Final - Methods Flashcards
Final
What is the scientific method
- Identify the problem
- Gather information
- Generate a hypothesis
- Design and conduct experiments
- Analyze data and formulate conclusions
- Restart the process
What is a hypothesis
hypothesis is a tentative prediction about the relationship between 2 or more
variables. It is not a fact or truth. The hypothesis needs to be tested using strict scientific principals.
It MUST BE FALSIFIABLE
What is a case study
an in-depth analysis of a unique circumstance or individual.
What is an advantage of a case study
They allow us to keep a document o rare cases that otherwise would be a lost for
us.
What is a disadvantage of a case study
Researcher bias
What is a survey
Asking a sample population a question or series of questions
What are 2 disadvantages of a survey
- Sampling Error/Bias: A sample population that isnt representative of the entire population
- Wording Effects: the influence of language/wording on peoples answers
What is illusory superiority
the tendency to decribe our own behaviour as better than the average. (ex// 70% of people think their driving is better than half the population)
What is response bias
people answering the question in the way they feel are expected to answer even if not accurate. (ex// people lying about how often they shower because they don’t wanna be judged)
what is Acquiescence response bias
a tendency for participants to indiscriminately “agree” with most if not all items on a survey regardless of their actual opinion
What is socially desirable bias
participants respond to question they feel would be accepted more by society (ex// lying about liking a movie that everyone else is obsessed with)
What is volunteer bias
where only motivated people respond to a survey (ex// in a survey about sex life, only those willing to talk openly about their sex life will do the survey)
What are the 2 important criteria to random sampling
- That every single person in the population of interest has an equal chance of being in the
survey. - Chance and only chance and nothing but chance will determine who ends up in the sample
What is a stratified random sample
take the population of interest, and divide it into the groups the
researchers are interested in. From every single one of those groups, we use random sampling (ex// splitting ottawa into neighbourhoods, then taking random people from every neighbourhood)
What are 2 advantages of surveys
- cheap 2. take data from people not regularly observed
what are the 5 General Ethical Principles of Psychologists
- Beneficence and Non-maleficence
- Fidelity and Responsibility
- Integrity
- Justice
- Respect for People’s Rights and Dignity
What is beneficence and non-maleficence
researchers should strive to do good (beneficence) and avoid creating experiments that can intentionally harm (maleficence) participants.
what is Fidelity and Responsibility
researchers should be honest and reliable with participants, data, and when they report their findings so that the participants can make informed decisions.
What is integrity
psychologists should engage in accurate, honest, and non-biased practices in the science, teaching, and practice of psychology. No fabrication or making up data.
What is Justice
those people who participate in the research process should also be the same people who stand to benefit from the research outcomes. ex// scientists used to exclude women from surveys for medicines, but the would release the medicine to both men and women)
What is inclusion and exclusion criteria. What is eligibility?
Inclusion: an attribute of participants that is necessary to participate in the study
Exclusion: an attribute of participants that don’t allow them to participate.
The combination of inclusion and exclusion criteria form a study’s eligibility criteria, a set of characteristics shared by all participants that ensure that those participating will meaningfully help to address the research question.
what does Respect for People’s Rights and Dignity mean for psychologists
each person is valued in the research process and that researchers should take measures to respect and protect participants’ rights, privacy, and welfare.
What is a vulnerable population
potential research participants may not be able to provide free and informed consent
What are the 2 criteria of determining a vulnerable population
- Decisional Impairment: a potential participant has diminished capacity to provide informed consent. (ex// children or mentally ill)
- Situational Vulnerability: when the freedom of “choice” to participate in research is compromised as a result of undue influence from another source. (prisoners fear of getting punished if they don’t consent, or promising homeless people money to consent)
What is correlation
A way to show that as one variable changes, so does another.
What is the best way to show correlation
a scatterplot
What does positive correlation mean
the variables change in the same direction; that is, as one variable increases, the other variable also increases, and as one variable decreases, the other variable also decreases. (ex// studying and test scores)
What does negative correlation mean
an increase in one variable leads to a decrease in the other.
What does zero correlation show
indicates that there is no apparent relationship between variables.
What is the line of best fit
a line on scatterplots showing a general relationship between the data to determine the correlation
What is the correlation co-efficient
A numerical representation of the strength of a relationship. The value of a correlation coefficient ranges from –1 to +1. Shown as ‘r’
What does a correlation co-efficient mean (ex// r = -1 to r = +1)
- or + mean the indicate the direction of the relationship (positive or negative correlation)
the numbers show the strength of the correlation.
Ex// -1 is a strong negative correlation, while +1 is a strong positive correlation.
-0.5 is a weaker negative correlation, while +0.5 is a weaker positive correlation.
When there is no correlation, r = 0
What is one disadvantage of correlational research?
Can NOT infer casuality. Based on correlational research alone, we
absolutely, absolutely can not infer causality. We CAN’T say that one vairable causes a change in the other. To infer causality, we must do an experiment.
What is an independent variable
the variable that the experimenter will manipulate
What is a dependant variable
is the variable(s) the experimenter counts or measures.
What are Extraneous/Confounding variables
any variables that are not the focus of study, but that may influence the outcome of research if not controlled.
What type of research is the only one that we can draw conclusions from
Experimental research
What is the experiment group
the group that receives the subject of interest is called the experimental group. (ex// testing for a medicine, the experiment group is the group that receives the medicine)
What is the control group
treated nearly identically to the experimental group but it does not receive the drug of interest.
what is Descriptive statistics
a collection of ways to describe the data in the simplest way possible, which involves the use of quantitative values.
What is the central tendency
A single data point that best represents the others. (ex// the average is used in a test because it best represents everyone’s score)
What are the 3 central tendency and explain what they mean
mean: the average (all data sets added then divided by number of data sets)
median: the middle score in an ordered set of data
mode: the most frequently occurring number in a data set
What is one disadvantage of using the mean to represent a data set
It can be significantly affected by extreme values (known as outliers)
