Experimental Methods

Question 1

naturalistic observation

Answer 1

subject observed in natural habitat without external manipulation

Question 2

participant observation/ethnographic methods

Answer 2

close familiarity with individual though extensive involvement over an extended period

Question 3

case study

Answer 3

close, detailed examination of a subject

Question 4

existence proof

Answer 4

demonstration that given phenomenon can occur

Question 5

experimental group

Answer 5

group that receives manipulation

Question 6

control group

Answer 6

group that receives either no manipulation or standard manipulation

Question 7

random assignment

Answer 7

assignment to experimental or control is by chance

Question 8

single blind

Answer 8

the participant does not know the condition they are subjected to

Question 9

double blind

Answer 9

neither the experimenter or the participant knows the conditions

Question 10

independent variable

Answer 10

what the experimenter manipulates

Question 11

dependent variable

Answer 11

the effect of a manipulation

Question 12

confound

Answer 12

an extraneous variable that correlates with both the independent and dependent variables

Question 13

illusory correlation

Answer 13

the phenomenon of perceiving a relationship where none exists

Question 14

external validity

Answer 14

the extend to which the results can be generalized to other situations and people

Question 15

internal validity

Answer 15

the extend to which a study minimizes error and bias and the findings are applicable to the population

Question 16

face validity

Answer 16

the extend to which a test covers the concept it purports to measure

Question 17

content validity

Answer 17

the extent to which a measure represents all facets of a give social construct

Question 18

construct validity

Answer 18

the degree to which a test measures what it claims to be measuring

Question 19

incremental validity

Answer 19

how much a new psychometric assessment increases the predictive ability beyond existing methods

Question 20

reliability

Answer 20

the consistency of a measure

Question 21

test-retest reliability

Answer 21

the variations in measurements taken by a single subject under the same conditions

Question 22

inter-rater reliability

Answer 22

the degree of agreement between raters

Question 23

fallacy of positive instances

Answer 23

pointing to data that confirms position while ignoring contradictory data

Question 24

meta-analysis

Answer 24

derive pooled estimate from many different studies

Question 25

publication bias

Answer 25

what research is most likely to be published by academic journals

Question 26

pygmalion effect

Answer 26

higher expectations increase performance

Question 27

experimenter expectancy effect

Answer 27

hypothesis cause unintentional bias of sample

Question 28

hawthorne effect

Answer 28

how participants modify their behavior if they think they are being observed

Question 29

demand characteristics

Answer 29

participants interpret what the experimenter wants and change their behavior to fit that interpretation

Question 30

self report study

Answer 30

subjects read and respond to questionnaire

Question 31

survey methodology

Answer 31

sampling of individual units randomly chosen and using statistical methods to improve accuracy

Question 32

halo effect

Answer 32

cognitive bias where observers impression of person influences thought or feelings

Question 33

leniency effect

Answer 33

tendency to provide over generous ratings

Question 34

Counterbalancing

Answer 34

Experimental control to deal with order effects

Question 35

Practice effects

Answer 35

You get better at experimental condition after repeated trials

Question 36

Word association testing

Answer 36

respond to a series of words with the first word to come to mind

Question 37

psychophysical discrimination testing

Answer 37

differentiate between stimuli with just noticeable differences

Question 38

operational span testing

Answer 38

used to test working memory