Key Terms In Psychology Flashcards
VALIDITY
Refers to whether an observed effect is a genuine one.
This includes the extent to which a researcher has measured what they intended to measure (INTERNAL VALIDITY)
And the extent to which the findings can be applied beyond the research setting
ECOLOGICAL VALIDITY
A form of the external validity concerning the ability to generalise a research effect beyond the particular setting in which it is demonstrated to real life settings
RELIABILITY
A measure of consistency both within a set of scores or items (internal reliability)
And also Over time such that is possible to obtain the same results on subsequent occasions when the measure is used (external reliability)
DEMAND CHARACTERISTICS
A cue that makes participants aware of the aims of the study or helps participants work out what the research expects to find
MUNDANE REALISM
‘Task validity’ refers to how much a research study mirrors the real everyday, is the task realistic to the extent it would be in the real world
OBJECTIVITY/SUBJECTIVITY
Free of bias/individuals personal view affected by beliefs, emotions and social norms; being uninfluenced by personal opinion or past experiences
Objectivity (being influenced)
Subjectivity (not being influenced)
OPERATIONAL VARIABLE
A full description of exactly how variables are defined and how they will be manipulated and how they will be measured
EXPERIMENTAL BIAS
Beliefs on the study can create bias and affect the results
SINGLE BLIND
Participants are unaware of the aim so they dont change how they perform
DOUBLE BLIND
Both researcher and participant do not know the aim of the study (eg experimenter could bring in an independent to carry out the study)
Experimental group
Refers to the group of participants that are exposed to the independent variable
Control group
Participants that do not receive the experimental treatment
They serve as a comparison group
Objectivity
Independent of personal biases , opinions and emotions
Subjectivity
Refers to the quality of being influenced by personal perspectives, feelings or preferences
Inter rated reliability
A measure of consistency used to evaluate the extent to which different judges agree in their assessment decisions
Construct validity
The extent to which your test or measure accurately assesses what it’s supposed to
Concurrent validity
The correlation between a new test and an existing test to demonstrate whether the new test correlates well with the existing test
Predictive validity
The ability of a test or other measurement to predict a future outcome
Generalisability
The degree to which you can apply the results of your study to a broader context
Population validity
Whether you can reasonably generalise the findings of your sample to a larger group of people (the population)
Experimenter effects
The tendency of the experimenter/researcher to influence the participants or to interpret the data/findings to arrive at the result they are seeking to obtain
Demand characteristics
Cues that might indicate the study aims to the participants
These cues lead participants to change their behaviours/responses based on what they think the research is about
Controlling extraneous variables
Variables that are kept the same in each trial
Confounding variables
An extraneous factor that interferes with the relationship between an experiments independent and dependant variables
Counter balancing
A technique used to deal with order effects when using a repeated measures design
Eg participant sample is divided in half, one half completing two conditions in one order and the other half in reverse order
Randomisation
Assigning people in a research study to different groups without taking any similarities or differences between them in account
Order effects
How the positioning of tasks influences the outcome
Credibility
The believability and reliability of information received from outside sources
