Chapters 2.2 and 2.4

Question 1

What is a research design?

Answer 1

a set of methods that allows a hypothesis to be tested, have a few characteristics in common: Variables, operational, definitions, and data

Question 2

what is a case study?

Answer 2

an in depth report about the details of a specific case.

Question 3

naturalistic observations

Answer 3

an alternative form of descriptive research is to observe people or animals in there natural setting.

Question 4

what is the self reporting method?

Answer 4

a method in which responses are provided directly by the people who are being studied.

Question 5

correlational research

Answer 5

involves measuring the degree of association between two or more variables.

Question 6

correlation coefficient

Answer 6

0= no relationship 
-1= means strong negative correlation 
\+1= strong positive correlation

Question 7

third variable problem

Answer 7

the possibility that a third, unmeasured variable is actually responsible for a well-established correlation between 2 variables

Question 8

random assignment

Answer 8

a technique for dividing samples into two or more groups in which participants are equally likely to be placed in any condition of the experiment.

Question 9

confounding variable

Answer 9

is a variable outside of the researchers control that might affect or provide an alternative explanation for the results.

Question 10

independent variable

Answer 10

the variable that the experimenter manipulates to distinguish between 2 or more groups.

Question 11

dependent variable

Answer 11

the observation or measurement that is recorded during the experiment and subsequently compared across all groups.

Question 12

Quasi-experimental research

Answer 12

is a research technique in which the two or more groups that are compared are selected based on pre determined characteristics.

Question 13

descriptive statistics

Answer 13

a set of techniques used to organize, summarize and interpret data to give the big picture of the results.

Question 14

frequency

Answer 14

the number of observations that fall within a certain category or range of scores.

Question 15

normal distribution

Answer 15

a symmetrical distribution with values clustered around a central, mean value.

Question 16

central tendency

Answer 16

a measure of the central point of a distribution. there are three different measures: mean, median, and mode.

Question 17

Mean

Answer 17

the arithmetic average of a set of numbers.

- sum of all numbers divided by amount of numbers

Question 18

median

Answer 18

the point on the horizon where 50% of numbers are lower, and 50% are higher.
- the score in the middle of the distribution

Question 19

mode

Answer 19

the category with the highest frequency

- the most common number.

Question 20

variability

Answer 20

the degree to which scores are dispersed in a distribution. in other words, some are more spread out while others are more clustered.

Question 21

standard deviation

Answer 21

it is an estimate of the average distance from the mean.

Question 22

how to find the average deviation?

Answer 22

1. find mean of a set of values
2. find deviation from mean (individual values subtracted from mean)
3. find sum of deviations squared
4. find variance = sum of squared deviations divided by # of original values
5. SD= square root of variance

Question 23

hypothesis test

Answer 23

a statistical method of evaluating whether differences among groups are meaningful, or could have arrived by chance.

Question 24

Statistical significance

Answer 24

is a concept that implies that the means of a the groups are farther apart than you would expect them to be by random chance alone.

Question 25

null hypothesis

Answer 25

assumes that any differences between groups or conditions are due to chance.

Question 26

experimental hypothesis

Answer 26

assume that any differences are due to a variable controlled by the experimenter.

Question 27

P-value

Answer 27

the probability of results being due to chance is known as the p value. it is recommended that researchers use p<5% as the cut off point to ensure accurate results.