Methods

Question 1

applied research

Answer 1

has clear, practical applications and purposes

Question 2

basic research

Answer 2

explores questions of interest but does not have one clear purpose

Question 3

operational definitions

Answer 3

describe exactly what the variables are and explains how exactly we will measure it

Question 4

validity

Answer 4

when it measures what it is set out to measure

Question 5

reliability

Answer 5

when the test can be replicated and is consistent

Question 6

random selection

Answer 6

every member of population has an equal chance of being selected

Question 7

stratified sampling

Answer 7

process that allows a researcher to ensure that the sample represents population on some criteria; for example, ensuring that you have a certain amount of people from each race.

Question 8

confounding variable

Answer 8

any difference between the experimental and control conditions, except for the independent variable, that might affect dependent variable

Question 9

random assignment

Answer 9

every participant has an equal chance of being placed in a group

Question 10

group matching

Answer 10

ensuring that the experimental and control groups were equivalent in some criterion

Question 11

experimenter bias

Answer 11

unconscious tendency for experimenter to treat members of experimental and control groups differently

Question 12

double-blind procedure

Answer 12

when neither the participants nor researcher are able to affect outcome of research

Question 13

social response

Answer 13

tendency for participants to give answers that reflect well upon them

Question 14

Hawthorne effect

Answer 14

the usage of a control group is absolutely essential for comparing results from experimental group

Question 15

positive correlation

Answer 15

presence of one thing predicts presence of other

Question 16

negative correlation

Answer 16

presence of one thing predicts absence of other

Question 17

ex post facto study

Answer 17

seeking control of all aspects of research process except the inevitable

Question 18

case study method

Answer 18

used to get a full, detailed picture of one participant or a small group of participants

Question 19

What are the measures of central tendency?

Answer 19

It attempts to mark the center of distribution. This includes mean, median and mode.

Question 20

positively skewed

Answer 20

contains more low scores than high scores; the skew is produced by some unusually high scores. Mean is higher than median because outliers have more of a dramatic effect on mean.

Question 21

negatively skewed

Answer 21

skew is caused by particular low score; and contains more high scores

Question 22

What are the measures of variability?

Answer 22

attempts to depict diversity of distribution. This includes range, variance and standard deviation.

Question 23

What is variance/standard deviation?

Answer 23

they relate the average distance of any score in distribution from the mean; the standard deviation is just the square root of this function

Question 24

z scores

Answer 24

measure distance of score from a mean in units of standard deviation. Scores below the mean have negative z scores, scores above have positive z scores.

Question 25

correlation coefficient

Answer 25

range from -1 to +1; where 1 is a perfect, negative correlation and +1 is a perfect, positive correlation

Question 26

inferential statistics

Answer 26

determine whether or not findings can be applied to a larger population from which the sample was selected

Question 27

sampling error

Answer 27

the extent to which the sample differs from the population

Question 28

p value

Answer 28

the smaller the p value, the more significant the results are. .05 is the cutoff for statistically significant results

Question 29

Where do any type of academic research/experiment go first before it is allowed?

Answer 29

the institutional review board (IRB) where they review proposals for ethic violations or errors