Key Terms In Psychology

Question 1

VALIDITY

Answer 1

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

Question 2

ECOLOGICAL VALIDITY

Answer 2

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

Question 3

RELIABILITY

Answer 3

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)

Question 4

DEMAND CHARACTERISTICS

Answer 4

A cue that makes participants aware of the aims of the study or helps participants work out what the research expects to find

Question 5

MUNDANE REALISM

Answer 5

‘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

Question 6

OBJECTIVITY/SUBJECTIVITY

Answer 6

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)

Question 7

OPERATIONAL VARIABLE

Answer 7

A full description of exactly how variables are defined and how they will be manipulated and how they will be measured

Question 8

EXPERIMENTAL BIAS

Answer 8

Beliefs on the study can create bias and affect the results

Question 9

SINGLE BLIND

Answer 9

Participants are unaware of the aim so they dont change how they perform

Question 10

DOUBLE BLIND

Answer 10

Both researcher and participant do not know the aim of the study (eg experimenter could bring in an independent to carry out the study)

Question 11

Experimental group

Answer 11

Refers to the group of participants that are exposed to the independent variable

Question 12

Control group

Answer 12

Participants that do not receive the experimental treatment

They serve as a comparison group

Question 13

Objectivity

Answer 13

Independent of personal biases , opinions and emotions

Question 14

Subjectivity

Answer 14

Refers to the quality of being influenced by personal perspectives, feelings or preferences

Question 15

Inter rated reliability

Answer 15

A measure of consistency used to evaluate the extent to which different judges agree in their assessment decisions

Question 16

Construct validity

Answer 16

The extent to which your test or measure accurately assesses what it’s supposed to

Question 17

Concurrent validity

Answer 17

The correlation between a new test and an existing test to demonstrate whether the new test correlates well with the existing test

Question 18

Predictive validity

Answer 18

The ability of a test or other measurement to predict a future outcome

Question 19

Generalisability

Answer 19

The degree to which you can apply the results of your study to a broader context

Question 20

Population validity

Answer 20

Whether you can reasonably generalise the findings of your sample to a larger group of people (the population)

Question 21

Experimenter effects

Answer 21

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

Question 22

Demand characteristics

Answer 22

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

Question 23

Controlling extraneous variables

Answer 23

Variables that are kept the same in each trial

Question 24

Confounding variables

Answer 24

An extraneous factor that interferes with the relationship between an experiments independent and dependant variables

Question 25

Counter balancing

Answer 25

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

Question 26

Randomisation

Answer 26

Assigning people in a research study to different groups without taking any similarities or differences between them in account

Question 27

Order effects

Answer 27

How the positioning of tasks influences the outcome

Question 28

Credibility

Answer 28

The believability and reliability of information received from outside sources