Research Methods and Statistics Flashcards
empirical investigation
An approach to research that relies on sensory experience and observation as research data.
theory
A testable explanation for a set of facts or observations. In science, a theory is NOT just speculation or a guess.
population
A population is different from a sample because a population includes all of the people in which the research is investigating, whereas a sample is a relatively small number of participants drawn from the population.
hindsight bias
knew-it-all-along effect
refers to the tendency people have to view events as more predictable than they really are.
After an event, people often believe that they knew the outcome of the event before it actually happened.
personal bias
The researcher allowing personal beliefs to affect the outcome of a study.
expectancy bias
The researcher allowing his or her expectations to affect the outcome of a study.
experiment
A kind of research in which the researcher controls all the conditions and directly manipulates the conditions, including the independent variable
cause and effect
double-blind procedure
neither subjects nor experimenters know which subjects are receiving drugs and which are receiving placebos
placebo effect
changes in behavior caused by belief that one has taken a drug
experimental group
consists of subjects exposed to the independent variable
control condition/group
exposed to all conditions except the independent variable
random assignment
assigning your random sampling to groups but making sure that you equalize the amount of differences
a subject has an equal chance of being a member of either the experimental group or the control group
independent variable
the conditions altered or varied by the experimenter
dependent variable
measure the results of the experiment
confounding variable
Confounding variables are factors other than the independent variable that may cause a result.
In your caffeine study, for example, it is possible that the students who received caffeine also had more sleep than the control group.
validity
a test is valid if it measures what it claims to measure
For example a test of intelligence should measure intelligence and not something else (such as memory).
correlation
linked together in an orderly way
illusory correlation
perception of a relationship between two variables when only a minor or absolutely no relationship actually exists
For example, let’s suppose that a man holds a mistaken belief that all people from small towns are extremely kind. When the individual meets a very kind person, his immediate assumption might be that the person is from a small town, despite the fact that kindness is not related to city population.
false consensus effect
the tendency of people to overestimate the level to which other people share their beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors
This is a great example of the false consensus effect at work. Because you would prefer to volunteer your time to a worthy cause instead of writing a paper, you assume that the vast majority of other people also feel the same way you do.
cross-sectional study
type of observational study that involves the analysis of data collected from a population, or a representative subset, at one specific point in time
middle school graphs
naturalistic observation
observe behavior as it unfolds in a natural setting
survey
use questionnaires and surveys to poll large groups of people
case study/longitudinal study
OBSERVED
descriptive research approach to obtain an in-depth analysis of a person, group, or phenomenon.
A variety of techniques may be employed including personal interviews, direct-observation, psychometric tests, and archival records.
descriptive study
he researcher wants to describe specific behavior as it occurs in the environment.
observation, case studies, and surveys
correlational study
A correlation refers to a relationship between two variables.
experimental study
cause and effect
controlled
frequency distribution
A summary chart, showing how frequently each of the various scores in a set of data occurs.
descriptive statistics
Measures of central tendency and dispersion.
measure of central tendency
a single value that describes the way in which a group of data cluster around a central value. To put in other words, it is a way to describe the center of a data set
standard deviation
a measure that is used to quantify the amount of variation or dispersion of a set of data values.
The Standard Deviation is a measure of how spread out numbers are.
inferential statistics
the probability that an observed difference between groups
random sample
people you randomly pull out of a population to test on them
representative sample
a selected segment of a group that closely parallels the population as a whole in terms of the key variables and characteristics that are under examination.
For example, if roughly half of the total population of interest is female, a sample should made up of approximately 50 percent women in order to be representative.
statistical significance***
given correlation is likely significant if the sample size is larger
single-blind effect
subjects do not know if they are receiving a real drug or a placebo
correlational study
strength and direction of a relationship
