Foundations: Methods and Approaches Flashcards
Experiment
An investigation seeking to understand relations of cause and effect
Independent variable
The manipulated variable
Dependent variable
What is measured
Control variable
Factor remaining constraint in both groups
Experimental group
Groups receiving or reacting to the independent variable (being experimented on)
Control group
Does not receive the independent variable
Population
Group of interest (to be studied)
Single-blind design
The subjects do not know whether they are in the control or experimental group
Double-blind design
Neither the subjects nor the researcher knows who is in the two groups
Correlational research
Assessing the degree of association between two or more variables or characteristics of interest that occur naturally
Longitudinal studies
Studies that occur over long periods of time with the same subject
Cross-sectional studies
Study that is designed to test a wide array of subjects from different background to increase generalizability
Confounding variable
An unknown factor is playing a role
Case studies
Intensive psychological studies of single individuals
Conceptual definition
The theory or issue being studied
Operational definition
Used to clarify what is meant by each variable or how it is defined or measured so that the research can be repeated
Internal validity
The certainty with which the results of an experiment can be attributed to the manipulation of the independent variable rather than to some other
External validity
The extent to which the findings of a study can be generalized to other contexts in the “real world”
Descriptive statistics
Summarizes data
Inferential statistics
Allows researchers to test hypotheses about data and determine how confident they can be in their inferences about the data
Mean
Arithmetic average of a set of numbers
Mode
The most frequently occurring value in the data set
Median
The number that falls exactly in the middle of a distribution of numbers
Range
The difference between the lowest and highest scores
Variability
How much the numbers in the set differ from one another
Standard deviation
Measures a function of the average dispersion of numbers around the mean
Positive skew
Most values are on a lower end, but there are some exceptionally large values
Negative skew
Most values are on the higher end, but there are some exceptionally small scores
Correlational coefficient
A numerical value that indicates the degree and direction of the relationship between two variables
Sample size
The number of observations or individuals measured
Null hypothesis
A treatment had no effort in an experiment
Alternative hypothesis
The treatment did have an effect
Type I error
The null is true; reject the null
Type II error
The null is false; fail to reject
Informed concent
Agree to participate in the study only after being told what participation entails; allowed to leave the experiment at any time
Debriefing
Participants are told the exact purpose of this participation in the research and do any deception that may have been used in the process of the experimentation
Random selection
When participants are randomly selected to be part of a study
Random assignment
When participants are randomly assigned to be part of the control group of experimental group in the experiment
Representative sample
When the sample group in the study represents all the different people in the population
Confirmation bias
The tendency to seek information that aligns with our point of view and dismiss information that challenges our beliefs
