Research Enterprise in Psychology

Question 1

personal stories about specific incidents and experiences

Answer 1

anecdotal evidence

Question 2

an in-depth investigation of an individual subject

Answer 2

case study

Question 3

a condition that exists whenever two variables are linked together in a way that makes it difficult to sort out their independent effects

Answer 3

confounding of variables

Question 4

subjects in a study who do not receive the special treatment given to the experimental group

Answer 4

control group

Question 5

the extent to which two variables are related to each other

Answer 5

correlation

Question 6

a numerical index of the degree of relationship between two variables

Answer 6

correlation coefficient

Question 7

in an experiment, the variable that is though to be affected by the manipulation of the independent variable

Answer 7

dependent variable

Question 8

statistics that are used to organize and summarize data

Answer 8

descriptive statistics

Question 9

a research strategy in which neither subjects nor experimenters know which subjects are in the experimental or control groups

Answer 9

double-blind procedure

Question 10

the subjects in a study who receive some special treatment in regard to the independent variable

Answer 10

experimental group

Question 11

a phenomenon that occurs when a researcher’s expectation or preferences about the outcome of a study influence the results obtained

Answer 11

experimenter bias

Question 12

any variables other than the independent variable that seem likely to influence the dependent variable in a specific study

Answer 12

extraneous variables

Question 13

in an experiment, a condition or event that an experimenter varies in order to see its impact on another variable

Answer 13

independent variable

Question 14

the arithmetic average of the scores in a distribution

Answer 14

mean

Question 15

the score that falls exactly in the center of a distribution of scores

Answer 15

mediant

Question 16

the score that occurs most frequently in a distribution

Answer 16

mode

Question 17

a descriptive research method in which the researcher engages in careful, usually prolonged, observation of behavior without intervening directly with the subjects

Answer 17

naturalistic observation

Question 18

a definition that describes the action so r operations that will be made to measure or control a variable

Answer 18

operational definition

Question 19

the fact that subjects’ expectations can lead them to experience some change even though they receive an empty, fake, or ineffectually treatment

Answer 19

placebo effects

Question 20

the constitution of groups in a study such that all subjects have an equal chance of being assigned to any group of condition

Answer 20

random assignment

Question 21

a tendency to respond to questions in a particular way that is unrelated to the content of the questions

Answer 21

response set

Question 22

the collection of subjects selected for observation in an empirical study

Answer 22

sample

Question 23

a tendency to give socially approved answers to questions about oneself

Answer 23

social desirability

Question 24

an index of the amount of variability in a set of data

Answer 24

standard deviation

Question 25

the condition that exists when the probability that the observed findings are due to chance is very low

Answer 25

statistical significance

Question 26

the persons or animals whose behavior is systematically observed in a study

Answer 26

subjects

Question 27

any measurable conditions, events, characteristics, or behaviors that are controlled or observed in a study

Answer 27

variables