Experimental Methods Flashcards
naturalistic observation
subject observed in natural habitat without external manipulation
participant observation/ethnographic methods
close familiarity with individual though extensive involvement over an extended period
case study
close, detailed examination of a subject
existence proof
demonstration that given phenomenon can occur
experimental group
group that receives manipulation
control group
group that receives either no manipulation or standard manipulation
random assignment
assignment to experimental or control is by chance
single blind
the participant does not know the condition they are subjected to
double blind
neither the experimenter or the participant knows the conditions
independent variable
what the experimenter manipulates
dependent variable
the effect of a manipulation
confound
an extraneous variable that correlates with both the independent and dependent variables
illusory correlation
the phenomenon of perceiving a relationship where none exists
external validity
the extend to which the results can be generalized to other situations and people
internal validity
the extend to which a study minimizes error and bias and the findings are applicable to the population
face validity
the extend to which a test covers the concept it purports to measure
content validity
the extent to which a measure represents all facets of a give social construct
construct validity
the degree to which a test measures what it claims to be measuring
incremental validity
how much a new psychometric assessment increases the predictive ability beyond existing methods
reliability
the consistency of a measure
test-retest reliability
the variations in measurements taken by a single subject under the same conditions
inter-rater reliability
the degree of agreement between raters
fallacy of positive instances
pointing to data that confirms position while ignoring contradictory data
meta-analysis
derive pooled estimate from many different studies
publication bias
what research is most likely to be published by academic journals
pygmalion effect
higher expectations increase performance
experimenter expectancy effect
hypothesis cause unintentional bias of sample
hawthorne effect
how participants modify their behavior if they think they are being observed
demand characteristics
participants interpret what the experimenter wants and change their behavior to fit that interpretation
self report study
subjects read and respond to questionnaire
survey methodology
sampling of individual units randomly chosen and using statistical methods to improve accuracy
halo effect
cognitive bias where observers impression of person influences thought or feelings
leniency effect
tendency to provide over generous ratings
Counterbalancing
Experimental control to deal with order effects
Practice effects
You get better at experimental condition after repeated trials
Word association testing
respond to a series of words with the first word to come to mind
psychophysical discrimination testing
differentiate between stimuli with just noticeable differences
operational span testing
used to test working memory
