Lecture 2

Question 1

what is the common language and process used to create knowledge

Answer 1

scientific method

Question 2

what are the requirements for causality

Answer 2

• covariation
• temporal relationship
• elimination of confounds

Question 3

the core concepts within subfields of psychology

Answer 3

phenomena

Question 4

a reasonable alternative explanation

Answer 4

third variable problem

Question 5

what is a third variable

Answer 5

a third variable (confounding variable) is a variable that causes both the independent and dependent variable

Question 6

define external validity

Answer 6

external validity is whether the results of a study can be used to describe the population

Question 7

define internal validity

Answer 7

internal validity is obtained through thorough control of the experiment to ensure the results can be trusted

Question 8

why is it difficult to obtain both internal and external validity

Answer 8

because in reality, nothing is controlled thus it makes an experiment with high internal validity difficult to apply to real life

Question 9

what is the goal of psychological research

Answer 9

to understand individual behavior and mental processes through systematic observation.

Question 10

what is the organizational and self-correcting process for evaluating ideas through observation and analysis

Answer 10

scientific method

Question 11

the scientific procedure for testing a hypothesis

Answer 11

experiment

Question 12

what are carefully defined variables that everyone can agree on

Answer 12

operational definitions

Question 13

what do you call the chance that you will get similar results from multiple testing?

Answer 13

reliability

Question 14

what is the confidence that your test is actually testing what you say it is

Answer 14

validity

Question 15

differentiate reliability and validity

Answer 15

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?)

Question 16

a mathematical model of reality that makes predictions

Answer 16

statistical methods

Question 17

the complete set of people meeting a set of characteristics

Answer 17

population

Question 18

what allows for a phenomenon to be studied

Answer 18

variability.

without it, there is nothing that needs to be examined about the phenomenon (no comparisons can be made)

Question 19

what characteristics make a research question good

Answer 19

Feasible
Interesting
New
Ethical
Relevant

Question 20

what are the main categories of research questions?

Answer 20

description
- describe a particular phenomenon

explanation
prediction
application

Question 21

what is operationalization

Answer 21

defining a concept in a way that allows it to be measured

Question 22

what research questions help us describe a particular phenomenon and help us answer “what” types of questions?

Answer 22

descriptive questions

Question 23

talk about descriptive questions

Answer 23

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)

Question 24

what type of research question help us answer “why questions?”

Answer 24

explanation

Question 25

process by which we take in new information without needing to change existing concepts

Answer 25

assimilation

Question 26

altering of existing ideas or beliefs in the presence of new and non-conforming information

Answer 26

accomodation

Question 27

a pattern of thought or behavior that organizes categories of information and the relationships among them

Answer 27

schema

Question 28

what research question deals with what might happen in the future?

Answer 28

prediction

Question 29

3 types of covariation

Answer 29

positive - both variables change in same direction
negative - opposite direction
no covariation - change in one variable has no impact on the other

Question 30

ability to use what is learned in a real-world context

Answer 30

application

Question 31

what research question deals with implications of research findings such as creating beneficial programs surrounding the phenomenon

Answer 31

application

Question 32

explain the hourglass method of creating research questions?

Answer 32

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

Question 33

what are the four main areas researchers focus according to the hourglass model

Answer 33

(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

Question 34

what are the two main areas narrow our focus back to the research agenda (hourglass method)

Answer 34

a) a review of the literature including background information and theory,
(b) methods and data collection

Question 35

what are the two main areas broaden our focus back to the research agenda (hourglass method)

Answer 35

(c) analysis of results,
and (d) discussion and conclusions

Question 36

an abstract attribute that cannot be measure directly

Answer 36

construct

Question 37

what are the 3 main goals for literature review?

Answer 37

1. to know what other scientists have discovered about our topic already
2. a literature review identifies the methods and statistical analyses that are used to study a topic
3. the literature review provides us with ideas about where the gaps in our knowledge exist

Question 38

what are the 3 main goals of theories?

Answer 38

• Describe relationship between two variables
• Identify the mechanism of the relationship
• Answer the research question

Question 39

what are the types of results?

Answer 39

• 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