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PSYC1200 > Chapter 2: Reading and Evaluating Scientific Research > Flashcards

Chapter 2: Reading and Evaluating Scientific Research Flashcards

1
Q

what is an objective measurement?

A
  • 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
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2
Q

what is a variable?

A
  • object, concept, event being measured

- ex. Behavioural measures, Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), blood/saliva, Self-reporting

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3
Q

what is an operational definition?

A
  • 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
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4
Q

what is reliability?

A

when a measure provides consistent and stable answers across multiple observations and points in time

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5
Q

what is test-retest reliability?

A

give same test to same person and they get the same score

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6
Q

what is alternate-forms reliability?

A

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

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7
Q

what is inter-rater reliability?

A

multiple observers of a behaviour should all come to the same conclusion about that behaviour

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8
Q

what is validity?

A

degree to which an instrument or procedure actually measures what it claims to measure

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9
Q

what is generalizability?

A
  • 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
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10
Q

what is a random sample?

A

every individual of a pop has equal chance of being included

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11
Q

what is a convenience sample?

A

samples of individuals who are the most readily available

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12
Q

how does location affect generalizability?

A
  • Lab vs. naturalistic research
  • In labs, you have control over many factors
  • ecological validity affects it
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13
Q

how does sample size affect generalizability?

A

if you have a large sample, the better you can assume the results are the same for the general population

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14
Q

what is ecological validity?

A
  • 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
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15
Q

what is research bias?

A

when researchers made themselves too noticeable to the subject

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16
Q

what is subject bias?

A

when subjects behave in a way they should be bc they’re being observed by researchers

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17
Q

what is the hawthorne effect/study?

A
  • 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
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18
Q

what are demand characteristics?

A

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

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19
Q

what is the clever hans effect/study?

A
  • 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
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20
Q

what is social desirability responding?

A
  • 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
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21
Q

what is the observer expectancy effect?

A
  • 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
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22
Q

what is a placebo effect?

A

measurable and experienced improvement in health or behavior that can’t be attributed to a medication or treatment

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23
Q

what are techniques that reduce bias?

A
  1. anonymity
  2. confidentiality
  3. inform participants
  4. single-blind study
  5. double-blind study
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24
Q

what is anonymity?

A

when all responses recorded w/o any name or other personal info that could link a particular individual to specific results

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25
Q

what is confidentiality?

A

when only the researchers have access to data

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26
Q

what does it mean to “inform participants”?

A

telling participants how their data is going to be used reduces participant anxiety and social desirability bias

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27
Q

what are single-blind studies?

A

participants don’t know the true purpose of the study, or don’t know which type of treatment they’re receiving

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28
Q

what are double-blind studies?

A

study where neither participant or experimenter knows the exact treatment for any individual

29
Q

what is a peer review?

A

process where papers are submitted to be published in scholarly journals and read and critiqued by experts in the specific field of study

30
Q

what is replication?

A

process of repeating a study and finding a similar outcome each time to gain confidence that the results are true

31
Q

what is the replication crisis?

A
  • 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
32
Q

what is anecdotal evidence?

A

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)

33
Q

what is “appeal to authority”?

A
  • 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
34
Q

what is “appeal to common sense”?

A

Tradition (“this is the way things always been done so its right”) or novelty

35
Q

what is “selective use of data”?

A
  • Stats often inappropriately used to bolster weak arguments
  • Can’t cherry pick
36
Q

what is descriptive research data generated from?

A
  1. case studies
  2. naturalistic observation
  3. surveys and questionnaires
37
Q

what are case studies?

A
  • 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
38
Q

what is naturalistic observation?

A

when psychologists unobtrusively observe and record behaviour as it occurs in the subjects natural environment

39
Q

what is correlational research?

A

involves measuring the degree of association btwn 2 variables

40
Q

correlations have:

A

direction and magnitude

41
Q

what is direction?

A
  • +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
42
Q

what is magnitude?

A
  • 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
43
Q

what is an illusory correlation?

A
  • 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
44
Q

what is an experimental group?

A
  • receives special treatment in regard to the IV

- Able to find out why variable a causes variable b

45
Q

what is a control group?

A

similar subjects who don’t receive special treatment

46
Q

what is random assignment?

A

technique for dividing samples into 2 or more groups

47
Q

what is experimenter control?

A

variables are manipulated

48
Q

what is an independent variable?

A
  • presumed cause

- Manipulating this variable

49
Q

what is a dpeendent variable?

A
  • presumed effect

- The variable that changes

50
Q

what are confounding variables?

A
  • 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
51
Q

what is between-subjects design?

A
  • participants who are in diff groups are compared

- Large sample and random assignments makes equal groups likely, but not guaranteed

52
Q

what is within-subjects design?

A
  • all participants respond to all types of stimuli or experience all experimental conditions
  • Order effects
  • Separating measurements in time
53
Q

what is counterbalancing?

A
  • 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
54
Q

what is quasi-experimental research?

A
  • 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
55
Q

what is a research ethics board (REB)?

A

committee of researchers and officials at an institution charged w/ protection of human research participants

56
Q

what are some potential stressors to participants?

A
  • physical stress, cognitive and emotional stress (writing about traumatic experiences)
  • Stress Is usually minor. Benefits need to outweigh risks
57
Q

what is informed consent?

A
  • 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
58
Q

what is deception?

A
  • 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
59
Q

what is full consent?

A

can refuse participation w/o fear of penalty, given equal opportunities, right to withdraw and withhold responses

60
Q

what is debriefing?

A

means that researchers should explain the true nature of the study, and especially the nature of and reason for the deception

61
Q

when are animals used in research?

A
  • Treatments can’t be applied to humans
  • Heritability studies require species w/ short lifespans
  • Examining evolutionary origins of behaviour and cognition
62
Q

what is descriptive statistics?

A

set of techniques used to organize, summarize, and interpret data

63
Q

what is frequency?

A
  • 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
64
Q

what is a negative skew?

A

think of -ve number on the left and +Ve on right

65
Q

what is central tendency?

A
  • 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
66
Q

what is variability?

A

the degree to which scores are dispersed in a distribution

67
Q

what is standard deviation?

A

a measure of variability around the mean

68
Q

what is a hypothesis test?

A

a statistical method of evaluation whether diffs among groups are meaningful or could have been arrived at by chance along

69
Q

what is statistical significance?

A

implies that the mean of the groups are farther apart than you would expect them to be by random chance alone

PSYC1200 (3 decks)

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