Midterm 1 Flashcards
What is causality?
Causality refers to the relationship between cause and effect.
What does causality imply?
Causality implies that one event (the cause) leads to the occurrence of another event (the effect).
Types of peer reviewed papers
- empirical
- theoretical
- general reviews
- commentaries, responses
What is the primary purpose of the peer review process in academic publishing?
To evaluate the quality, validity, and significance of a manuscript before publication.
What feedback might reviewers provide during the peer review process?
They may suggest revisions, identify errors, or recommend acceptance or rejection of the manuscript.
What is the primary purpose of publishing research?
To disseminate knowledge and findings to the scientific community and the public.
True or False: Peer review is an essential step in the research publishing process.
True
Parts of a research paper
- introduction
- method
- results
- discussion
What is the primary purpose of inferential statistics?
To make generalizations or predictions about a population based on a sample.
What is an example of inferential statistics?
Estimating a population mean from a sample mean
statistical inference
set of techniques for drawing conclusions from a sample to the population the sample came from
sampling error
variation caused in sample statistics by using different samples
What is the primary cause of sampling error?
Sampling error is primarily caused by the natural variability in populations.
True or False: Sampling error can be completely eliminated.
False
How can researchers minimize sampling error in their studies?
Researchers can minimize sampling error by using a larger sample size and ensuring random sampling methods.
What is the definition of sample size in research?
Sample size refers to the number of observations or replicates included in a statistical sample.
True or False: A larger sample size generally leads to more reliable results.
True
What is the relationship between sample size and the confidence interval width?
As sample size increases, the width of the confidence interval decreases.
What is the definition of margin of error?
The margin of error is a statistic expressing the amount of random sampling error in a survey’s results.
True or False: A smaller margin of error indicates more precise survey results.
True
What factors can affect the margin of error in a survey?
Sample size, population variability, and confidence level.
random sampling
selecting people randomly from a population to form a sample
convenience sampling
a practically achievable sample from the population
sample statistics
statistics calculated from a sample data
population parameters
unknown and unobserved
epistemic uncertainty
uncertainty due to lack of knowledge
aleatory uncertainty
uncertainty due to randomness
What is replication in research?
Replication in research refers to the process of repeating a study to see if the original results can be obtained.
Fill in the blank: Replication helps to establish the ________ of research findings.
validity
What are the two main types of replication?
Direct replication and conceptual replication.
What is a direct replication?
A direct replication involves repeating the exact study with the same methods to see if the results are consistent.
What role does replication play in the scientific method?
Replication serves to verify results and strengthen the reliability of scientific claims.
Fill in the blank: A successful replication study can help to reduce ________ in scientific research.
bias
What is open science?
Open science is a movement aimed at making scientific research, data, and dissemination accessible to all levels of society.
What are the key principles of open science?
The key principles include openness, transparency, collaboration, and reproducibility.
What is the primary purpose of a meta-analysis?
To combine results from multiple studies to obtain a more precise estimate of the effect size.
What is one potential limitation of meta-analysis?
The quality of the meta-analysis is dependent on the quality of the included studies.
What is an independent variable?
An independent variable is a factor that is manipulated in an experiment to observe its effect on a dependent variable. (the predictor)
What is a dependent variable?
A dependent variable is the variable in an experiment or study that is measured and is affected by changes in the independent variable. (the outcome)
How does the dependent variable relate to the independent variable in an experiment?
The dependent variable is the outcome that is measured and is expected to change as a result of variations in the independent variable.
non experimental designs
designs that don’t use random assignment
experimental designs
random assignment is considered to be gold standard for researchers to infer causality because of its ability to rule out alternative explanations
causality
- x must precede y in time
- x must be reliably correlated with y
- the relation between x and y must not be explained by other causes
What is a counterfactual argument?
A counterfactual argument is a reasoning process that explores what could have happened if certain conditions were different from what actually occurred.
What is the primary purpose of using counterfactuals in argumentation?
The primary purpose is to evaluate causality and understand the impact of different actions or events.
internal validity
the degree to which we can draw conclusions about casual relationships in our data
Name one method researchers use to enhance internal validity.
Random assignment
operational definitions
specification of hoe something is being measured
construct definitions
explanatory variables not directly observable
Nominal scale
a numerical representation based on already known or identifiable attributes
ordinal scale
produce ranks, people are ordered based in amounts of an attribute they possess
interval scale
measure of quantity with arbitrary zero, assumes equality of intervals
ratio scale
quantity with absolute zero, allow additivity and are multiplicative
classical test theory
x = T + E
observation = true score + error
skewness
refers to the asymmetry of a distribution, can be positive or negative
kurtosis
indicates the “tailedness” of distributions
> platykurtic
> leptokurtic
> mesokurtic
platykurtic
less tail, less peak (< 3)
leptokurtic
more tail, more peak (> 3)
mesokurtic
normal distribution (=3)
mean
the simple average
median
the value where half of the data points lie above and below
mode
the most frequent data value
