Unit 2: Research Methods Flashcards
In an experiment, the one thing that is different in all of your conditions
Independent Variable
In your experiment, how you measure your groups’ results
Dependent Variable
In your experiment, the group that does not have the thing that you are studying applied to them.
Control Group
(e.g. in a caffeine study, decaffeinated coffee would be the control, since you are studying the effects of caffeine)
In your experiment, the group(s) that do have the thing that you are studying applied to them.
Experimental Group / Treatment Group
(e.g. in a caffeine study, caffeinated coffee would be the experimental condition, since you are studying the effects of caffeine)
A study where the subjects do not know which condition they are in or the purpose of the experiment, but the experimenter does
Single Blind
An “accidentally introduced” variable other than the independent variable that can influence the results of your study
Confound
(e.g. placing all girls in one group and all boys in another group would introduce a gender confound)
The mathematical measure of the likelihood that the results of your experiment were found due to your experimental manipulation than due to chance
Statistical Significance
A finding is officially “significant” when the “p” value is less than what number?
.05
(e.g. .02 is significant, whereas .1 is not)
Also known as “average” - You get this number by adding up all numbers in a set and dividing by the amount of numbers in the set.
Mean
After arranging a set of numbers from smallest to largest, the middle number in the set.
Median
The number in a data set that appears most frequently
Mode
The difference between the largest and smallest number in a data set
Range
What is the Mean, Median, Mode, and Range of the following set of numbers?
1 3 5 5 6
Mean: (20 / 5) 4
Median: (Middle) 5
Mode: (Most frequent) 5
Range: (largest - smallest) 5
A measure of the average difference between numbers in your data set
Standard Deviation
(4, 3, 6, 5, 4, 3, 4) <– Small Standard Deviation
(10, 1, 4, 9, 3, 0, 15) <– Larger Standard Deviation
A measure of the relationship between two sets of variables
(e.g. the relationship between alcohol consumption and reaction time)
Correlation
CORRELATION DOES NOT IMPLY CAUSATION
(just because two sets of numbers are correlated does not mean that one caused the other - only an experiment can show causation)
CORRELATION DOES NOT IMPLY CAUSATION
(just because two sets of numbers are correlated does not mean that one caused the other - only an experiment can show causation)
Identify the following with type of correlation
(e.g. “positive” - “negative” - “no relationship”)
- Alcohol consumption and reaction time
- Gender and intelligence
- Time spent studying and test score
Alcohol consumption and reaction time - NEGATIVE
Gender and intelligence - NO RELATIONSHIP
Time spent studying and test score - POSITIVE
The phenomenon that causes things to appear obvious once you know the results.
(e. g. “Studies have shown that opposites attract” - DUH!)
(e. g. “Studies have shown that people that are similar to one another become attracted to one another” - DUH!)
Hindsight Bias
A tested set of ideas designed to explain a phenomenon
Theory
An “educated guess” typically stated before an experiment is conducted.
Hypothesis
The process of making what you plan to study measurable and quantifiable for the purpose of experimentation
Aggression –> Number of times a person yells
Excitedness –> Heart rate
Intelligence –> Score on the February ACT
Operational Definition
The process of repeating an experiment in order to ensure that the results of an experiment were not due to chance or experimenter bias/error.
Replication
A type of study in which only one individual (or a small number) are studied
Case Study
A type of study in which groups of people are watched in their natural environment, rather than in a formal experimental setting
Naturalistic Observation
(e.g. watching children in a playground to study aggression)
A method of study that asks self-report questions to each participant
Survey
The entire set of people that you intend to study (not just the ones that you actually end up studying)
Population
(e.g. the population for the 2012 presidential election would be all americans over the age of 18 that are registered to vote)
The group of people that you actually recruit for your study (not the entire group of people of interest)
Sample
(e.g. the sample for the 2012 presidential election would be only the americans that actually took your survey)
A visual representation of a correlation
Scatterplot
A method of study involving assigning individuals to at least two different groups (conditions) where only one variable is changed between the conditions.
Experiment
A method of assigning individuals to conditions in experiments in which each person has an equal chance of being in any of the conditions
(you could do this by drawing names out of a hat, or by flipping coins, etc…)
Random Assignment
If you BELIEVE that something (i.e. a fake drug, or a “magical bracelet”) will work, your mind unconsciously will incluence your perceptions and actions to make it… work…
Placebo Effect
An experiment where both the experimenter and the subjects are unaware which condition the subjects are in
Double Blind
The name of the methods of “averaging” numbers, including mean, median, and mode
These are known as measures of “Central Tendency”
A number included in your data set that falls far outside the range, and can skew your results
Outlier
The measure of central tendency most affected by outliers
Mean
If you have extreme outliers, a good measure to use would be the median
