Chapter 2: Reading and Evaluating Scientific Research Flashcards
what is an objective measurement?
- measure of an entity/behaviour that, within an allowed margin of error is consistent across instruments and observers
- Whenever we measure something, it needs to be independent of who is doing the measure
- Ex. weight on a scale - shouldn’t matter where or who is weighing you, the weight should stay the same
what is a variable?
- object, concept, event being measured
- ex. Behavioural measures, Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), blood/saliva, Self-reporting
what is an operational definition?
- statements that describe the procedures (or operations) and/or specific measures that are used to record observations
- Ex. variable: intoxication - blood alc lvl or Behavioural measure
what is reliability?
when a measure provides consistent and stable answers across multiple observations and points in time
what is test-retest reliability?
give same test to same person and they get the same score
what is alternate-forms reliability?
after taking a test, the next time you take it you may be biased/compromised. If assessing the same underlying knowledge, you should get the same score each time
what is inter-rater reliability?
multiple observers of a behaviour should all come to the same conclusion about that behaviour
what is validity?
degree to which an instrument or procedure actually measures what it claims to measure
what is generalizability?
- degree to which one set of results can be applied to other situations, individuals, or events
- ex. Study large groups of ppl - larger the group of people, the more representative results are and the more confident we can generalize a population
- sample to population
what is a random sample?
every individual of a pop has equal chance of being included
what is a convenience sample?
samples of individuals who are the most readily available
how does location affect generalizability?
- Lab vs. naturalistic research
- In labs, you have control over many factors
- ecological validity affects it
how does sample size affect generalizability?
if you have a large sample, the better you can assume the results are the same for the general population
what is ecological validity?
- degree to which results of a lab study can be applied to or repeated in the natural environment
- Can’t control other peoples behaviours not in the study when doing naturalistic research
what is research bias?
when researchers made themselves too noticeable to the subject
what is subject bias?
when subjects behave in a way they should be bc they’re being observed by researchers
what is the hawthorne effect/study?
- describes idea that behaviour can change if you know you’re being observed
- Comes from a study @ electric factory where they wanted to see how to improve productivity by changing different factors of the environment
- Change in lighting = increase in productivity, Number and duration of breaks also increased productivity
- This info wasn’t useful though - they were being observed all the time so as a result they worked harder
what are demand characteristics?
unintentional clues left in experimental design participants can use to figure out what the experiment is about so they should behave in a certain way
what is the clever hans effect/study?
- claimed this horse could do any kind of math
- Investigator isolated hans and questioner from any spectators, separated him from owner to ask questions, put blinders on hans’ eyes, varied whether the questioner knew the answer to the question in advance
- Hans started to get questions wrong when he couldn’t see the person and when the questioner didn’t know the answer
what is social desirability responding?
- research participants respond in ways that increase chances they’ll be viewed favourable
- Can minimize through assurances of anonymous/confidential questioning
- May feel like they’ll be judged
what is the observer expectancy effect?
- when researcher’s expectations can influence subject’s behavior
- Ex. teacher favoritism - may have more expectations for other students that can cause them to excel more
what is a placebo effect?
measurable and experienced improvement in health or behavior that can’t be attributed to a medication or treatment
what are techniques that reduce bias?
- anonymity
- confidentiality
- inform participants
- single-blind study
- double-blind study
what is anonymity?
when all responses recorded w/o any name or other personal info that could link a particular individual to specific results
what is confidentiality?
when only the researchers have access to data
what does it mean to “inform participants”?
telling participants how their data is going to be used reduces participant anxiety and social desirability bias
what are single-blind studies?
participants don’t know the true purpose of the study, or don’t know which type of treatment they’re receiving
what are double-blind studies?
study where neither participant or experimenter knows the exact treatment for any individual
what is a peer review?
process where papers are submitted to be published in scholarly journals and read and critiqued by experts in the specific field of study
what is replication?
process of repeating a study and finding a similar outcome each time to gain confidence that the results are true
what is the replication crisis?
- Study found that only 36% of studies can be replicated and got same result as originals
- Chance results can and do happen
- Publication bias = studies w/ affirmative evidence being more likely to be accepted into academic journals
- Which should we believe? - The original or failed replication?
- Studies can fail to be replicated for many reasons
- Need to base beliefs on entirety of the evidence
what is anecdotal evidence?
an individual’s story/testimony about an observation/event is used to make a claim as evidence (you need to just believe them and take their word for it)
what is “appeal to authority”?
- the belief in an experts claim even when no supporting data or scientific evidence is present
- Biased expert? – Just because someone’s an expert, doesn’t mean that they don’t need to provide evidence
what is “appeal to common sense”?
