Chapter 2.2 Scientific Methodology Flashcards
Naturalistic observation
watching behavior in real world settings
high in external validity:
extent to which we can generalize findings to real world settings
low in internal validity
extent to which we can draw cause and effect inferences from a study
Case study
examines one person or a small number of people in depth. Examining rare cases which are impossible to recreate in lab. Helpful for hypotheses. It can be misleading and anecdotal quite limited to test hypotheses
Questionnaires and surveys
questionnaires asses personality or mental ilness, survey ask about persons opinions or abilities
Random Selection
To ensure every participant had chosen by the same chance
Reliability
consistency of measurement, test retest reliability and interrater reliability
validity
extent of which a measure asseses what it purposed to measure
pros of self report measures
easy to administer, direct self assesment of person’s state
cons of self report measures
narcissists, dishonesty, Response set, positive impression management, malingering
respontse set
tendency of research participants to distort their responses to questionnaire items
malingering
tendency to make ourselves appear psychologically disturbed with the aim of achieving a clear cut personal goal
Rating data
people can also be asked to rate others on different characteristics this can do away with some biases in self report but still has problems
Halo effect
one positive characteristics to spill over to influence the ratings of other positive characteristics. Reverse is horns effect
Correlational Design
If two things are correlated they relate each other statisticly. generating predictions about future.
Scatterplot
Grouping of points on a two dimensional graph in which each dot represents a single person’s data
Illusory Correlation
crime rates and the full moon, arthritis and the weather. Probability table is the solution
Experimental designs
with manuplating variables rather than just observing (unlike correlation)
random assignment
sorting in two groups : experimental group (recieves manipulation) and control group
operational definition
a working definition of what a researcher is measuring
The placebo effect
Improvement resulting from the mere expectation of improvement. knowing precense of treatment. participants must be blind to their assignments in the groups
The nocebo effect
harm resulting from the mere of expectation of harm smelling fake roses causes allergy
Experimenter expectancy effect
researchers’ hypotheses lead them to unintentionally bias the outcome of a study. Clever Hans, mathematical horse, facilitated comminication, rosenthal effect (rat experiment)
Double blind
when neither researcher nor participants are aware of who’s in the experimental or control group
Demand characteristics
Cues that participants pick up from a study that allow them generate guesses regarding the researcher’s hypotheses. Disguising the purpose of the study or filler items can help
