Midterm 1 review

Question 1

Distinguish among intuition and anecdote, authority, and common sense as ways of deciding what is true

Answer 1

Intuition: you accept unquestiongly what your own personal judgement tells you

Anecdote: trusting based on a single story about 1 person’s experience

Authority: humans are often persuaded by those in authority

Common sense: “Everyone knows that”

Question 2

Define empiricism and discuss the role of skepticism in this idea

Answer 2

Empiricism: the idea that knowledge comes from observations -> data collected and analyzed

Scientific Skepticism: ideas must be evaluated on the basis of careful logic and results from well-executed scientific investigations

• don’t believe anything until data Is collected and analyzed

Question 3

When you read a research finding in the popular press, what you should you do with that info

Answer 3

The better the answer the more confident you are in the study

1. What is the primary goal? Description, prediction, determining cause or explananing? Do authors achieve their goal?
2. What did these researchers do? What was the method?
3. What was measured?
4. To what or whom can we generalize the results?
5. What did they find? What were the results?
6. What are the limitations of this study?
7. Have other researchers found similar results?
8. What are the ethical issues present in this study

Question 4

Describe the four central goals of behavioral science. Make sure you have them in correct sequence, can tell them apart, and can think of examples of each

Answer 4

1.) Description (describe behavior)

2.) Prediction (make accurate predictions)

3) Determining Causes (of behavior)

4.) Understanding or Explaning (behavior)

Question 5

Explain how covariation of cause and effect, temporal precedence, and elimination of alternative explanations help to determine cause and effect

Answer 5

Temporal Precedence:
This principle states that the cause must happen before the effect.

Covariation of Cause and Effect:
This means that when the supposed cause changes, the supposed effect should also change in a predictable way. For example, if studying is the cause, then test scores (the effect) should increase when the amount of studying increases.

Elimination of alternative explanations:
Researchers control for other factors that could influence mood, such as sleep patterns and diet, to ensure that the observed improvement is not due to these variables.

Question 6

Distinguish between basic and applied research

How different are they? Which is most important?

Answer 6

Basic research tries to answer fundamental questions about the nature of behavior

Applied Research is conducted to address issues in which there are practical problems and potential solutions
- guided by theories and findings of basic investigations

Both are equally important

Question 7

What is program evaluation? Why is it important?

Answer 7

Program evaluation assess social reforms and innovations that occur in government, education, the criminal justice system, industry, health care, and mental health instiutions

It evaluates whether social programs are having the intended effect or not

Question 8

What is peer review? What is the role of reviewers in the process?

Answer 8

Peer review: b4 publishing, journal is reviewed by other scientists who have the expertise to carefully evaluate the research

Role of reviewer is to recommend whether the research should be published

Question 9

Using examples, explain how a ‘theory’ ‘research question’ ‘hypothesis’ and ‘prediction relate to each other

Answer 9

Research Question is the first step

Hypothesis is possible answer to question before study is designed

Once study is designed, prediction is made (more specific and directly and testable than hypothesis)

Theory explains with variety of different observations

Question 10

Describe how common sense, practical problems, observations of the world around us, theories, and past research can be used as sources of ideas for scientific research

Answer 10

common sense, practical problems, observations of the world around us, theories and past research can be used as sources of ideas because they are testable

Question 11

In science, what is a ‘theory’?

How and why are theories used, maintained or changed?

Answer 11

Theory: consists of systematic body of ideas about a particular topic

1. Theories organize and explain a variety of specific facts or descriptions
2. Theories generate new knowledge by focusing our thinking so that we notice new things

Theories are maintained or changed depending m whether or not it’s supported by the data

Question 12

When doing a database search, how do the operators AND, OR, and NOT affect your search results?

Answer 12

AND
Narrows the search by requiring all keywords to appear in the results.

OR: expand your search

NOT: limit your search

Question 13

Describe what you find in the abstract, intro, method, results and discussion sections of an empirical research paper

Answer 13

Abstract: summary of report; hypothesis, procedure, broad pattern of results

Introduction: outlines problem; past theories and research specific expectations

Method: design, characteristics of participants, procedures used, any equitment

Results: the findings (description, statistical language, tables and graphs)

Discussion: review method and results from various perspectives

Question 14

What was the Tuskegee Syphilis Study? What was its role in the history of ethics in scientific research

Answer 14

Scientists took prisoners (African Americans) with syphilis and left them untreated until they died. Purpose was to study late stages of syphilis

Developed ethical guidelines:
- what we value and what we’ve responsible for treat participants with respect

Question 15

Describe some possible risks in psychological research studies, including physical and psychological stress

Answer 15

1. Physical Harm
2. Psychological stress
3. Loss of confidentiality and privacy

Question 16

Define “confidentiality” If a researcher promises a participant confidentiality, what are they guaranteeing

Answer 16

Confidentiality: research has assured subjects that the collected data are accessible only to people who have permission to view them, generally only the researcher

Question 17

Why is deception used in some psychological studies? What ethical requirements must the researchers fulfill if the they use deception in their study?

Answer 17

Passive deception is acceptable when the research is designated as minimal risk the information would not affect the decision to participate and the information will be provided later; Acitive is provided misinformation debriefing

Question 18

Describe what processes are involved in “exempt review,” “expedited review” “limited review” or “full review.” Also define “minimal risk” and “greater than minimal risk” using examples of each

Answer 18

Exempt review: research conducted in educational settings that doesn’t have an adverse affect on learning oppurtunities research that only involves cognitive tests, surveys, interviews or observation of public behavior; use of secondary data research using ‘benign interventions’ with consenting adult participant

Expedited Review: blood samples with limitation of amount taken taking biological specimens; common physical measures made using healthy adults research on individual or group characteristics or behavior

Limited Review: benign behavioral interventions where sensitive data is collected

Full Review: any procedure that places participants at greater than minimal risk

Minimal Risk: risks in study no greater than ones encountered everyday greater than minimal risk

Question 19

Discuss research with nonhuman animal subjects. What guidelines are generally in place, and why?

Answer 19

• Research using animals should carefully monitor their research subjects’ welfare throughout any investigation
• An appropriate animal care committee must review all research on nonhuman animals to ensure that the method are appropriate for the study and human
• research conducted with animals should be significant enough to justify the use of nonhuman animals
• research conducted with animals should have a clear scientific purpose

Question 20

Define “fraud” in a research context. How much of a problem is this in science, and why is that?

Answer 20

Fraud is making up data, ie data fabrication

They are very rare because it can easily be defeated when other scientists try to replicate the results of a study

Question 21

Explain “word for word” and “paraphrasing” plagiarism. How can these problems be avoided?

Answer 21

W: when a writer copies a section of another person’s work word forward without placing there in quotation marks or citing the source of information

P: ideas are copied without attribution. Ask yourself: Did I write the words? Did I think of the ideas? If the answer is no, to either, question citing sources is needed