Psych 211 Midterm Flashcards
Descriptive Research
Research aimed at describing and documenting characteristics or behaviors without necessarily explaining why they occur.
Describes the behavior, thoughts, or
feelings of a particular group of individuals.
Close Replication
Research which try to repeat the study as closely as possible without worrying about irrelevant variations from the original, may inadvertently differ in some way that affects the result
Conceptual replications
Test the original hypothesis using a different procedure
File-drawer problem
The fact that studies that fail to obtain positive results are rarely published and thus remain locked away in researchers’ file cabinets or computers
Post Hoc
Statistical tests conducted after finding a significant result in order to determine which specific group differences are significant.
Strategy of strong inference
Such studies are designed so that, depending on how the results turn out, the data will confirm one of the theories while disconfirming the other
Aquiescence
Some people show a tendency to agree with statements regardless of the content
Archival Research
researchers analyze data pulled from existing records, such as census data, court records, personal letters, health records, newspaper reports, magazine articles,
government documents, economic data, and so on.
contrived observation
The observation of behavior in settings that are arranged specifically for observing and recording behavior.
Partial concealment
researchers compromise by letting
participants know they are being observed while withholding information regarding precisely what aspects of the participants’ behavior are being recorded.
Experience Sampling Methods
asks them to report what they are thinking, feeling, or doing right now. Although ESM is a self-report method, it does not require participants to remember details of past experiences, thereby reducing memory biases
Participant Observation
In participant observation, the researcher engages
in the same activities as the people he or she is observing
knowledgeable informants
people who know the participants well—
to observe and rate their behavior
Unobtrusive measures
Unobtrusive measures involve
measures that can be taken without participants knowing that they are being studied
Scale Data
Nominal
Labels, divided into groups
Ordinal
Ranked order
Interval
Even variability in data
Ratio
Scale with a true point of zero
How to test without bias
test populations where you predict no difference
Eliminate groups specific knowledge
Produce different test norms for each population
Study non-WEIRD populations
True Score
is the score that the participant would have obtained if our measure were perfect, and we were able to measure whatever we were measuring without error.
Systematic variance
systematic variance supports the operationalizing of a variable/s. Data shows differences between groups.
Variability
the degree to which scores in a set of data differ or vary from one another
Total Variance
Total variance = systematic variance + error variance
Variance
Variance: difference from mean squared, then divided by df (represented by the sign s2)
The Scientific Approach
Systematic empiricism
Public verification
Solvable problems
3 Goals of Behavioral Research
Describe, predict, explain
Practical impossibility of disproof
Failing to find research support for a hypothesis does not necessarily mean that the theory is incorrect
Logical impossibility of proof
Confirming a hypothesis does not logically indicate that the theory from which the hypothesis is derived is correct
Split-half reliability
A measure of internal consistency reliability obtained by splitting a measure into two halves and comparing the scores on each half.
Type of interitem reliability
Kinds of latency
The time delay between the presentation of a stimulus and the initiation of a response.
Kinds of latency
Reaction time
Total task completion time
Inter-behavior latency
Behavior duration
Type II error
Type II error—of failing to
detect an effect that was actually present (or failing to reject
the null hypothesis when it was false).
Test Bias
The extent to which a test systematically underestimates or overestimates the true abilities or characteristics of certain groups of individuals.
