Exam 1 Review

Question 1

Is it precision or accuracy that characterizes a test that divides things up into more categories?

Answer 1

Precision

Question 2

Precision

Answer 2

smaller units of measurement

Question 3

Accuracy

Answer 3

closer to the truth, or to correctness

Question 4

When can the different kinds of risk occur in or around an experiment?

Answer 4

• physical injury (e.g., bodily harm)
• psychological injury (e.g., mental or emotional stress)
• social injury (e.g., embarrassment, loss of job)
• social risk has the greatest probability of occurring after the experiment is over

Question 5

Why should researches do a literature search before starting a study?

Answer 5

to see whether the topic they wish to study has already been studied before, or to get an idea of the related research that’s been done

Question 6

Independent Variable

Answer 6

The factor that researchers manipulate or select to compare between in order to determine the effect on behavior; has experimental and control conditions

Question 7

Dependent Variable

Answer 7

The measure of behavior used to describe behavior or mental processes and/or to assess the effect of the independent variable

Question 8

Intervening Variable

Answer 8

Processes or mechanisms used to explain the relationship between IVs and DVs; usually happening in the mind of the person responding

Question 9

Confounding Variable

Answer 9

Two IVs covary together (intentional IV or unintentional IV); cannot determine which IV caused the effect on the DV

Question 10

What is the duty of the researcher when they use deception?

Answer 10

They must explain the deception in the debriefing and why they had to deceive the participant; remove any harmful effects of the deception during the debriefing

Question 11

Reliability

Answer 11

a test gives similar results repeatedly

Question 12

Validity

Answer 12

the test actuallymeasures what it claims to measure

Question 13

What is the purpose of the APA ethics code document?

Answer 13

To be a resource that researchers can reference when conducting an experiment to ensure that they are not unnecessarily harming their participants. It has ethical standards for research, teaching, therapy, and administration.

Question 14

What does the APA principle “beneficence and nonmaleficence” mean?

Answer 14

Do no harm

Question 15

What makes for a good research question?

Answer 15

• It’s scientifically important
• Scope = important to many people
• Likely outcomes = will they benefit anyone; these outcome should not be unlikely
• Anyone interested in the results (can be just other scientists sometimes)

Question 16

Idiographic

Answer 16

Individual case studies

Question 17

Nomothetic

Answer 17

Large sample sizes, “average” performance of a group; researches emphasize similarities among individuals

Question 18

What is the benefit of having an operational definition?

Answer 18

To explain something solely in terms of the observable procedures used to produce and measure it; it is like a recipe that allows other scientists to reproduce your experiment

Question 19

When someone says “original source” in the context of psychology, what are they referring to?

Answer 19

The original publication (journal article) that produced the idea or the data

Question 20

“Successful theories are parsimonious.” What does this term mean?

Answer 20

Brief but full of explanation; concise; succinct

Question 21

What is the meaning of “informed consent”?

Answer 21

It is a process, not a single thing; includes debriefing at the end of an experiment

Question 22

Four research goals of the scientific method

Answer 22

Description, prediction, explanation, and application

Question 23

Description

Answer 23

Define, classify, catalogue, or categorize events and their relationships

Question 24

Prediction

Answer 24

Correlations (relationships) among variables allow researches to predict mental processes and behaviors

Question 25

Explanation

Answer 25

Conduct controlled experiments to identify causes; control or manipulate factors one at a time to determine their effect
- three conditions: covariation of events, time-order relationship, elimination of plausible, alternative causes

Question 26

Application

Answer 26

Basic and Applied research
Applied: research to change people’s lives for the better; often “real-world” or natural settings; goal of testing treatments/interventions
Basic: research to understand behavior and mental processes; seeking knowledge for its own sake; often in laboratory settings; goal of testing theories

Question 27

What does it mean that a true theory must be falsifiable?

Answer 27

It must survive rigorous testing

Question 28

What is meant by “the moral context” of a psychology study?

Answer 28

Generally, that researchers stick to the APA Ethical Principles