Psych/Soc: Research Methods Flashcards
Extraneous/confounding variables
Threat to internal or external validity?
Want a _____ control group to rule out extraneous/confounding variables
Extraneous variables not accounted for in the study; another variable offers an alternative explanation for results; lack of useful control; a third variable that affects both the independent variable and the dependent variable, thus potentially obscuring the true relationship between them
Want a homogeneous control group to rule out extraneous/confounding variables
Threat to internal validity
Double blind
To counter placebo effect, neither person administering treatment nor the participants truly know if they are assigned to the treatment or control groups
Sampling bias
Threat to internal or external validity?
Selection criteria is not random
ex. population is not normally distributed
Form of selection bias
If it is not equally likely for all members of a population to be sampled ex. only undergraduate students used but results applied to whole population
Threat to internal validity
Selection bias
General category of systemic flaws in a design
Includes sampling bias, meta-analysis, attrition
Meta analysis
These studies are thought to yield the strongest available evidence on a given topic but…
Form of selection bias so conclusions drawn can be treacherous
Purposely selecting which studies to evaluate, a big picture analysis of many studies to look for trends in data
Attrition
Threat to internal or external validity?
Form of selection bias
participants dropping out of study
Participant fatigue; participants drop out of study
If reason they drop out is non random then this might introduce extraneous variable
Threat to internal validity
Between subjects design vs within subjects design
Between subjects design: comparisons made b/w subjects from one group to another
Within subjects design: compare same group at different time points
Type I error and Type II error
Type II error = false negative
Type I error = false positive (worse)
Null hypothesis
Assume no causal relationship b/w the variables and any effect that they measure, if there is one is due to chance
Want to reject null hypothesis and have a significant difference b/w the two groups
Want a low p value
P-value
What increases the power?
A number 0 to 1 that represents the probability that a difference observed in experiment is due to chance
if p<0.5 then reject null hypothesis
Usually 30 or more participants needed, a larger sample size is preferred because it increases the power
Operationalized Variables/ operational definition
Process of defining how a particular variable will be measured.
Determine independent and dependent variables, specify each
A formal definition used for research that can be measured by experimenters
Ex. Operational definition for sympathetic arousal: HR, BP
for intelligence: IQ, EQ scores
External Validity
A flaw or limitation that might make it difficult to apply our conclusion to the real world
Ex. only students participate in study
Internal Validity
Construct Validity
Internal Validity -> The extent to which we can say the change in outcome variable is due to the intervention. Causality
Leaves doubts about the conclusion because of some inherent flaw in the design
Construct validity -> specifically related to how well-designed an instrument is, how well a study is able to measure what researchers intended to measure
*Difference between Demand Characteristics
(Threat to what kind of validity?), Hawthrone Effect, and Internal Validity?
Social facilitation
Social interference
Tendency of participants to consciously or subconsciously act in ways that match how they are expected to behave which can threaten internal validity
Online:
Hawthorne effect comes from observation. If I stand behind your shoulder as you do a task your performance will change.
Demand characteristics comes from thinking you know what the psychologist wants for results, and you act accordingly.
The difference is that the Hawthorne effect doesn’t result in behavior that you think the researcher would approve of. Rather, it results in altered behavior due to being watched. This is quite similar to social interference and social facilitation.
The Hawthorne effect is a type of measurement bias in which participants change their behavior in response to their awareness of being observed.
In an experiment or research project, demand characteristics are cues that may influence or bias participants’ behavior, for example, by suggesting the outcome or response that the experimenter expects or desires.
Impression management is characterized by deliberate, conscious behaviors intended to control how others perceive oneself, especially by guiding them to attribute desirable traits to oneself.
Social facilitation is the tendency to perform better on simple tasks when one’s efforts can be evaluated by others.
Social interference is the tendency to perform worse on complex tasks when one’s efforts can be evaluated by others.
Impression management
Threat to internal or external validity?
Participants adapt their responses based on social norms or perceived researcher expectations; self-fulfilling prophecy; methodology is not double-blind, Hawthorne Effect
Threat to internal validity
Reliability
Lack of reliability
Threat to internal or external validity?
Reliability -> consistency of measures
Measurement tools do not measure what they purport to, lack consistency (lack of stable consistent results)
Threat to internal validity
Is “experiment doesn’t reflect real world” threat to internal or external validity?
Lab set up that doesn’t translate to the real world, lack of ________
External
Lab set up that doesn’t translate to the real world, lack of generalizability
Can selection criteria be a threat to internal or external validity?
External
Too restrictive of inclusion/exclusion criteria for participation (i.e., sample is not representative)
