lec 2 research strategies and stats

Question 1

what is the term called when you believe someone in authority

Answer 1

authority heuristic

Question 2

what is hindsight bias

Answer 2

easy to believe you could predict the outcome once you know the answer
post diction

Question 3

explain overconfidence error

Answer 3

too certain in judgement

overestimate

eyewitness testimony

Question 4

explain why people overuse intuition

Answer 4

hindsight bias
things seem common once explained
people trust it more

Question 5

explain how gamblers think

Answer 5

putting order to random events
pattern where the odds are still the same

Question 6

why is scientific research important

Answer 6

avoids hindsight bias
facts and truths

Question 7

what is the difference between a theory and a hypothesis

Answer 7

theory - set of principles, explains some phenomenon and predicts its future behaviour

hypothesis testable predication with our theory

Question 8

what do you need to do to replicate research

Answer 8

explain terms and measurements used, source of error

Question 9

be able to explain or draw scientific diagram

Question 10

what are 4 goals of research

Answer 10

desciption, explanation, prediction,change

Question 11

what are the 3 key research methods

Answer 11

experimental
descriptive
correlational

Question 12

what is the purpose and disadvatage of correlational research

Answer 12

identify relationships and how well 1 variable predicts the other

can’t find cause and effect

Question 13

what is the purpose of descriptive research

Answer 13

define certain behaviors or traits that are observed

Question 14

what are the advantages and disadvantages of descriptive research

Answer 14

adv - min artificiality
easier to collect data
allows description of behaviour as it occurs

dis - little or no control over variables
can’t find cause and effect
researcher and participant bias

Question 15

what is experimental research?

Answer 15

controlled scientific procedure that manipulates variable to determine cause+effect

Question 16

what type of research has precise control over variables

Answer 16

experimental

Question 17

what are some disadvatages of experimental research

Answer 17

ethical concerns
practical limits
artificial or lab conditions
uncontrolled variables may compound results

Question 18

what are some examples of descriptive research

Answer 18

case study
survey
observation

Question 19

be able to draw positive correlation, negative correlation and zero correlation

Question 20

what is correlation coeffiecient and what is the score for stonger/weaker relationships?

Answer 20

statistical measure of relationship between 2 variables
closer to 1 stronger
closer to 0 weaker

Question 21

what is important to remember with regards to correlation and causation?

Answer 21

correlation is NOT causation

correlations NEVER prove cause+effect

Question 22

what is a confounding variable?

Answer 22

variable which is uncontrolled/unaccouted for, and which may influence the result of a research study

Question 23

what are the 4 key features of experimental research? what do they mean?

Answer 23

independant variable - factor manipulated

dependant variable -factor measured (outcome)

experimental group- receives treatment

control group- no treatment

Question 24

what is random assignment?

Answer 24

every participant having an equal chance of being in either the experimental group or the control group

Question 25

from the researcher’s perspective, what are 2 possible problems and solutions that may occur in experiments?

Answer 25

1. problem: experimental bias

solution: blind observers, single/double-blind studies, placebos

2. problem: ethnocentrism (belief 1 culture reps. all cultures/ppl)

solution: cross-cultural sampling

Question 26

what are 2 problems and solutions that can occur in experiments from the participant’s perspective?

Answer 26

1. problem: sample bias
   solution: random + representitive sampling, random assignment
2. problem: participant bias
   solution: anonimity, confidentiality, deception, single/double-blind studies, placebo

Question 27

what is the purpose of statistics?

Answer 27

tells us if data we found differs significantly
(if I.V had impact or not)

Question 28

what are the 3 measures of central tendency ?

Answer 28

mode(most frequent), mean (avg), median (middle in rank distribution)

Question 29

what is variability? what does it measure?

Answer 29

describes spread/variation of scores in a distribution

how similar/different the people of distribution are

Question 29

what is skewed distribution? what does it affect, and what is the pro?

Answer 29

when most scores are clustered which a few outliers

affects the mean, mean very effective

Question 30

is low or high variability better? why?

Answer 30

low, easier to make predictions

Question 31

what is range?

Answer 31

diff b/w highest and lowest scores (high-low)

Question 32

what is standard deviation?

Answer 32

average distance of scores from mean

Question 33

if there are outliers, what does this indicate?

Answer 33

Large standard deviation

Question 34

what is a bell curve? what are outliers?

Answer 34

mean in middle, 3 SD above, 3 SD below

scores that fall outside this range

Question 35

when does statistical significance occur?

Answer 35

probability of observed findings being due to chance is very low