Research & NFB Flashcards
In order to conduct a psychology experiment, a researcher must create at least _______ treatment conditions?
2
The _________ of a correlation coefficient indexes its strength.
 Absolute value
Why do researchers randomly assign subjects to experimental conditions?
To control for individual differences
What is a negative correlation
A relationship between two variables in which an increase in one is associated with a decrease in another. Also called an inverse relationship.
The term ________ refers to all people, animals, or objects that share at least one characteristic.
Population
The _________ is the specific behavior we expect to change due to our experimental intervention.
Dependent variable
We do not know which population or sample represents when we use…
Convenience sampling or quota sampling
“Levels of the independent variable” refers to…
The number of treatment conditions for an independent variable
What does a samples representativeness effect?
The ability to generalize experimental findings; external validity
What is a cluster sample?
Cluster sampling is a form of probability sampling in which a researcher, samples entire clusters, or naturally occurring groups, that exist within the population.
Statisticians prefer probability samples over nonprobability samples because they….
Often better represent the population of interest
What type of study is used to determine the degree to which two or more treats, behaviors, or events are related
Correlational study
When randomly selecting every 10th name on a list, this constitutes a _______ or subset of the population.
Sample
The Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient ranges between…
-1 and +1
And a true experiment, an experimenter _________ the independent variable and ___________, the dependent variable
Manipulates; measures
What is meant by the average squared deviation of scores from the mean?
Variance
What is a positive correlation
A relationship between two measures when one increases in the value is associated with an increase of value of the other; also called a direct relationship
An experimenter manipulates the ___________ in an experiment to assess it affect on behavior
Independent variable
What correlations score permit the most accurate prediction
Closest to 1.0
What does reliability refer to in regards to experimental procedures?
The consistency of the experimental procedure
What is concurrent validity?
Concurrent validity refers to the degree to which scores on the measuring instrument correlate with another known standard for measuring the variable being studied. For example, comparing scores on one instrument with another instrument.
What is predictive validity?
Predictive validity refers to the degree to which a measuring instrument provides information allowing prediction of actual behavior or performance
What is content validity?
Content validity refers to the degree to which the contents of a measure reflects the Contant of what is being measured. For example, a test covers the specific chapters taught.
When an extraneous variable changes value across conditions, along with the independent variable, the experiment __________
Is confounded. Confounded refers to an error that occurs when the value of an extraneous variable changes systematically along with the independent variable in an experiment.
What kind of reliability can be measured when several psychologist score at subjects, essays for aggressiveness?
Interrater reliability
Psychologist can evaluate the _________ when they administer the MMPI twice to the same subject two weeks apart.
Text - retest reliability
____________ physical aspects of the testing situation that the experimenter directly controls
Environmental variables
What is a Testing threat?
A testing threat is a threat to internal validity, produced by a previous administration of the same test or other measure
And operational definition is valid when…..
It measures what we intended it to measure; valid
What is interim reliability?
Interim, reliability refers to the degree to which different items measuring the same variable, attain, consistent results. Researchers assess interim reliability by evaluating the internal consistency of an entire set of items or by measuring a test split – half reliability.
If researcher presents with 3 different levels of independent variable, there must be _______ treatment conditions.
3
The __________ is the average deviation of scores about the mean.
Standard deviation; it calculates effect size
What is construct validity?
Construct validity assesses whether we have succeeded in creating a measuring device that assesses only the hypothetical entity we want to test.
When we are certain that the changes in behavior that we observe across different treatment conditions of our experiment were actually caused by the independent variable, our experiment is…..
internally valid
The dependent variable is the variable that is…
Measured
What is a Instrumentation threat?
A threat to internal validity produced by changes in the measuring instrument itself
What is a history threat?
A history threat refers to a threat to internal validity, in which an outside event or occurrence might have produced effects on the dependent variable. 
The independent variable is variable that the experimenter….
Manipulates
Experimenters generally want subjects to be as naïve as possible, concerning the experimental hypothesis to reduce confounding by….
Demand characteristics
What is balancing in research?
Balancing is a technique used to control the impact of extraneous variables by distributing there a fix equally across treatment conditions. For example, running have to subjects in each condition and having another experimenter running the other half.
What is experimenter bias?
