Final Exam

Question 1

Research producer

Answer 1

someone who produces research and codes behaviors, assigns participants, enters data, and writes reports.

Question 2

Research consumer

Answer 2

an individual who reads about research and criticizes its legibility, and analyzes high quality research.

Question 3

Evidence based treatment

Answer 3

a psychotherapy technique whose effectiveness has been supported by empirical research.

Question 4

Empiricism

Answer 4

Conclusions are not based on intuition or casual experience

Question 5

The Theory Data Cycle

Answer 5

Theory, research questions, research design, hypothesis, preregistered, data

Question 6

Theory

Answer 6

a set of statements that describes general principles about variables relating to another. Theories are not proven but instead supported by data.

Question 7

Hypothesis

Answer 7

stated in terms of the study design; the observed outcome if the theory is accurate. Usually pre registered

Question 8

Data

Answer 8

the set of observations that can either support or challenge a theory.

Question 9

Replication

Answer 9

the study is conducted again to test if the result is consistent.

Question 10

Weight of Evidence

Answer 10

a conclusion drawn from reviewing scientific literature and considering the proportion of studies consistent with a theory.

Question 11

Contact Comfort Theory

Answer 11

babies are attached to their mothers from the comfort they bring; Harry Harlow provided support for this theory with the monkey experiment

Question 12

Scientific Norms

Answer 12

Universalism, communality, disinterestedness, organized skepticism

Question 13

Universalism

Answer 13

scientific claims are evaluated according to their merit, their credentials or reputation does not matter. Used to evaluate all claims without bias.

Question 14

Communality

Answer 14

scientific knowledge is created by a community and its findings belong to the community; results are to be shared with scientists and the public.

Question 15

Disinterestedness

Answer 15

scientists strive to discover the truth regardless of conviction, profit, idealism, or politics. Accepting what the data states regardless of bias.

Question 16

Organized skepticism

Answer 16

scientists question anything and everything, their own theories, accepted ideas, etc. They ask for evidence.

Question 17

Applied Research

Answer 17

research with the goal of finding a solution to a real world problem; done with practicality and conducted in real world context

Question 18

Basic Research

Answer 18

research with the goal of enhancing a general body of knowledge instead of a specific problem.

Question 19

Translational Research

Answer 19

research with the goal of using lessons from basic research and developing and testing applications to healthcare/ treatment and intervention.
Bridge between basic and applied research

Question 20

Comparison Group

Answer 20

IV is different from those in the treatment group; enables us to compare what would happen with and without the thing we are interested in.

Question 21

Confound

Answer 21

potential alternative explanation for a research finding.

Question 22

Preventing confound

Answer 22

Controlled systematic comparisons prevent the presence of confounds

Question 23

Probabilistic

Answer 23

(empirically speaking) science is intended to explain a percentage, preferably high, of cases but not all cases.

Question 24

Swayed By a Good Story

Answer 24

Bias can be accepting a conclusion because it feels natural to us. Ex: scared straight programs. Empirical evidence contradicts common sense

Question 25

Availability heuristic

Answer 25

things that pop up easily in our mind can guide our thinking; such as events or memories that can cause us to overestimate.

Question 26

present/present bias

Answer 26

people incorrectly estimating a relationship between an event and its outcome, focusing only on times they are both present instead of when they are not.

Question 27

Confirmation bias

Answer 27

tendency to consider only evidence that supports a hypothesis and asking questions that will lead to a desired outcome.

Question 28

Bias blind spot

Answer 28

the belief that we are unlikely to fall prey to other biases.;stating we are objective and someone else is biased

Question 29

Empirical journal articles

Answer 29

details about studies method, tests used, and results

Question 30

Review journal articles

Answer 30

summarize and integrate published studies done in one research area

Question 31

Meta-analysis

Answer 31

combines the result of many studies and gives a number that summarizes the magnitude; valued by psychologists bc it does not allow cherry picking.

Question 32

Variables

Answer 32

something that varies and has at least two levels or values

Question 33

Constant

Answer 33

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

Question 34

Measured Variable

Answer 34

one whose levels are simply observed and recorded; gender, IQ, hair color, height

Question 35

Manipulated Variable

Answer 35

a variable a researcher controls by assigning study participant to different levels of the variable

Question 36

Construct

Answer 36

a variable of interest usually defined as part of a formal statement or part of a psychological theory

Question 37

Conceptual Variable

Answer 37

a variable of interest stated an abstract level; satisfaction of life

Question 38

Operationalize

Answer 38

turn a conceptual definition of a variable into a specific measured/ manipulated variable to conduct a research study.

Question 39

Claim

Answer 39

an argument someone is trying to make; could be based on experience, observation, rhetoric, textual evidence, and researchers and journalists.

Question 40

Frequency claim

Answer 40

claim describing a particular rate or degree of a single variable; measured not manipulated; “15% of Americans”

Question 41

Association claim

Answer 41

claim that argues the one level of a variable is likely to be associated with a particular level of another variable; covariance and related. Used to make predictions/ use words such as link, associate, correlate

Question 42

Positive association

Answer 42

high levels of one variable go with high levels of another variable

Question 43

Negative/ Inverse association

Answer 43

high levels with low levels or vice versa

Question 44

Causal claim

Answer 44

claim arguing that one of the variables is responsible for changing another, goes further than an association claim and questions two variable covarying; using language such as cause, enhance, decrease, change

Question 45

Validity

Answer 45

appropriateness of a conclusion or decision, and is in general reasonable.

Question 46

Construct validity

Answer 46

how well a conceptual variable is operationalized

Question 47

External Validity

Answer 47

how well the results of a study generalize or represent people or context besides those in the original studies; generalizability

Question 48

Statistical validity

Answer 48

the extent to which a study’s statistical conclusions are precise, reasonable, and replicable. The value from one study is not entirely subjective

Question 49

Point estimate

Answer 49

a single estimate of some population based on a population value