Research and Statistics (One) Flashcards
scientific method
system for reducing bias and error in the measurement of data
five steps of the scientific method
- perceiving the question
- forming a hypothesis
- testing the hypothesis
- drawing conclusions
- report your results
perceiving the question
derived from goal of description
hypothesis
a tentative explanation for the behavior seen
forming a hypothesis
related to goals of description and explanation
confirmation bias
people have a tendency to notice only things that agree with their view of the world
testing the hypothesis
goal of getting explanation for behavior
drawing conclusions
goal of prediction
report results
do it, need to so reliable study
replicate
people can do exactly same study over again and get the same results
descriptive methods
naturalistic observation, laboratory observation, case studies, surveys
naturalistic observation
studying people/animals in their natural habitat
advantages: realistic picture of bx
disadvantages: subject to effects/biases, each setting unique—can’t generalize
observer effect
animals or people who know they are being watched will not behave normally, means observer must hide from view often
participant observation
when researchers become participants in a group to do research on the group
observer bias
when person doing observing has particular opinion about what they expect to see and only recognizes actions that support their expectation
blind observers
one way to avoid observer bias
people who don’t know what the research question is and therefore have no preconceived notions about what they should see
lab observation
in a lab
advantages: more control, can better design setting
disadvantages: artificial behavior
case studies
one individual studied in great detail
advantages: huge amount of detail, only way to get certain info
disadvantages: can’t generalize, vulnerable to bias
surveys
ask series of questions
advantages: get at private information, can collect huge amounts of data on large group of people
disadvantages: have to be careful about group surveyed, people don’t always answer honestly, hard to find good wording
representative sample
a group of people representative of a certain population
population
the entire group in which the researcher is interested
participants
people who are part of the study
courtesy bias
when people deliberately give the answer they think is more socially correct rather than their true opinion so that no one gets offended
methods that allow researchers to know more than just description of what happened
correlation and experiment
correlation
a measure of the relationship between two or more variables
variable
anything that can change or vary
correlation coefficient
represents the direction and strength of a relationship
r
-1 less than or equal to r less than or equal to 1
direction
inverse (negative) or direct (positive) relationship
numbers
closer to abs value of 1 is stronger, closer to 0 is weaker
correlation and causation
correlation does not prove causation
experiment
when researchers deliberately manipulate the variable they think is causing some bx while holding all the other variables that might interfere with the experiment’s results constant and unchanging
how to select
randomly selection from a population determined by researchers
operational definition
definition that specifically names the operations that the experimenter must use to control or measure the variables in the experiment
specific
include measurement
allow experimenters to have same working definition of term(s)
independent variable
variable that is manipulated
independent of anything participants do
dependent variable
response of participants
depends on independent variable
hawthorne effect
when the behavior of the experiment participants is altered as a result of being a part of the experiment or study itself
confounding variables
variables that interfere with each other and their possible effects on some other variable of interest
best way to control for confounding groups
have two groups of participants randomly assigned by the experimenter
experimental group
the group that is exposed to the independent variable
receives experimental manipulation
control group
group that gets either no treatment or some kind of treatment that should have no effect
used to control for the possibility that other factors might be causing the effect
random assignment
of participants to groups
best way to ensure control over other interfering variables
extraneous variables
interfering variables
alzheimer’s disease
a form of mental deterioration that occurs in some people as they grow old
placebo effect
the expectations and biases of the participants in a study can influence their behavior
if placebo effect, control group shows changes in dependent variable even though only received placebo
placebo
a harmless substitute for the real thing that has no medical effect
often given to the control group
experimenter effect
when the behavior of the experimenter causes the participant to change his or her response pattern
single blind study
when participants are blind to treatment they receive
double blind study
neither participants nor person(s) measuring the dependent variable know who got what
