Research Flashcards
Describe a situation that already exists
Descriptive psychological methods
Mathematical relationships, connection between two variables
Correlational methods
Control group, definite cause
Experimental methods
Must be rejected to show significant change
Null hypothesis
A variable (not the IV) that influences the DV
Extraneous variable
A variable (not the IV) that influences both the IV and DV
Confounding variable
Clearly define how IV will be manipulated and how DV will be measured
Operational definition
Hawthorne Effect
Subjects modify their behavior when they’re aware they’re being observed
Purpose of random assignment
Distributes extraneous variables randomly across the group
Study on one subject or small group of people in depth
Case study
Phenomenon where after learning something people will think they knew that all along
Hindsight bias
When researchers, without disrupting the environment, observe a group’s natural behavior
Naturalistic observation
Random selection
When subjects are randomly chosen out of the population to participate in a study
Generalization
The extent to which the findings of a study can be applied to a larger population
