Chapter 3 Flashcards
What is basic research?
Answers fundamental questions about behaviour
Basic research lays the groundwork for applied research.
What is applied research?
Investigates issues that have implications for everyday life and provides solutions to everyday problems using the basic research
Applied research translates theoretical knowledge into practical applications.
What are the three types of research designs?
- Descriptive
- Correlational
- Experimental
Define descriptive research.
Designed to provide a snapshot of the current state, describing one place, population, moment, etc.
Examples include case studies, surveys, and naturalistic observation.
What is correlational research used for?
To discover relationships among variables and allow prediction of future events from present knowledge.
Describe experimental research.
Research conducted with a scientific approach, where a set of variables is manipulated and measured.
What is the scientific method?
The set of assumptions, rules, and procedures a scientist uses to conduct research
It is empirical, objective, and replicable.
What are conceptual variables?
Abstract ideas that cannot be measured, forming the basis of research hypotheses.
What are measured variables?
Variables consisting of numbers that represent conceptual variables, making a concept measurable.
what is the operational definition.
A precise statement of how a conceptual variable is turned into a measured variable.
What is the biggest ethical concern in research?
To prevent harm to research participants.
What is the goal of ethical research?
To guarantee that participants have free choice whether they wish to participate or not.
What is active deception in research?
When the researcher actively leaves information out or misleads participants about the nature of the research.
What is passive deception?
Not telling participants about the hypothesis being studied or the potential use of data being collected.
What does the Nuremberg Code emphasize?
The importance of carefully weighing the risks against benefits and the need for informed consent.
What are the principles outlined in the Belmont Report?
- Justice
- Respect for persons
- Beneficence
What are the three levels of risk in research?
- Exempt research (no risk)
- Minimal risk research
- At-risk research
What does ‘central tendency’ refer to?
The point in the distribution around which the data is centered.
What is the arithmetic mean?
The sum of all scores of the variable divided by the number of participants in the distribution.
Define outliers in research data.
Extreme scores within the distribution.
What is the median in a data set?
The score in the center of the distribution, where 50% of the scores are greater and 50% are less.
What is the mode?
The value that occurs most frequently in the distribution.
What does dispersion refer to?
The extent to which the scores are all tightly clustered around the central tendency.
What is a predictor variable?
A variable assumed to have an effect on another variable or explains a change in another variable.
What is an outcome variable?
A variable that is observed to determine whether it changes due to the predictor variable.
What is multiple regression?
A method that allows predicting a single outcome variable from more than one predictor variable.
What is a common-causal variable?
A variable not part of the research hypothesis but causes both the predictor and outcome variable.
What is a spurious relationship?
A relationship between two variables where a common-causal variable explains the relationship.
What is an independent variable?
The causing variable that is manipulated by the experimenter.
What is a dependent variable?
The measured variable expected to be influenced by the manipulation of the independent variable.
Define confounding variable.
Variables other than the independent variable that differ systematically among participants in different conditions.
What is experimenter bias?
When the experimenter subtly treats research participants in different conditions differently.
What is a single blind study?
A study where either the participants or the researcher do not know the conditions participants are assigned to.
What is a double blind study?
A study where both participants and researchers do not know the conditions participants are assigned to.
What are threats to validity?
- Construct validity
- Internal validity
- External validity
What is construct validity?
The extent to which the variables used in research adequately assess the conceptual variables they were designed to measure.
What is internal validity?
The extent to which the independent variable has caused the dependent variable.
What is external validity?
The extent to which results extend to other scenarios, populations, etc.
What is exact replication?
An attempt to recreate the scientific methods used in an earlier study to determine if the results are the same.
What is conceptual replication?
An attempt to confirm previous findings using a different set of specified methods that test the same idea.
What are some reasons for non-replications?
- Insufficient experiment or equipment
- Original findings falsified
- Small sample size
- Not generalizable to other cultures
- Scientist error during replication
What are solutions to the non-replication problem?
- Archiving original studies with replication attempts
- Publishing replication attempts even if they fail
- Creating a replication index to estimate replicability
- Focusing on open science and shared data
