Methods Flashcards
applied research
research with clear, practical applications
basic research
research that explores questions that are of interest of psychologists that are not intended to have immediate, real-world applications
valid
measures what it’s supposed to measure; accurate
reliable
can be replicated, consistent
hypothesis
a relationship between two variables
variables
things that vary among the participants in the research
dependent variable
depends on the independent variable
theory
an explanation of some phenomenon, allows researchers to generate testable hypotheses
operationalize
to explain how you will measure a variable
subjects
the participants in research
sampling
the process by which subjects are selected
sample
group of subjects; should be representative of a larger population
population
anyone or anything that could possibly be selected to be in the sample
random selection
randomly selecting the sample group, increases the likelihood that the sample represents the population
stratified sampling
randomly sampling each strata (category of people, for example race or gender) of the population, so that the final sample reflects the population more accurately
laboratory experiment
conducted in a lab, a highly controlled environment
field experiment
conducted in the world, more realistic than laboratory experiment
experiment
only experiments can show cause and effect relationships through the manipulation of the independent variable and subsequent observation of the dependent variable while controlling for confounding variables
confounding variable
any difference between the experimental and control conditions, besides the changes of the independent variable
assignment
the process by which subjects are put into a group, experimental or control
random assignment
each subject has an equal chance of being placed in either the experimental or the control group
group matching
half of each condition (for example, male or female) is assigned to each group (experimental or control)
situation-relevant confounding variables
differences between the experimental and control situations that may affect the experiment
experimenter bias
the unconscious tendency for researchers to treat members of the experimental and control groups differently to increase the chance of confirming their hypotheses
double-blind procedure
neither the subjects nor the researcher are able to affect the outcome of the research
single-blind procedure
only the subjects do not know which group they’re in
demand characteristics
cues about the purpose of the study
response/subject bias
when subjects behave in ways they think the observer wants them to behave
Hawthorne effect
selecting a group of people on whom to experiment will affect the performance of hat group, regardless of what is done to the individuals
placebo effect
the purely psychological effects of thinking you took a drug when you really didn’t
counterbalancing
using subjects as their own control group by having half of them be experimental first and half of them be control first
order effect
the order of the experimental/control group activities may affect the results
correlation
a relationship between two variables without ascribing cause
ex post facto study
research in which subjects are chosen based on a pre-existing condition; all other variables are controlled
survey method
kind of correlational research in which surveys are filled out; difficult to control for confounding variables
naturalistic observation
unobtrusive observation on subjects in their natural habitats, control is sacrificed
case study
a full, detailed picture of one subject or a small group of subjects; not reflective of population, as a result findings cannot be generalized
descriptive statistics
describe a set of data
frequency distribution
a distribution of observed frequencies of occurrence of the values of a variable
frequency polygon
line graph
histogram
bar graph
measures of central tendency
attempt to mark the center of a distribution
mean
the average of all the scores in a distribution
median
the middle score of a distribution when written in ascending or descending order
mode
the score that appears most frequently
positively skewed
when a distribution has a high outlier, there are more low scores than high scores due to the outlier
negatively skewed
when a distribution has a low outlier, there are more high scores than low scores due to the outlier
measures of variability
attempt to depict the diversity of the distribution
variance
the average of the squared differences of each number from the mean
standard deviation
the square root of the variance
range
the distance between the highest and lowest score in a distribution
z score
the distance of a score from the mean in units of standard deviation
normal curve
theoretical bell-shaped curve for which the area under the curve lying between any two z scores has been predetermined
percentile
the distance of a score from 0
correlation coefficient
range from -1 and +1
scatter plot
a series of points plotted on a graph
line of best fit
the line drawn through the scatter plot that minimizes the distance of all the points from the line
inferential statistics
determine whether or not findings can be applied to the larger population from which the sample was selected; making sure the results are not due to sampling error and chance
sampling error
the extent to which a sample differs from the population
p value
the percent chance that the findings were due to chance
institutional review board
reviews research proposal for ethical violations and/or procedural errors
informed consent
participants must know that they are involved in research and give their consent
coercion
participation must be voluntary
anonymity/confidentiality
both protect privacy
risk
participants cannot be placed in significant mental or physical risk
debriefing procedures
participants must be told the purpose of the study and provided with ways to contact the researchers about study results
