ideas of other people as their own.
Population
The entire group a researcher is interested in - For example, all humans, all adolescence, all boys, all girls, all college students.
Pseudoscience
Claims presented as scientific that are not supported by evidence obtained with the scientific method.
Qualitative research
Research that involves data gathered from open ended and unstructured answers rather than quantitative or numeric answers.
Quantitative intelligence
Is the ability to reason and solve problems by carrying out mathematical operations and using logic.
Quasi-experimental design
A research method similar to an experimental design except that it makes use of naturally occurring groups rather than randomly assigning subjects to groups.
Random assignment
The method used to assign participants to different research conditions, so that all participants have the same chance of being in any specific group.
Rationalism
The view that using logic and reason is the way to understand how the world works.
Reliability
The consistency of a measurement, such as an intelligence test.
Replication
The repetition of a study to confirm the results; essential to the scientific process.
Representative sample
A research sample that accurately reflects the population of people one is studying.
Research designs
Plans of action for how to conduct a scientific study.
Samples
Subset of the population studied in a research project.
Sampling
Is the procedure researchers use to obtain participants from a population.
Scientific method
The procedures by which scientist conduct research, consisting of five basic processes: observation, prediction, testing, interpretation, and communication.
Scientific thinking
A process using the cognitive skills required to generate, test, and revise theories.
Self fulfilling prophecy
A statement that affects events to cause the prediction to become true.
Self-reports
Written or oral accounts of a persons thoughts, feelings, or actions.
Single-blind studies
Studies in which participants do not know the experimental condition (Group) to which they have been assigned.
Social desirability bias
The tendency toward favorable self-presentation that could lead to an accurate self-reports.
Standard deviation
A statistical measure of how much scores in a sample vary around the mean.
Statistics
The collection, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of numerical data.
T-test
A statistic that compares to means to see whether they could come from the same population.
Theory
A set of related assumptions from which scientist can make testable predictions.
Twin-adoption Studies
Research into hereditary influence on twins, both identical and paternal, who were raised apart (adopted) And who were raised together.
Validity
The degree to which a test accurately measures what it purports to measure, such as intelligence, and not something else, and the degree to which it predicts real world outcomes.
Variable
A characteristic that changes, or various, such as age, gender, weight, intelligence, anxiety, and extroversion.
The scientific method consists of
A. Observing, predicting, testing.
B. Observing, predicting, trying.
C. Observing, predicting, testing, communicating.
D. Observing, predicting, testing, interpreting, communicating.
D. Observing, predicting, testing, interpreting, communicating.
Which of the following is not a characteristic of science? A. It is cumulative. B. It is a search for truth. C. It is an attitude. D. It requires intellectual honesty.
B. It is a search for truth
Scientific theories are A. A set of related assumptions that died and explain observations and allow testable predictions to be made. B. Educated guesses. C. Hunches. D. Hypotheses.
A. A set of related assumptions that guide and explain observations and allow testable predictions to be made.
What distinguishes science from pseudoscience? A. The use of statistics B. The content area studied C. Open skepticism D. The search for truth
C. Open skepticism
Dr. Lovejoy wanted to do research on real world conditions that lead to aggression in 10-year-old children, defining aggression as “ intent to harm another person.” She went to a local elementary school and videotaped a 10 minute recess period. She and her trained coders then coded the behavior of every child and counted the number of times each child acted aggressively. This is an example of what kind of research design? A. Descriptive B. Correlational C. Case study D. Experimental
A. Descriptive
If Dr. Lovejoy wanted to examine whether certain personality traits make aggression more likely, she would probably use what kind of research design? A. Descriptive B. Correlational C. Interview D. Experimental
B. Correlational
Researchers have consistently found that married men live longer than single men. From this finding, we can conclude that
A. If a man gets married, he adds years to his life.
B. Marriage causes men to live longer.
C. Being single causes men to die earlier.
D. Marriage correlates with longer life in men.
D. Marriage correlates with longer life in men.
In research on whether sugar causes hyperactivity, researchers randomly assigned children to receive no sugar, small amounts of sugar, or large amounts of sugar. They then observe and code activity levels. In this case, the sugar level is the A. Outcome variable. B. Dependent variable. C. Independent variable D. Control condition.
C. Independent variable.
In contrast to other kinds of research designs, a true experimental design must have two things:
A. Random assignment of participants to conditions and statistical analysis.
B. Random assignment of participants to conditions and manipulation of an independent variable.
C. Manipulation of an independent variable and a dependent variable.
D. Hypothesis testing and observation.
B. Random assignment of participants to conditions and manipulation of an independent variable.
One explanation for experimenter expectancy effect is A. Double blind studies. B. Self-fulfilling prophecy. C. Confounding variables. D. Experimental manipulation.
B. Self-fulfilling prophecy.
The best way to lessen the effects of experimenter expectancy is to design a study that uses A. Single blind methods. B. Double blind methods. C. Triple triple blind methods. D. Quasi experimental methods.
