research Flashcards
Critical thinking
smart thinking
Operational definitions
carefully worded statements of exact procedures in a study
Case study
examining an individual or group in depth in hope of revealing things true of all of us
Naturalistic observations
observing or recording behavior in a naturally occurring environment
Survey
looks at many cases in less depth
Sampling bias
a flawed sampling process that produces an unrepresentative sample
Correlate
when two variables change together
Correlation coefficient
measures in mathematical terms how much two things are correlated (between -1 and 1)
Experiment
You can control the variables, so you know what causes what
Random sample
picking people randomly to get a more accurate survey
Confounding variable
when there is a variable in an experiment that relates to the cause and effect
Hindsight bias
saying things like “I knew it was gonna turn out like that” or “I should’ve known that answer was wrong”
Control group
don’t relieve treatment
Experimental group
receives treatment
Double-blind procedure
no one knows how the experiment is happening
Single-blind
the person experimenting knows what is going on
Positive correlation
both go up, or both go down
Negative correlation
as one goes up, the other goes down
Randomly assign
randomly assigning participants to experimental and control groups by chance
Placebo effect
results caused by expactations alone
Confounding variable
a factor that can produce an effect in an experiment
Validity
the extent to which an experiment predicts what it is supposed to
Descriptive statistics
numerical data used to measure and describe the characteristics of a group
Histogram
a bar graph showing the frequency distribution
Mode
most frequent value
Mean
the average
Median
middle number
Skewed distribution
scores that lack symmetry around the average
Range
the gap between the lowest and highest scores
Standard deviation
the measure of how much scores vary around the mean
Normal curve
the curve on the bell curve
Inferential statistics
numerical data that allows us to generalize
Statistical significance
When sample averages are reliable and there is a relatively large difference between them
Outliers
Something that skews that data
Ex. everyone gets a bad grade but one person gets a 100
Standard deviation
How much the scores vary from the mean
Reliability
Consistent results
If it is reliable ⅔ of results should be similar
Longitudinal study
When you retest the same people over a long period of time
Disadvantage- long time
Cross-sectional study
Testing different groups at the same time
Disadvantage- not the same ppl, so the results may not be super accurate
False consensus effect
When you make a statement about what you believe and think everyone else believes
Ex. Biden is a bad president
Heritability
The percent difference between things that can be explain through genetics or nature vs nurture
Alucerary correlation
Superstitious- doing something
Ex. wear one sock inside out because you played great when you did it now u have to do it every game
Vivid cases
Think of one extreme example of something when it may not be true for all
Scared of flying because of plane crashes
