UNIT 1 LESSON 3 Flashcards
Experimental Psych
required to confirm consistent, repeatable results
Experiments
our internal feelings or compulsions that are usually wrong
intuitions
tendency to favor or support only our narrow views
biases
explanations that organize observations and predict outcomes
Theories
a testable prediction related to a theory
Hypothesis
exact procedures so the experiment can be replicated
Operational definitions
how two factors are linked, and can predict one another
Correlation studies
a type of observational study that analyzes data from a population, or a representative subset, at a specific point in time
Cross-sectional study
observational research method in which data is gathered for the same subjects repeatedly over a period of time
Longitudinal study
a questionnaire that self-reports the anonymous behaviors and characteristics of a certain group
Surveys
unhindered observations of animals or people in their natural environment
Naturalistic observation
one individual or group is studied in depth in the hope of revealing some universal truth
Case studies
group exposed to the treatment
Experimental group
group NOT exposed to the treatment in an experiment
Control group
where both research participants and staff are unaware of which group
has the placebo, and which has the treatment
Double-blind
bar graph with gaps representing categories and
numerical values
Bar graphs
bar graph with no gaps depicting frequency
distribution
Histogram
a graph cluster of two variables, w/ slope suggesting relationship
Scatterplots
numerical data used to measure and describe characteristics of groups
Descriptive statistics
to infer from sample data the probability of something being true of a population
Inferential statistics
measure how strong
a relationship is between two variables, ranging from -1 to 1 to represent the correlation
correlation coefficient
a right skew distribution due to a long tail on the positive direction on a number line
positive skew
a skew in data to the left
negative skew
a dataset that contains two peaks
bimodal
are central or typical value for a probability distribution
Central tendencies
most frequently occurring score
Mode
the average score
Mean
the middle score in a distribution
Median
difference between highest and lowest scores
Range
measure of how much scores vary around the mean
Standard deviation
undesired variables that can
impact the data, and, unless controlled for, skew and/or ruin the research findings
Confounding variables
anything that remain constant or controlled by the experimenter
control variables
the likely probability that chance was not responsible for the results of a study
Statistical significance
