Psychological Research

Question 1

Independent variable

Answer 1

Variable manipulated by researcher

Question 2

Dependent variable

Answer 2

Participants response

Question 3

Continuous variable

Answer 3

Continuous variables have a continuum of possible values and involve measuring

Question 4

Categorical variable

Answer 4

Groupings or categories of values

Question 5

Discrete variables

Answer 5

Values restricted to whole numbers

Question 6

Nominal Measures

Answer 6

Not ordered and have no numerical value - numbers are only used to classify an object - “tags” or “labels”
Nominal variables are usually “frequency” data and used for discrete variables

Question 7

Ordinal Measures

Answer 7

Ordered catergories that reflect ranking of objects or events and used to represent things like freuqency, satisfaction, pain level etc.
Qualitative

Question 8

Interval and Ratio Measures

Answer 8

Numerical scales - the order of variables is known as well as the difference between them.
The difference between these two measures - ratio have a true zero (and has highest level of specificity) whereas in interval the zero is arbitrary

Question 9

3 main goals of the scientific approach

Answer 9

To describe, predict (future events and correlations) and understand (cause of phenomena)

Question 10

Experimental research

Answer 10

Manipulates variables to assess cause and effect

Establish cause

Question 11

What is operationalisation?

Answer 11

It is the process of turning abstract concepts into measurable observations. It involves defining how a concept/variable can be measured, observed, or manipulated.

Question 12

Descriptive research

Answer 12

Research methods that attempt to describe phenomena - not cause and effect. Use observation and case studies
(Describe)

Question 13

Correlational research

Answer 13

Examines the extent to which 2 or more variables are related and can be used to predict one another - cannot establish causation
(Predict)

Question 14

Measures of central tendency

Answer 14

Used in descriptive statistics to identify the averages of a set of data - the three main measures are mean (average), median (middle number of data when in consecutive order) and mode (the most common value)

Question 15

Normal distribution

Answer 15

Distribution of data that has roughly the same amount of data on either side of the middle and most common values in the middle - shown by symmetrical bell curve

Question 16

What does it mean in a data set when the mean, mode and median are all the same?

Answer 16

The distribution of data is completely normal

Question 17

What does range measure?

Answer 17

The variability which is shown by the difference between the highest and lowest values

Question 18

Statistical significance

Answer 18

The likelihood that results of a study have occured by chance.

Question 19

Effect size

Answer 19

Tells you how meaningful the relationship between variables or the difference between groups is.
Large effect sizes mean the difference is important; small effect sizes mean the difference is unimportant

Question 20

Confidence intervals

Answer 20

Range of values that shows the probability that an unknown population parameter falls within the the interval (population mean) with a certain level of confidence - usually 95%.

Question 21

What is μ (mu)?

Answer 21

Used to denote the population mean

Question 22

Correlation coefficient

Answer 22

Measures the extent to which two variables are related

Question 23

Quasi-experimental designs

Answer 23

Design that has the logic of experimental methods but lacks control of variables - attempts to establish a cause-and-effect relationship

Question 24

Analysis of variance (AWOL)

Answer 24

Statistical procedure used to compare the means of two or more groups

Question 25

Chi-square test

Answer 25

Test of statistical significance when both independent and dependent variables are categorical

Question 26

t test

Answer 26

test of statistical significance when comparing mean scores of two groups to find if there is a significant difference

Question 27

p value

Answer 27

The probability that findings happened by chance.

A p value of 0.05 or lower means results are significant.

Question 28

Measure

Answer 28

A concrete means in determining the value of a variable

Question 29

Interval Estimation

Answer 29

Provides a range of values based on observation from 1 sample and gives information about the closesness to unknown population parameter