Unit 2 Flashcards
A statement or set of statements about the relationships among variables. A statement or set of statements explaining one or more laws, usually including one indirect concept needed to explain the relationship
Theory
A statement assumed to be true for the purpose of testing it’s validity
Hypothesis
Scientific concepts must be defined in terms of observable operations.
Operationism
A statement of the precise meaning of a procedure or a concept within an experiment. Scientific concepts are defined according to the operations by which they are measured
Operational definition
A set of laws, theories, methods, and applications that form a scientific research tradition. A pervasive way of thinking about a branch of science that includes all the assumptions and theories that are accepted as true by a group of scientists
Paradigm
Aspect of a testing condition that can change or take on different characteristics with different conditions
Variable
A measure of the subjects behavior that reflects the independent variable’s effects. A measure of the behavior of the subject, the response that the person or animal makes
Dependent variable
The condition manipulated or selected by the experimenter to determine its effect on behavior. A variable that is believed to cost some change in the value of the dependant variable
Independent variable
The different values of an independent variable
Levels
Variable whose effect cannot be separated from the supposed independent variable. Varies with the independent variable
Confounding variable
This type of variable is one that varies in amount. For example, speed of response and loudness
Quantitative variable
This type of variable is one that varies in kind. For example, college major and gender
Categorical variable
A variable that falls along a continuum and is not limited to a certain number of values. For example, whole numbers.
Continuous variables
Variables that fall into separate bins with no intermediate values possible. For example, the number of marriage is contracted, murders committed, or books written
Discrete variables
The process of assigning numbers to events or objects according to rules
Measurement
This type of scale is a measure that simply divides objects or events into categories according to their similarities or differences
Nominal scale
This type of scale is a measure that both assigns objects or events a name and ranges them in order of their magnitude
Ordinal scale
This scale includes a measure in which the differences between numbers are meaningful. Includes both nominal and ordinal information
Interval scale
This type of scale includes a measure having a meaningful zero point as well as all of the nominal, ordinal, and interval properties
Ratio scale
The property of consistency of a measurement that gives the same result on different occasions
Reliability of a measurement
The property of a measurement that tests what it is supposed to test
Validity of a measurement
A test that the measurements actually measure the constructs they are designed to measure, but no others
Construct validity of a test
Idea that a test should appear superficially to test what is supposed to test
Face validity
Idea that a test should sample the range of behavior represented by the theoretical concept of being tested
Content validity
Idea that a test should correlate with other measures of the same theoretical construct
Criterion validity
A measurement error that is associated with consistent bias
Systematic error
The degree to which the same test score would be obtained on other occasions
Test-retest reliability
The degree to which the various items on the test are measures of the same thing
Internal consistency
A statement that certain events are regularly associated with each other in an orderly way
Law