B. Double blind methods.
And advantage of self-report questionnaires is that they are easy to administer to large numbers of participants. A disadvantage of questionnaires is that
A. They cost too much.
B. People do not always accurately report their true thoughts or feelings.
C. Scoring responses is subjective.
D. They have low reliability.
B. People do not always accurately report their true thoughts or feelings.
One advantage of behavioral measures compared with self-reported measures is that they
A. Are less prone to social desirability bias.
B. Are less time intensive.
C. Are always more valid.
D. Cost less.
A. Or less prone to social desire ability bias.
A psychologist who is interested in how brain activity relates to behavior will most likely use which kind of measure? A. Interview B. Questionnaire C. Behavioral D. Physiological
D. Physiological
If two sets of scores have the same mean, then
A. They must have the same variability.
B. They must have similar variabilities.
C. They must have different variabilities.
D. Their variabilities could be the same or they could be different
D. Their variabilities could be the same or they could be different.
Why is GPA a good example of the statistic mean?
A. Is calculated by adding scores and divided by the number of scores.
B. It is a good measure of how well a student is doing.
C. That measures the spread, or variability, of a student’s performance.
D. We can put it on a graph.
A. It is calculated by adding scores and dividing by the number of scores.
Scores that are widely spread apart have a A. High standard deviation. B. Low standard deviation. C. High mean. D. Low reliability.
A. High standard deviation
When conducting research with humans, researchers
A. Never have to obtain informed consent if it interferes with the research.
B. Almost always must obtain informed consent.
C. Always must obtain informed consent.
D. Used to require to obtain informed consent, but this requirement has been discontinued.
C. Always must obtain informed consent.
Current guidelines on research ethics states that, when studying humans, deception
A. Must be avoided whenever possible.
B. Can be used only if it’s part of the research design.
C. Must be followed by debriefing.
D. Must be fully justified.
E. All of the above.
E. All of the above.
Ethical guidelines for research with nonhuman animals state that
A. Informed consent is always required.
B. Ethical and humane conditions must exist throughout the research process.
C. Computer modeling must always be tried before research with animals.
D. Deception can be used if fully justified.
B. Ethical and humane conditions must exist throughout the research process.
Genes occur in pairs, or alternate forms of each other, called A. chromosomes B. Alleles C. Base pairs D. Ribosomes
B. Alleles
Why are twin adoption studies powerful ways to untangle the effects of genes and the environment on thoughts and behavior?
A. They allow both genetic and environmental similarity to be compared and contrasted.
B. Twins share genes.
C. They allow for understanding epigenetic influences.
D. They allow researchers to experimentally manipulate genetic and environmental similarity.
A. They allow both genetic and environmental similarity to be compared and contrasted.
Nurturing behavior in rats can produce calmer, less stressed offspring because genes that are involved in stress reactions are turned off. This is an example of A. Epigenetics. B. Genetic engineering. C. Recessive genes. D. Dominant genes.
A. Epigenetics.
Which branch of the nervous system is responsible for the fight or flight response? A. The parasympathetic nervous system B. The somatic nervous system C. The sympathetic nervous system D. The central nervous system
C. The sympathetic nervous system
The finger like projections on neurons that receive input from other neurons are called A. Dendrites. B. Nuclei. C. Axons. D. Terminal buttons.
A. Dendrites
What property of the neuron is most directly responsible for the changes that lead up to an action potential? A. Sodium ions outside the cell B. It’s permeable membrane C. Chloride ions inside the cell D. The flux of potassium ions
B. It’s permeable membrane
What is the most common excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain? A. GABA B. Serotonin C. Glutamate D. Acetylcholine
C. Glutamate
This region of the brain was the last to evolve. It is also the biggest part of the brain. A. Cerebellum B. Forebrain C. Hindbrain D. Pons
B. Forebrain
Which limbic structure plays a crucial role in fear? A. Hypothalamus B. Basal ganglia C. Amygdala D. Hippocampus
C. Amygdala
Where is the somatosensory cortex? A. In the occipital lobes B. In the frontal lobes C. In the temporal lobes D. In the parietal lobes
D. In the parietal lobes
The brains ability to adopt new functions, recognize itself, and make new neural connections is known as A. Neuroplasticity. B. Neurogenesis. C. The neuron doctrine D. Localization of function.
A. Neuroplasticity.
In what region of the human brain is there the most evidence of neurogenesis? A. Frontal cortex B. Hypothalamus C. Amygdala D. Hippocampus
D. Hippocampus
What’s brain measurement technique best shows when neural activity has occurred? A. PET B. MRI C. EEG D. fMRI
C. EEG
That he has an injury to a particular part of her brain and suddenly has trouble imaging, recognizing, and interpreting faces. What region of the brain was likely affected in which technology told us this?
A. Parahippocampal place area (PPA); MRI
B. Parahippocampal place area (PPA); fMRI
C. Fusiform face area (FFA); EEG
D. Fusiform face area (FFA); fMRI
D. Fusiform face area (FFA); fMRI
How do hormones differ from neurotransmitters?
A. Hormones are proteins; neurotransmitters are fats.
B. Hormones carry messages in the bloodstream; neurotransmitters carry messages across synapses.
C. Hormones have no effect on mood; neurotransmitters do.
D. All of the above are correct.
B. Hormones carry messages in the bloodstream; neurotransmitters carry messages across synapses.
What is the name of the stress hormone released by the adrenal glands? A. Catecholamine B. Insulin C. Thyroxin D. Cortisol
D. Cortisol
