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Psyc201 > Exam 2 > Flashcards

Exam 2 Flashcards

1
Q

What is a variable?

A

Something that varies and must have at least two levels.

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2
Q

What is a constant?

A

Something that could potentially vary but that has only one level in the study in question.

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3
Q

What is a measured variable?

A

One whose levels are simply observed and recorded.

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4
Q

What is a manipulated variable?

A

A variable that a researcher controls.

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5
Q

What is a construct?

A

Also known as conceptual variable; an abstract concept such as “shyness” or “intelligence”.

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6
Q

What is a conceptual definition?

A

The theoretical definition of a construct or conceptual variable.

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7
Q

What is to operationalize?

A

To turn a concept of interest into a measured or manipulated variable.

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8
Q

What are the three types of claims?

A

Frequency claims, association claims and causal claims.

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9
Q

What is a frequency claim?

A

A particular rate or degree of a single variable. Example: “1 in 25 teens attempt suicide”.

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10
Q

What is an association claim?

A

Argues that one level of a variable is likely to be associated with a particular level of another variable.

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11
Q

What is a correlation?

A

When one variable changes, the other variable tends to change too.

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12
Q

What is a positive correlation?

A

As one variable increases, the other increases as well.

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13
Q

What is a negative correlation?

A

As one variable increases, the other decreases.

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14
Q

What is a zero correlation?

A

No link between variables.

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15
Q

What is a causal claim?

A

Argues that one of the variables is responsible for changing the other.

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16
Q

What are the three criteria for making a causal claim?

A

The two variables are correlated (covariance); the causal variable came first (temporal precedence); no other explanation exists for the relationship (internal validity).

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17
Q

What is validity?

A

The appropriateness of a conclusion or decision.

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18
Q

What are the four types of validity?

A

Construct validity, external validity, statistical validity, internal validity.

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19
Q

What is construct validity?

A

How well the variables in a study are measured or manipulated.

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20
Q

What is external validity?

A

The extent to which the results of a study generalize to a larger population or to other situations.

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21
Q

What is statistical validity?

A

The strength of an effect and its statistical significance.

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22
Q

What is internal validity?

A

The extend to which the manipulated variable is responsible for the effect on the measured variable, rather than some other variable. Applies to causal claims only.

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23
Q

What is a Type I error?

A

Mistaken conclusion that there is an association between two variables when there really is none. Also known as “false positive”.

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24
Q

What is a Type II error?

A

Mistaken conclusion that there is no association between two variables when there really is one. Also known as “false negative” or “miss”.

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25
Q

What is covariance?

A

Variable A changes as variable B changes. Correlation.

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26
Q

What is temporal precedence?

A

Variable A comes first in time, before B.

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27
Q

What is an independent variable?

A

The manipulated variable.

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28
Q

What is a dependent variable?

A

The measured variable.

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29
Q

What are the three types of measures?

A

Self-reported, observational, physiological.

30
Q

What is a self-report measure?

A

Operationalization by recording people’s answers to questions about themselves.

31
Q

What is an observational measure?

A

Operationalization by recording observable behaviour or physical traces of behaviour.

32
Q

What is a physiological measure?

A

Operationalization by recording biological data.

33
Q

What is a categorical variable?

A

Levels as categories.

34
Q

What is a quantitative variable?

A

Levels as meaningful numbers.

35
Q

What are the three types of quantitative variables?

A

Ordinal scale, interval scale, ratio scale.

36
Q

What is an ordinal scale?

A

Numerals represent a rank order.

37
Q

What is an interval scale?

A

Subsequent numerals present equal distances, without true zero.

38
Q

What is a ratio scale?

A

Numerals represent equal distances with a true zero.

39
Q

What is reliability?

A

How consistent the results of a measure are.

40
Q

What is validity?

A

Whether the operationalization measures what it is supposed to measure.

41
Q

What are the three types of reliability?

A

Test-retest, interrater, internal.

42
Q

What is test-retest reliability?

A

When people take a test twice, the scores should be consistent.

43
Q

What is interrater reliability?

A

When two or more independent observers come up with consistent findings.

44
Q

What is internal reliability?

A

Questions intended to measure a similar construct return similar results.

45
Q

What are the five ways to assess construct validity?

A

Subjective: face validity, content validity. Empirical: Criterion, convergent, discriminant.

46
Q

What is face validity?

A

It looks like what you want to measure.

47
Q

What is content validity?

A

The measure contains all the parts that your theory says it should contain.

48
Q

What is criterion validity?

A

Your measure is correlated with a relevant outcome.

49
Q

What is convergent validity?

A

Your measure is more strongly associated with measures of similar constructs.

50
Q

What is discriminant validity?

A

Your measure is less strongly associated with measures of dissimilar constructs.

51
Q

Explain the relationship between reliability and validity.

A

A measure may be less valid than it is reliable, but it cannot be more valid than it is reliable. Reliability is necessary, but not sufficient, for validity.

52
Q

What are the nine internal validity threats?

A

Maturation, history, regression towards the mean, attrition, testing effect, instrumentation, observer bias, demand characteristics, placebo effect.

53
Q

What is a maturation threat?

A

A change in behaviour that emerges more or less spontaneously over time. Particularly relevant in developmental research.

54
Q

What is a history threat?

A

Historical or external event that affects most members of a group at the same time.

55
Q

What is a regression threat?

A

When a performance is extreme at time 1, measure at time 2 is likely to be less extreme.

56
Q

What is an attrition threat?

A

Reduction in participant numbers that occurs when people drop out of the study before the end. Problematic when attrition is systematic, i.e. when only a certain kind of participant drops out.

57
Q

What is a testing effect threat?

A

A change in the participants as a result of taking a test more than once.

58
Q

What is an instrumentation threat?

A

When measuring instruments change over time or is bad for measuring a construct.

59
Q

How do you prevent a maturation threat?

A

By using a control group.

60
Q

How do you prevent a history threat?

A

By using a control group.

61
Q

How do you prevent a regression threat?

A

By using a control group and examining results.

62
Q

How do you prevent an attrition threat?

A

By providing incentives, by removing the scores of those who dropped out.

63
Q

How do you prevent a testing effect threat?

A

By abandoning pretest, by using two different forms of the same test.

64
Q

How do you prevent an instrumentation threat?

A

By using posttest-only design, by training observers, by counterbalancing, by calibrating instruments.

65
Q

What is observer bias?

A

Occurs when researchers’ expectations influence their interpretation of the results.

66
Q

How do you prevent observer bias?

A

Control group, single-blind and double-blind studies.

67
Q

What is a demand characteristic threat?

A

When participants guess what the study is about and change their behaviour accordingly.

68
Q

How do you prevent demand characteristics?

A

Control group, single-blind and double-blind studies.

69
Q

What is the placebo effect?

A

When people receive a treatment and really improve–but only because the recipients believe they are receiving a valid treatment.

70
Q

How do you prevent the placebo effect?

A

You can’t–it’s real. But you can control for it via a double-blind placebo control study.

Psyc201 (1 decks)

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