research methods (ch 2) Flashcards
what are the limits of experience, intuition, and authority figures?
We experience only one version of each situation.
○ Feelings don’t always tell us the truth
○ Authority figures are not all knowing
what’s one reason we commonly make cognitive errors?
overuse of heuristics (mental shortcuts that can facilitate problem-solving and probability judgments; e.g. rules of thumb, stereotyping)
what are the goals of psychological research (in order)?
describe (“what”), explain (“why”), predict (“anticipate”), and control (“change or modify”)
Don’t Ever Pet Crocodiles
a set of propositions about what people do and why
theory
what is a construct?
A skill, attribute, or ability that cannot be
directly observed
what are the three types of research methods?
descriptive, correlational, experimental
what is the goal of descriptive research?
to describe what is typical
what are the three types of descriptive research?
observational, case studies, surveys/self-reports
what’s the difference between naturalistic and participant observational studies?
naturalistic = The observer is passive (either covert or overt), no attempt to change or alter participant = observer is involved in situation
what are three things you must consider for an observational study?
- creating an operational definition (e.g. defining what “aggressive response” means)
- tracking behavior (recording “aggressive response” via what? A scale of 1-10?)
- situational features (e.g. are there parents around?)
what type of sampling is this?: each member of a sample has an equal chance of being chosen
random sampling
what kind of observational study is this?: intensive
examination of an unusual
person(s) or organization
case study
what are the cons of the three types of observational study?
natural observation: difficult to code
case study: generalizability
self-report: accuracy of responses
Occurs when measures of two variables are related, but are NOT causally
linked, usually because the statistical relationship is caused by a third
variable
spurious correlation
What type of research is this?
- Measures how people typically think, feel, or behave
- cannot test relationships among variables
- can measure many variables
descriptive research
What type of research is this?
- measures how variables are related to one another
- cannot identify causal direction of the relationship
- can measure many variables
correlational research
what type of research is this?
- testing whether one variable causes another
- can only examine a few variables in one study; not all variables can be manipulated
- can establish a causal direction of relationship
experimental research
something that makes it unclear what really causes the results of an experiment
confound
an improvement resulting from the mere expectation of improvement
placebo effect
actual change in the behavior of humans or nonhuman animals being observed that is due to the expectations of the research staff/observer
expectancy effects
True or false: researchers should use a double-blind design in which neither researchers nor subjects know who is in the experimental or control group
true
true or false: researchers can disguise the purpose of their study if the scientific merits are worth it
true
what are strengths of experiments?
- can show cause and effect
2. may eliminate confounding variables
weaknesses of experiments?
- results may not apply to real-world settings
(generalizability) - the experiment may not be possible due to ethical or practical reasons
