Research Methods Flashcards
Hindsight bias
People have the tendency upon hearing about research findings to think they knew it all along
Confirmation bias
The tendency to pay more attention to information that supports our preexisting ideas
Overconfidence
The tendency to be overconfident about the things we believe
Quantitative research
Uses numerical measures
Qualitative research
Typically uses more complex textual responses and looks for key themes within them
Hypothesis
Expresses a relationship between two variables
Dependent variable
Depends on the independent variable
Independent variable
What the dependent variable is reliant on
Falsifiable
It must be possible to gather data that would controvert the hypothesis
Operational definitions
Explains how you will measure a variable
Replicated
Research is reliable if when replicated it is consistent
Sample
The group of participants/subjects
Population
Includes anyone or anything that could possibly be selected in a sample
Representative sample
The goal in selecting a sample that it be representative of a larger population
Random sampling
Every member of the population has an equal chance of being selected
Convenience sampling
Collecting data from a group of people who are easily accessible to you
Generalize
Random selection increases the likelihood that the sample represents the population and that one can generalize the findings to the larger population
Stratified sampling
A process that allows a researcher to ensure that the sample represents the population on some criteria
Confounding variables
Any difference between the experimental and control conditions, except for the independent variable, that might affect the dependent variable
Random assignment
Each participant has an equal chance of being placed into either group
Experimenter bias
The unconscious tendency for researchers to treat members of the experimental and control groups differently to increase the chance of confirming the researchers’ hypothesis
Double-blind study
Occurs when neither the participants nor the researcher are able to affect the outcome of the research
Single-blind study
Occurs when only the participants do not know to which group they have been assigned
Social desirability bias
The tendency to try to give answers that reflect well upon oneself
Experimental group
The group that gets the treatment operationalized in the independent variable
Control group
The group gets none of the independent variable
Placebo method
Whenever participants in the experimental group are supposed to ingest a drug, participants in the control group are given an inert but otherwise identical substance
Placebo effect
Allowed for by the placebo method in which researchers are able to separate the physiological effects of the drug from the psychological effects of people thinking they took a drug
Positive correlation
Means the presence of one thing predicts the presence of the other
Negative correlation
The presence of one thing predicts the absence of the other
Study
the research practice
Likert scales
Pose a statement and ask people to express their level of agreement/disagreement with the statement
Directionality problem
The inability to tell which of the variables came first (also known as temporal precedence)
Third variable
A genetic predisposition
Naturalistic observation
When researchers opt to observe participants in their natural habitats without interacting with them at all
Structured interview
Like a survey in that there are a fixed number of questions asked in a set order
Case study
Used to get a full, detailed picture of one participant or a small group of participants
