Chapter 8 Glossary

Question 1

What is attribution?

Answer 1

Loss of participants before or during the research, which may confound the results because the remaining participants may not represent the population.

Question 2

What are confounding variable hypothesis?

Answer 2

States that a confounding variable may be responsible for the observed changes in the dependent nature.

Question 3

What is a confounding variable?

Answer 3

Any uncontrolled variable that might affect the outcome.

Question 4

What is construct validity?

Answer 4

Validity of a theory. Most theories in science make many predictions and construct validity is established by verifying the accuracy of each of those predictions.

Question 5

What are demand characteristics?

Answer 5

Any aspect of the research situation that suggests to participants what behaviour is expected.

Question 6

What is diffusion of treatment?

Answer 6

When participants communicate information to participants in other conditions, thus potentially confounding the results of the study.

Question 7

What is ecological validity?

Answer 7

When studies accurately reproduce real life situations, thus allowing easy generalisation of their findings.

Question 8

What is experimenter effects?

Answer 8

Behaviour of the researcher that might affect the behaviour of participants or the measurement of dependent variables.

Question 9

What is external validity?

Answer 9

Extent to which a study’s results generalise to the larger population.

Question 10

What is generalisation?

Answer 10

External validity

Question 11

What is history?

Answer 11

Confounding variable that represents any change in the dependent variable that is a function of events other than the manipulation of the independent variable.

Question 12

What is instrumentation?

Answer 12

Confounding varible involving shifts in the measuring instrument that cause it to give different readings when no change occurred in participants.

Question 13

When internal validity?

Answer 13

Accuracy of a research study in determining the relationship between independent and dependent variables.

Question 14

What are the limits of generalisation?

Answer 14

This conditions in which a theory or scientific finding no longer validly applies.

Question 15

What is maturation?

Answer 15

Potential confounding factor involving changes in participants during the study that results from normal growth processes.

Question 16

What is placebo effect?

Answer 16

ANy observed improvement due to a sham treatment.

Question 17

What is regression to a mean?

Answer 17

Cofounding variable that occur whenever participants are selected because they have either high or low extreme scores.

Question 18

What is a selection?

Answer 18

A potential confounding variable that involves any process that may create groups not equivalent at the beginning of the study.

Question 19

What are sequence effects?

Answer 19

The confounding effects on performance in later conditions due to having experienced previous conditions.

Question 20

What are statistical hypothesis?

Answer 20

Synonymous with null hypothesis.

Question 21

What is staististical validity?

Answer 21

Accuracy of conclusions drawn from a staistical test.

Question 22

What are subject effects?

Answer 22

Any response by participants that is different from the way that they would normally behave.

Question 23

What is testing?

Answer 23

Potential confounding variable that represents any change in a participant’s score due to the participant’s score due to the participant having been tested previously.