Lecture 2 Flashcards
what is the common language and process used to create knowledge
scientific method
what are the requirements for causality
- covariation
- temporal relationship
- elimination of confounds
the core concepts within subfields of psychology
phenomena
a reasonable alternative explanation
third variable problem
what is a third variable
a third variable (confounding variable) is a variable that causes both the independent and dependent variable
define external validity
external validity is whether the results of a study can be used to describe the population
define internal validity
internal validity is obtained through thorough control of the experiment to ensure the results can be trusted
why is it difficult to obtain both internal and external validity
because in reality, nothing is controlled thus it makes an experiment with high internal validity difficult to apply to real life
what is the goal of psychological research
to understand individual behavior and mental processes through systematic observation.
what is the organizational and self-correcting process for evaluating ideas through observation and analysis
scientific method
the scientific procedure for testing a hypothesis
experiment
what are carefully defined variables that everyone can agree on
operational definitions
what do you call the chance that you will get similar results from multiple testing?
reliability
what is the confidence that your test is actually testing what you say it is
validity
differentiate reliability and validity
reliability is the consistency of a measure (if you can see same results with repetition) while validity is the accuracy of a measure (do the results really represent what they are supposed to measure?)
a mathematical model of reality that makes predictions
statistical methods
the complete set of people meeting a set of characteristics
population
what allows for a phenomenon to be studied
variability.
without it, there is nothing that needs to be examined about the phenomenon (no comparisons can be made)
what characteristics make a research question good
Feasible
Interesting
New
Ethical
Relevant
what are the main categories of research questions?
description
- describe a particular phenomenon
explanation
prediction
application
what is operationalization
defining a concept in a way that allows it to be measured
what research questions help us describe a particular phenomenon and help us answer “what” types of questions?
descriptive questions
talk about descriptive questions
they describe a particular phenomenon. it helps describe behaviors systematically like in studies that assess the percentage of drinking in a population. this just gives us a greater understanding of the phenomenon (drinking)
what type of research question help us answer “why questions?”
explanation
process by which we take in new information without needing to change existing concepts
assimilation
altering of existing ideas or beliefs in the presence of new and non-conforming information
accomodation
a pattern of thought or behavior that organizes categories of information and the relationships among them
schema
what research question deals with what might happen in the future?
prediction
3 types of covariation
positive - both variables change in same direction
negative - opposite direction
no covariation - change in one variable has no impact on the other
ability to use what is learned in a real-world context
application
what research question deals with implications of research findings such as creating beneficial programs surrounding the phenomenon
application
explain the hourglass method of creating research questions?
we start with a general idea or area of interest and then we narrow this down to a specific research question, and then we go back and see how we can interpret these results and consider the broad implications on the field of study
what are the four main areas researchers focus according to the hourglass model
(a) a review of the literature including background information and theory,
(b) methods and data collection,
(c) analysis of results,
and (d) discussion and conclusions
what are the two main areas narrow our focus back to the research agenda (hourglass method)
a) a review of the literature including background information and theory,
(b) methods and data collection
what are the two main areas broaden our focus back to the research agenda (hourglass method)
(c) analysis of results,
and (d) discussion and conclusions
an abstract attribute that cannot be measure directly
construct
what are the 3 main goals for literature review?
- to know what other scientists have discovered about our topic already
- a literature review identifies the methods and statistical analyses that are used to study a topic
- the literature review provides us with ideas about where the gaps in our knowledge exist
what are the 3 main goals of theories?
- Describe relationship between two variables
- Identify the mechanism of the relationship
- Answer the research question
what are the types of results?
- participant characteristics
describe various characteristics of population - descriptive statistics
describe characteristics of individual variables - statistical statistics
look at relationship between variables and information about significance