When the experimenter provides implicit or explicit cues to subjects to respond in a particular way
What is an elimination technique?
Controls, extraneous variables by removing them from the experiment. For example, testing subjects in a soundproof room to prevent noise from distracting them.
What is constancy of conditions?
It’s a control procedure used to avoid confounding; keeping all aspects of the treatment conditions, identical, except for the independent variable that is being manipulated.
What is a Selection threat?
When the experimenter fails to randomly assign subjects to different experimental conditions
What does statistical regression mean?
Statistical regression threat is a threat to internal validity that can occur when subjects are assigned to conditions on the basis of extreme scores on a test, upon retest, the scores of extreme scores tend to regress towards the mean, even without any treatment.
Describe the Rosenthal effect
The Rosenthal affect is a phenomenon of experimenters treating subject differently, depending on what they expect from the subjects, also called the Pygmalion affect.
In a double blade experiment,
Neither of the subjects, nor the experimenter know which treatment the subjects are receiving
Placebo effects in drug trials are due to
Demand characteristics
What is face validity?
The degree to which a manipulation or measurement technique is self evident
What is a single blind experiment?
Subjects do not know which treatment they are receiving
We use a control group in an experiment to…
Measure the dependent variable without the experimental manipulation
What type of design is used with one or very few subjects?
A small N design
What are considered a social variable?
Demand characteristics and experimental bias
What does between subjects mean in a between subjects experiment?
Experimenters compare the performance of different groups on the dependent variable
Experimental designs that study two or more independent variables at the same time are called?
Factorial designs
If we do not randomly assign subject to treatment conditions,
Confounding may occur
Experimenters generally want subjects to be naïve as possible, concerning experimental hypothesis to reduce confounding by
Demand characteristics
Describe a within subjects design
It within subjects design is one in which the same subjects take part in each condition of the experiment.
What are physical variables?
Aspects of the testing condition that need to be controlled
In clinical psychopathology research, small N designs, help solve the ethical dilemma of
Untreated, control groups
A principal difference between a factorial experiment and a two group experiment. Is that a factorial design
Has more than one independent variable
What technique controls demand characteristics involved in deception?
Cover story
By randomly assigning subjects to treatment conditions, many extraneous variables are automatically _________ across conditions
Balanced
Increasing the sample size
Increases statistical power
When the independent variable creates larger group differences on the dependent variable, then we would see if we randomly assign subject to groups, and only measured them, this demonstrates….
Statistical significance
The altitude of mount Whitney is 4418 m while the altitude of death Valley is 86 m below sea level. The difference in their altitudes illustrates the concept of.
Variability
Mini statistical test assume the population you have sampled is normally distributed. This means that if you could measure everyone in the population on the dependent variable,
The distribution of scores would be symmetrical and bell shaped
Experimenter has the greatest confidence when using a __________ to represent the larger population
 Random sample
Mini researchers prefer small N designs because they
Obtain a continuous record of the subject behavior overtime
Statistical significance means that
Normal variability in the dependent variable cannot account for our results.
What does rejecting the null hypothesis mean?
There is a definite consequence, all relationship between the two phenomena
Some researchers might disagree with using small N designs because
Small N designs made achieve lower external validity than well designed large N designs
Researchers me use the APA format only if
The treatment conditions are reversible
Researchers use the ABA design to
Demonstrate that a Behavior returns to its baseline level when the experimental intervention is removed
The _________ hypothesis states that the performance of a treatment group is so similar that the scores must have been sampled from the same population
The null hypothesis
And an ABA design, the second A refers to
Return to the baseline condition
The __________ in a small and design measures behavior as it normally occurs without manipulation of the independent variable.
Baseline
The results of an experiment are statistically significant when
The difference between group scores exceeds normal Variability
A crucial step to rule out, possible confounding, when using a small N design is
Removal of the independent variable and return of behavior to baseline
Which criterion does an experimenter use to decide which to accept or reject the null hypothesis
Significance level
The B in an ABA design refers to
The experimental condition
Another name for an ABA design is
Reversal design
When you select an alpha level of p < .05, this means that if you calculated 100 correlations, fewer than ________, would be significant due to chance.
5
When we set up statistical test, we assume that
The independent variable had no effect.
