Foundations

Question 1

Experimental method

Answer 1

Involves manipulation of one or more independent variables to observe the effect on a dependent variable. Allows researchers to establish cause-and-effect relationships. Control groups and random sampling needed.

ex. a study testing the effectiveness of a new medication

Question 2

Correlational method

Answer 2

Examines the relationship between two or more variables without experimentation/manipulation. Correlation coefficients (r) indicate the strength and direction of the relationship (positive, negative, or none). Can be affected by third variables. Correlation may not mean causation.

Question 3

Cross-sectional studies

Answer 3

Examines different groups of participants at a single point in time. Useful for comparing different age groups, demographics, or conditions. Provides a snapshot of data but does not track changes over time. Can identify correlations but not causation.

Question 4

Meta-analysis

Answer 4

Combines results from multiple studies (maybe hundreds) to identify overall trends and effects. Increases statistical power and provides a more comprehensive understanding of a research question.

Question 5

Quasi-experimental design

Answer 5

Involves comparison between groups without random assignment. Useful when random assignment is not feasible or ethical (e.g., studying existing groups). Can suggest causal relationships but is more vulnerable to confounding variables. Often used in field settings where controlled experiments are impractical. Results should be interpreted with caution due to potential biases.

Question 6

Ethical Considerations

Answer 6

“CARD/UD”
Consent
Anonymity
Right to withdraw (leave)
Debrief
Undue Harm
Deception

Question 7

Research Hypothesis

Answer 7

This is the one you believe. It clearly predicts that there is a relationship between the dependent and independent variables. For example, one could predict that the way you frame questions about a student’s future to them, might impact how they behave

Question 8

Reactivity

Answer 8

simply being observed can change your behavior. This is one of the problems with lie detector tests, some people will show spikes in anxiety just by being ASKED certain questions, even if they aren’t guilty.

Question 9

Interference effects

Answer 9

one condition in the study impacts your ability to do the others

Question 10

Confirmation bias

Answer 10

finding what you expect to find because you accidentally only look for info that confirms your hypothesis. If a person believes in astrology, they may only recall, or look for, instances in which their horoscope was correct. They’ll ignore and dismiss the instances in which it did not apply.

Question 11

Hindsight bias

Answer 11

the “I knew it all along” phenomenon. After we seen the outcome of something like a sporting even or an election, we overestimate our ability to have actually predicted this thing.

Question 12

P-hacking

Answer 12

Shooting an arrow and painting a bull’s-eye around it afterward. Altering your hypothesis as you go along, or picking only the best stats and data that make your experimental results confirm what you want.

Question 13

Bidirectional ambiguity

Answer 13

chicken or the egg problem. Does exercise make people happier or do happier people just exercise more?

Question 14

Internal validity

Answer 14

AKA construct validity. This is when your experiment is measuring what it claims to be measuring, with no extraneous variables or confounds. Conclusions and implications can be made using your data.

Question 15

External validity

Answer 15

your experimental results can be generalized to other types of similar situations.

Question 16

Ecological validity

Answer 16

your experimental results are also shown to be true outside of a lab/experimental situation. e.g. removed from demand characteristics and fMRI machines.

Question 17

Mean

Answer 17

A measure of central tendency. The “average” amount of a distribution of numbers. Do not use in skewed data sets where there are extreme outliers. Outliers make the “average” a misleading number.

Question 18

Mode

Answer 18

A measure of central tendency. This is the number that occurs the most amount of times in a distribution of numbers. Use in a bimodal distribution. So a list of numbers where there are two different clusters of central tendencies.

Question 19

Regression toward the mean

Answer 19

When an outlier happens like you sleeping 14 hours one day rather than your usual 6 hours, eventually you will revert back to your “normal” or average. So that 14 hours was a fluke, and you will return to your normal mean. The same is true with most outliers in any situation.

Question 20

Standard deviation

Answer 20

This is the average amount that data is different from the mean of the entire data set. For example, you make a 60 and a 100 on tests. The mean is 80 for those tests. If you made a 90 and a 70 though, the mean would also be 80. These two data sets have the same mean but the standard deviation is different.

Question 21

RRR of animal testing

Answer 21

Reduce, refine, replace. We should reduce the number of animals tested, refine our experiments to lessen the discomfort, and replace animals with other methods of testing if we can.

Question 22

Reductionism

Answer 22

A common criticism of bio psych. You can’t understand the video game Elden Ring simply by looking at the physical parts of an Xbox. Similarly, many argue that a person is much more complicated than the parts of their brain. Should we, or can we, really reduce human behavior to brain shapes and the chemicals that flow within them?