Tradition (“this is the way things always been done so its right”) or novelty
what is “selective use of data”?
- Stats often inappropriately used to bolster weak arguments
- Can’t cherry pick
what is descriptive research data generated from?
- case studies
- naturalistic observation
- surveys and questionnaires
what are case studies?
- in-depth report about the details of a specific case
- Gain a lot of info by devoting a lot to analyzing specific case
- Hard to generalize findings w/ the smallest sample possible
- Ex. phineas gage: Iron rod went through his eye and head but he survived w/ drastic personality changes–he was crazy, made bad decisions
what is naturalistic observation?
when psychologists unobtrusively observe and record behaviour as it occurs in the subjects natural environment
what is correlational research?
involves measuring the degree of association btwn 2 variables
correlations have:
direction and magnitude
what is direction?
- +ve vs. -ve (positive or negative correlation)
- Positive correlation ex: as high school gpa goes up, so does university
- Negative correlation ex: more absences a person has, the lower their exam scores are
- Variables moving in opposite direction
- As one goes up, the other goes down
what is magnitude?
- correlation coefficient (-1 to +1)
- Closer it is to either -1 or +1 represents a positive relationship
- Closer you are to 0 = lack of a relationship/weak relationship
what is an illusory correlation?
- if you pair enough variables together, by chance alone you’re going to find some correlation; connected relationships that really exist only in the mind rather than in reality
- Ex. crime increases when the moon is full, opposites attract, stereotypes
what is an experimental group?
- receives special treatment in regard to the IV
- Able to find out why variable a causes variable b
what is a control group?
similar subjects who don’t receive special treatment
what is random assignment?
technique for dividing samples into 2 or more groups
what is experimenter control?
variables are manipulated
what is an independent variable?
- presumed cause
- Manipulating this variable
what is a dpeendent variable?
- presumed effect
- The variable that changes
what are confounding variables?
- variables outside of the researchers control that might affect the results
- Variables we don’t have control over
- Sometimes we think they won’t have an effect, but sometimes they can and provide an alternative explanation for the results we got
- Ex. people’s personalities, if someone has had a good morning or not
what is between-subjects design?
- participants who are in diff groups are compared
- Large sample and random assignments makes equal groups likely, but not guaranteed
what is within-subjects design?
- all participants respond to all types of stimuli or experience all experimental conditions
- Order effects
- Separating measurements in time
what is counterbalancing?
- Counterbalancing: if we have 2 conditions, half of our sample will be in the control condition then go to experimental condition and vice versa
- We can compare the two groups and see if there’s a difference
what is quasi-experimental research?
- research technique where 2+ groups that are compared and selected based on predetermined characteristics, rather than random assignment
- Ex. comparing men and women - can’t change peoples genders
- Cannot determine cause and effect
what is a research ethics board (REB)?
committee of researchers and officials at an institution charged w/ protection of human research participants
what are some potential stressors to participants?
- physical stress, cognitive and emotional stress (writing about traumatic experiences)
- Stress Is usually minor. Benefits need to outweigh risks
what is informed consent?
- potential volunteer must be informed of purpose, tasks, and risks involved in the study, and give consent to participate based on the info provided
- Topic, nature of stimuli, nature of tasks, duration, risks, steps taken to minimize risks
what is deception?
- misleading or only partially informing participants of the true topic or hypothesis under investigation
- Given enough info to consent
- Ethical to use a little bit of deception
- If someone knows what the experiment is about it may create a bias
what is full consent?
can refuse participation w/o fear of penalty, given equal opportunities, right to withdraw and withhold responses
what is debriefing?
means that researchers should explain the true nature of the study, and especially the nature of and reason for the deception
when are animals used in research?
- Treatments can’t be applied to humans
- Heritability studies require species w/ short lifespans
- Examining evolutionary origins of behaviour and cognition
what is descriptive statistics?
set of techniques used to organize, summarize, and interpret data
what is frequency?
- the number of observations that fall within a certain category or range of scores, how frequently something occurs in our data
- Usually represented as a histogram
what is a negative skew?
think of -ve number on the left and +Ve on right
what is central tendency?
- measure of central point of a distribute (mean/avg, median/the middle most point ordered sequentially, mode/the most frequent number)
- w/ a normal distribution it doesn’t matter which number we use bc it’s all going to be the same
what is variability?
the degree to which scores are dispersed in a distribution
what is standard deviation?
a measure of variability around the mean
what is a hypothesis test?
a statistical method of evaluation whether diffs among groups are meaningful or could have been arrived at by chance along
what is statistical significance?
implies that the mean of the groups are farther apart than you would expect them to be by random chance alone
