Chapter 2 Psychological Research

Question 1

What is a clinical/case study?

Answer 1

Observational research study focusing on one or a few people

Question 2

What is correlation?

Answer 2

Relationship b/w two or more variables; when one variable changes so does the other

Question 3

What is correlation coefficient?

Answer 3

Number from -1 to +1, indicating the strength and direction of the relationship between variables, and usually represented by “r”.

Question 4

What is deception?

Answer 4

Purposely misleading experiment participants in order to maintain the integrity of the experiment

Question 5

What is a control group?

Answer 5

Serves as a basis for comparison and controls for chance factors that might influence the results of the study

Question 6

What is the experimental group?

Answer 6

group designed to answer the research question

Question 7

What is experimenter bias?

Answer 7

Researcher expectations skew the results of the study

Question 8

What does it mean to generalize?

Answer 8

Inferring that the results for a sample apply to the larger population

Question 9

What is a deductive reasoning?

Answer 9

Results are predicted based on a general premise

Question 10

What is inductive reasoning?

Answer 10

Conclusions are drawn from observations

Question 11

What is the placebo effect?

Answer 11

Peoples’ expectations or beliefs influencing or determining their experience in a given situation

Question 12

What is a population?

Answer 12

Overall group of individuals that the researchers are interested in

Question 13

What is a positive correlation?

Answer 13

2 variables change in the same direction, both becoming either larger or smaller

Question 14

What is a single-blind study?

Answer 14

Experiment in which the researcher knows which participants are in the experimental group and which are in the control group

Question 15

What is a double-blind study?

Answer 15

Experiment in which both the researches and the participants are blind to group assignments

Question 16

What is the illusory correlation?

Answer 16

seeing relationships between 2 things when in reality no such relationships exist

Question 17

What is the independent variable?

Answer 17

Variable that is influenced or controlled by the experimenter

Question 18

What is the dependent variable?

Answer 18

Variable that the researcher measures to see how much effect the independent variable had

Question 19

What is a survey?

Answer 19

List of questions to be answered by research participants by research participants

Question 20

What is a theory?

Answer 20

Well-developed set of ideas that propose an explanation for observed phenomena

Question 21

What does statistical analysis determine?

Answer 21

Determines how likely any difference between experimental groups is due to chance

Question 22

What is a sample?

Answer 22

Subset of individuals selected from the larger population

Question 23

What is a random sample?

Answer 23

Subset of a larger population in which ever member of the population has an equal chance of being selected

Question 24

What is a naturalistic observation?

Answer 24

Observation of behavior in its natural setting

Question 25

What does longitudinal research study?

Answer 25

Studies in which the same group of individuals is surveyed or measured repeatedly over an extended period of time

Question 26

What is informed consent?

Answer 26

Process of informing a research participant about what to expect during an experiment, risks, and implications. Then obtaining the person's consent to participate

Question 27

What is the Institutional Review Board (IRB)?

Answer 27

Committee of administrators, scientists, and community members that reviews proposals for research involving human participants

Question 28

What is cross-sectional research?

Answer 28

Compares multiple segments of a population at a single time

Question 29

What is basic psychology?

Answer 29

Understanding the basic human behaviors

Question 30

What is applied psychology?

Answer 30

Use of psychological principles to solve real world problems

Question 31

What is laboratory observation?

Answer 31

Make changes to the experiment for observations

Question 32

What is archival research?

Answer 32

Research based on existing records

Question 33

What is observer bias?

Answer 33

Bias in which observer may unconsciously skew their observations to fit their research goals or expectations

Question 34

What is attrition?

Answer 34

Reduction in the number of research participants due to dropouts

Question 35

What is confirmation bias?

Answer 35

Tendency to ignore evidence that disproves ideas or beliefs

Question 36

What is a confounding variable?

Answer 36

Another variable that causes systematic movement in our variables of interest

Question 37

What committee reviews research studies that include animals?

Answer 37

Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC)