Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM

Browse over 1 million classes created by top students, professors, publishers, and experts.


See full index

AP Psychology > Unit 4 - Research > Flashcards

Unit 4 - Research Flashcards

You may prefer our related Brainscape-certified flashcards:
AP® Psychology flashcards Psychology 101 flashcards GRE® Psychology flashcards
1
Q

Critical Thinking

A
  • making reasoned judgements (people’s judgements should be logical and well thought out)
  • the ability to ask and seek answers for critical questions at the right time
  • can help avoid false beliefs that may lead to poor decisions or prove dangerous to our mental and physical health
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

4 Basic Criteria for Critical Thinking

A

1) there are very few “truths” that do not need to be subjected to testing (only religious/personal beliefs/values can be accepted without proof)
2) all evidence is not equal in quality
3) just because someone is considered to be an authority or to have a lot of expertise does not make everything that person claims automatically true
4) critical thinking requires an open mind (balance of skepticism and willingness to consider possibilities)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

Empericism

A

using data to back up a claim

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

Scientific Method

A

a system of reducing bias and error in the measurement of data

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

5 Steps of Scientific Method

A

1) identify question/problem
2) hypothesis
3) select method, conduct research
4) analyze data, evaluate hypothesis
5) publish, peer review, replication and/or further studies

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

Confirmation Bias

A

tendency to only notice things that agree with view of the world

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

Descriptive Methods

A

gather information about what’s happened or is happening

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

Naturalistic Observation

A

watch organisms in their natural environment
PROS: realistic picture of behavior
CONS: observer bias, each naturalistic setting is unique, researchers don’t have control over natural world

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

Observer Effect

A

organisms who know they are being watched will not behave normally

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

Participant Observation

A

observer becomes participant in group they’re observing

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

Observer Bias

A

observer has opinion about what they expect to see, and person recognizes ONLY actions that support preconceived expectations and ignores actions that coincide with it

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

Blind Observers

A

observers don’t know what the research question is, and therefore have no preconceived notions about what they “should” see

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

Laboratory Observation

A

researcher controls everything
PROS: degree of control researcher/observer has
CONS: artificial situation might result in artificial behaviors

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

Case Studies

A

participant(s) studied in great detail
PROS: tremendous amount of detail, only way to get certain types of information, good way to study rare occurrences
CONS: researchers can’t apply results to other similar people, vulnerable to bias because method is a form of detailed observation

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

Surveys

A

researchers ask series of questions about topic they’re studying
PROS: private information, tremendous amount of data on very large group of people
CONS: have to be careful about participants, people don’t always give accurate answers, have to be careful about wording of questions

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

Representative Sample

A

randomly select people from group researchers are interested in

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

Population

A

entire group in which researcher is interested in

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

Participants

A

people who are a part of the study

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

Courtesy Bias

A

deliberately giving the answer they think is more socially correct rather than their true opinion so that no one gets offended

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

Correlation

A

measure of the relationship between 2 or more variables

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

Variable

A

anything that can change or vary

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
22
Q

Correlation Coefficient

A
  • represents the direction of the relationship and its strength
  • represented by “r”
  • if positive –> the 2 variables increase in the same direction
  • if negative –> inverse relationship
  • number always ranges between +1.00 and -1.00
  • number closer to +1.00 is strong positive correlation
  • number closer to -1.00 is strong negative correlation
  • if number is closer to zero it is weaker
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
23
Q

Operational Definition

A

specifically names the operations (steps/procedures) that the experimenter must use to control/measure variables in the experiment

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
24
Q

Independent Variable

A

variable that’s manipulated

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
25
Q

Dependent Variable

A

response of participants that’s measured

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
26
Q

Hawthorne Effect

A

participants’ behavior is altered as a result of being a part of the experiment

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
27
Q

Confounding Variables

A

variables that interfere with each other and their possible effects on some other variable of interest

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
28
Q

Experimental Group

A

exposed to independent variable

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
29
Q

Control Group

A

gets not treatment or placebo

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
30
Q

Random Assignment

A

each participant has equal chance of being assigned to each condition

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
31
Q

Placebo Effect

A

the expectations and biases of the participants in a study can influence their behavior

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
32
Q

Placebo

A

harmless substitute which has no medical effect

33
Q

Experimenter Effect

A

when researcher is measuring dependent variable, they could unintentionally give participants clues about how they’re supposed to respond

34
Q

Single-Blind Study

A

participants are “blind” to treatment they receive

35
Q

Double-Blind Study

A

participants and experimenters are “blind” to treatment participants receive

36
Q

Stereotype

A

set of characteristics that people believe is shared by all members of a particular social category

37
Q

Basic Research

A

research for knowledge

38
Q

Applied Research

A

immediate application of research/social issue being addressed

39
Q

Ethnocentrism

A

being biases based on your own ethnicity

40
Q

Ethical Treatment

A

people who volunteer for a study will be able to expect that no physical or psychological harm should come to them

41
Q

Institutional Review Boards (IRBS)

A
  • groups of psychologists or other professionals who look ever each proposed study and judge it according to its safety and consideration for research participants
  • usually at universities because that is where most psychological research is done
  • they look at all aspects of projected study (written material that explains the research, potential subjects, equipment used in study)
42
Q

Common Ethical Guidelines

A

1) rights and well-being of participants must be weighed against study’s value to science
2) participants must be allows to make an informed decision about participation
3) deception must be justified
4) participants may withdraw from study at any time
5) participants must be protected from risks or told explicitly of risks
6) investigators must debrief participants
7) data must remain confidential
8) if for any reason study results in undesirable consequences for participant, researcher is responsible for detecting and removing, or correcting, these consequences

43
Q

Informed Consent

A

researchers using participants under 18 have to have their parents informed and have them give consent

44
Q

Debriefing

A

participants have to be told after study the true nature of the study, expectation of results, and if deception was used why it was necessary

45
Q

Animal Research Pros

A
  • animals have shorter life-span –> looking at long-term effect is easier
  • animals are easier to control (diet, living arrangement, genetic relatedness)
  • animals engage in simpler behavior –> easier to see effects of manipulations
  • animals can be used in ways that researchers can’t use people (researchers avoid exposing animals to unnecessary pain and suffering)
46
Q

White Laboratory Rats

A

recognized species different from ordinary rats because it was bred with its own kind so that each white rat is a genetic “twin” of all the others

47
Q

Experiment

A

only way to determine cause of behavior by manipulating variable
PROS: can find causal relationship, researcher controls everything
CONS: might be artificial behavior

48
Q

Statistics

A

branch of math that’s concerned with the collection and interpretation of data from samples

49
Q

Descriptive Statistics

A

way of organizing numbers and summarizing them so that they can be understood

50
Q

Measures of Central Tendency

A

number that best represents central part of frequency distribution

51
Q

Measures of Variability

A

used to indicate how spread out data are (tightly packed or widely dispersed)

52
Q

Frequency Distribution

A

table or graph that shows how often different numbers, or scores, appear in a particular set of scores

53
Q

Histogram

A

bar graph

54
Q

Polygon

A

line graph; allows researchers to see shape of a set of data easily

55
Q

Central Tendency

A

data points in area with highest frequency

56
Q

Variability

A

data points in area with lower frequency

57
Q

Normal Curve/Bell Curve

A

used as a model for standard deviation

58
Q

Skewed

A

distribution is not even; scores are concentrated toward one side of the distribution

59
Q

Negatively Skewed

A

tail to the left

60
Q

Positively Skewed

A

tail to the right

61
Q

Bimodal Distribution

A

frequency polygon shows 2 high points rather than 1; mean, median, and mode are useless

62
Q

3 Measures of Central Tendency

A
  • mean
  • median
  • mode
63
Q

Mean

A

average

64
Q

Median

A

score that falls in the middle of an ordered distribution of scores

65
Q

Mode

A

most frequent score is taken as central measure

66
Q

Outliers

A

values that are extreme; distort accuracy

67
Q

When Distribution is Skewed

A
  • mean is pulled to direction of tail of direction
  • mode is highest point
  • median is between mean and mode
68
Q

2 Measures of Variability

A

range and standard deviation

69
Q

Range

A

difference between highest and lowest scores in the set of scores

70
Q

Standard Deviation

A

can’t be negative; how similar your data is together (clumped or spread out); the smaller the better (mean is useful indication of data)

71
Q

Z Score

A

how many standard deviations you are away from the mean

72
Q

Inferential Statistics

A

allow researchers to draw conclusions/inferences about results of research and about whether those are only true for specific group in study or if results can be generalized to larger population

73
Q

Statistic Significance

A

way to test differences to see how likely differences are to be real

74
Q

Significant Difference

A

not due to chance because it’s too important

75
Q

T-Test

A

testing if results are statistically significant

76
Q

p is less than or equal to 0.05

A

the data is significant and you can draw conclusions that your independent variable caused your dependent variable

77
Q

F-Test / Analysis of Variance

A

determines if 3+ means are different from each other; can also evaluate more than 1 independent variable at a time

78
Q

Chi-Square

A

compares frequencies of proportions between groups to see if they are different

AP Psychology (12 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2024 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions