Conducting Research in Psychology

Question 1

Scientific thinking

Answer 1

process of using the cognitive skills required to generate, test and revise theories.

Question 2

scientific method

Answer 2

the procedures by which scientist conduct research, consisting of five basic processes: observation, prediction, testing, interpretation and communication.

Question 3

theory

Answer 3

a set of related assumptions from which scientists can make testable predictions.

Question 4

hypothesis

Answer 4

a specific, informed and testable prediction of the outcome of a particular set of conditions in a research design.

Question 5

replication

Answer 5

the repetition of a study to confirm the results; essential to the scientific process.

Question 6

pseudoscience

Answer 6

claims presented as scientific that are not supported by evidence obtained with the scientific method.

Question 7

research design

Answer 7

plans for action for how to conduct scientific study

Question 8

variable

Answer 8

a characteristic that changes or “varies,” such as age, gender, weight, intelligence, anxiety and extraversion

Question 9

population

Answer 9

the entire group a researcher is interested in; for example, all humans, all adolescents, all boys, all girls,all college students.

Question 10

samples

Answer 10

subsets of the population studied in a research project.

Question 11

descriptive designs

Answer 11

study designs in which the researcher defines a problem and variable of interest but makes no prediction and does not control or manipulate anything.

Question 12

case study

Answer 12

a study design in which psychologist,often a therapist,observes one person over a long period of time.

Question 13

naturalistic observation

Answer 13

a study in which the researcher unobtrusively observes and records behavior in the real world.

Question 14

correlational design

Answer 14

studies that measure two or move variables and their relationship to one another; not designed to show causation.

Question 15

correlation coefficients

Answer 15

a statistic that ranges from -1.0 to +1.0 and assesses the strength and direction of association between two variables.

Question 16

experiment

Answer 16

a research design that includes independent and dependent variables and random assignment of participants to control and experimental groups or conditions.

Question 17

independent variable

Answer 17

a property that is manipulated by the experimenter under controlled conditions to determine whether it causes the predicted outcome of an experiment.

Question 18

dependent variable

Answer 18

in an experiment, the outcome or response to the experimental manipulation.

Question 19

Random assignment

Answer 19

the method used to assign participants to different research conditions so that all participants have the same chance of being in any specific group.

Question 20

experimental group

Answer 20

a group consisting of those participants who will receive the treatment or whatever is predicted to change behavior.

Question 21

control group

Answer 21

a group of research participants who are treated in exactly the same manner as the experimental group, except that they do not receive the independent variable, or treatment.

Question 22

placebo

Answer 22

a substance or treatment that appears identical to the actual treatment but lacks the active substance.

Question 23

confounding variable

Answer 23

variable whose influence on the dependent variable cannot be separated from the independent variable being examined.

Question 24

single-blind studies

Answer 24

studies in which participants do not know the experimental condition (group) to which they have been assigned.

Question 25

double-blind studies

Answer 25

studies in which neither the participants nor the researchers administering the treatment know who has been assigned to the experimental or control group.

Question 26

experimenter expectancy effects

Answer 26

result that occurs when the behavior of the participants is influenced by the experimenter’s knowledge of who is in the control group and who is in the experimental group.

Question 27

self-fulfilling prophecy

Answer 27

a statement that affects events to cause the prediction to become true.

Question 28

meta-analysis

Answer 28

research technique for combining all research results on one question and drawing a conclusion.

Question 29

effect size

Answer 29

a measure of the strength of the relationship between two variables or the extent of an experimental effect.

Question 30

measures

Answer 30

the tools and techniques used to assess thought or behavior.

Question 31

self-reports

Answer 31

written or oral accounts of a person’s thoughts, feelings, or actions.

Question 32

behavioral measures

Answer 32

measures based on systematic observation of people’s actions either in their normal environment or in a laboratory setting.

Question 33

social desirability bias

Answer 33

the tendency toward favorable self-presentation that could lead to inaccurate self-reports.

Question 34

physiological measures

Answer 34

measures of bodily responses, such as blood pressure or heart rate, used to determine changes in psychological state.

Question 35

statistics

Answer 35

collection, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of numerical data.

Question 36

descriptive statistics

Answer 36

measures used to describe and summarize research.

Question 37

standard deviation

Answer 37

a statistical measure of how much scores in a sample vary around the mean.

Question 38

frequency

Answer 38

the number of times a particular score occurs in a set of data.

Question 39

normal distribution

Answer 39

bell curve; a plot of how frequent data are that is perfectly symmetrical, with most scores clustering in the middle and only a few scores at the extremes.

Question 40

inferential statistics

Answer 40

analyses of data that allow us to test hypotheses and make an inference as to how likely a sample score is to occur in a population.

Question 41

t-test

Answer 41

statistic that compares two means to see whether they could come from the same population.

Question 42

ethics

Answer 42

the rules governing the conduct of a person or group in general or in a specific situation—or more simply, standards of right and wrong.

Question 43

Ethical Guidelines for researchers

Answer 43

Informed consent, Respect for persons, Beneficence(cost and benefits), Privacy and confidentiality, Justice(Beneficence must be distribute equally among participants)

Question 44

debriefing

Answer 44

the explanation of the purposes of a study following data collection.

Question 45

institutional review boards (IRBs)

Answer 45

organizations that evaluate research proposals to make sure research involving humans does not cause undue harm or distress.

Question 46

quasi-experimental design

Answer 46

research method similar to an experimental design except that it makes use of naturally occurring groups rather than randomly assigning subjects to groups.