Study Guide Exam 2-Vocab Words p. 136-151

Question 1

Internal validity

Answer 1

Answers the research question and provides evidence by controlling variance enough to provide a clear picture of the relationship between the IV and DV. Must eliminate alternate explanations.

Question 2

External validity

Answer 2

Focuses on the extent to which a researcher is justified in describing the impact of one variable on another or for concluding that an observed relationship is casual. Degree that generalizations can be made or transferred outside of the confines of the study

Question 3

History

Answer 3

Events that may have occurred between treatment sessions. An extraneous variables that occurs “outside” the experiment

Question 4

Maturation:

Answer 4

Change in subjects’ themselves that cannot be controlled by the experimenter. Ex. Age, biological, psychological. They play a role in long-term studies.

Question 5

Reactive pretest

Answer 5

The effect of taking a test may have on scores achieved on subsequent administration of the same test. An issue for studies using pre-test and post-test designs

Question 6

Statistical regression

Answer 6

Phenomenon in which subjects who are selected on the basis of atypically low or high scores change on a subsequent test so that their scores are now somewhat better or somewhat poorer than they were originally.

Question 7

Differential subject selection

Answer 7

Differences in subjects in experimental and control groups may account for the treatment effects rather than the treatment itself. Ex. Age, IQ, sex.

Question 8

Subject Randomization

Answer 8

The random assignment of subjects to experimental and control group

Question 9

Attrition

Answer 9

Also known as experimental mortality, the differential loss of subjects between experimental and control groups. Ex. Incomplete surveys, death

Question 10

Interaction of factors

Answer 10

Possible interaction effects of two or three jeopardizing threats

Question 11

Credibility

Answer 11

When the interpretation fits the data and is true to the participants, the conclusions may be considered credible.

Question 12

Researcher Bias

Answer 12

Researcher must be reflexive about his or her own voice or perspective.

Question 13

Researcher Reactivity:

Answer 13

Design must account for the possible influence of the researcher on the participant’s behavior

Question 14

Subject selection

Answer 14

Degree to which the subjects chosen for a study are representative of the population the researcher wishes to generalize

Question 15

Generalizability

Answer 15

The extent to which populations, settings, treatment variables, and measurement variables can be generalized

Question 16

Interactive pretest

Answer 16

Subjects exposed to a pretest may react to an experimental treatment in a way that is different from people who have not been exposed to the pretest. The effect of treatment may be demonstrated only for subjects who are tested just before treatment.

Question 17

Reactive Arrangements

Answer 17

Problem generalizing to other settings.

Question 18

Hawthorne Effect

Answer 18

The mere fact of being observed experimentally can influence the behavior of those being observed

Question 19

Multiple-Treatment inference

Answer 19

This threat concerns the degree to which various parts of a multiple treatment interact with each other in determining subject’s performance on the DV. When more than one treatment is administered.

Question 20

Transferability

Answer 20

The extent in which qualitative findings are externally valid. The ability to apply the results of research in one context to another

Question 21

Pilot Research

Answer 21

During initial stages of experimental design this is conducted on a small number of subjects not meant for publication or to provide data that supplement another investigation, it is only done to assess feasibility.