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PSYCH 100 > Week 2 > Flashcards

Week 2 Flashcards

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1
Q

What are five characteristics of good scientific research?

A

Measurable data that is valid and reliable, results can be generalized, unbiased, available to the scientific community, the research can be replicated.

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2
Q

What is a scientific study?

A

A scientific study starts by asking a testable research question; collecting and examining data (ensuring it is both reliable and valid); using statistical methods to make inferences about significance; and drawing conclusion that are then shared with the scientific community.

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3
Q

Dependent variable

A

Depends on another variable; measured.

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4
Q

Independent variable

A

What is manipulated in the experiment; control and change.

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5
Q

Plant growth what is the dependent and independent variables?

A

Dependent variables: amount of plant growth
Independent variables: Sunlight, amount of water, fertilizer, etc.

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6
Q

What is an operational definition and give examples

A

Operational definition is how we intend to measure this concept. (I.e. what scale, what instrument, what measurement system)

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7
Q

What is validity?

A

How well a measurement measures what it is supposed to measure.

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8
Q

Internal validity

A

The degree to which a cause-effect relationship has been
unambiguously established.

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9
Q

External validity

A

The degree to which a finding generalizes from the specific sample and context of a study to some larger population and
broader settings.

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10
Q

How to test for external validity?

A

Repeat experiments

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11
Q

What is face validity?

A

Measuring what you are supposed to measure.

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12
Q

What is a confounding variable?

A

An unknown variable that skews the results of a study.

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13
Q

What is reliability?

A

Reliability means that you get the same results each time you use the instrument. Reliability= Dependable

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14
Q

Why is replication important?

A

Replication is important, because fluke/random events happen all the time

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15
Q

How can you ensure that the sample of people in a study is generalizable (representative) to the whole population?

A

Random samples

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16
Q

What is a qualitative study?

A

Qualitative studies gather observations, without attempting to examine the relationships between variables.

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17
Q

What is a case-study?

A

A case-study is an in-depth examination of a group, event, person or animal tp gain insight on a phenomena (experiences, behaviors, etc.)

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18
Q

What is the issue with case studies or descriptive studies?

A

Little generalization- limited in that they can’t draw predictions or causal inferences.

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19
Q

What is a correlational study?

A

Correlational studies examine the relationship, or association, between variables.

20
Q

Why can’t a causal inference be drawn in a correlational study?

A

Casual inference cannot be drawn because a correlational study does not control for all other variables.

21
Q

What is the correlation coefficient?

A

The correlation coefficient is a descriptive statistic that is used to illustrate the strength and direction of a relationship/ correlation (I.e. the association) between two variables.

22
Q

What is the range between the coefficients and what does it mean when it’s at each range?

A

-1 to 1 and the closer the correlation means the closer to the values of –1 and 1. -1= perfect negative correlation 1= perfect positive correlation and 0 is no relation

23
Q

What is a positive correlation?

A

A positive correlation means that as one variable increases, the other increases or the other way around.
1 is a strong positive correlation

24
Q

What is a negative correlation?

A

A negative correlation means that as one variable increases, the other decreases.
-1 is a strong negative correlation

25
Q

What does an experimental study do?

A

Experimental studies attempt to isolate the effect of one or more variables (independent variables) on another variable (dependent variable) it can do this because of random assignment.

26
Q

What is the only study that causality (cause and effect) can be inferred and why?

A

Experimental studies establish cause-and-effect relationships by controlling for confounding variables through random assignment.

27
Q

What do experimental designs focus on and what are they?

A

Experimental designs can be within subjects or between subjects.
Within subjects views the change caused by the independent variable are viewed within single individuals.
Between subjects views the change in different groups.

28
Q

What do psychologists often use?

A

Psychologists often use a between-subjects design with an experimental group (group being manipulated) and a control group (a group of similar participants that serves as a baseline comparison)

29
Q

What is a longitudinal study?

A

Longitudinal studies look at the same cohort of people over a long period of time- can provide valuable information but can be costly.

30
Q

What are self-reports or surveys and when are they used?

A

This is used to measure things that are difficult to objectively measure such as feelings, motivations and personal preferences- large participant group with relatively low costs.

31
Q

What is ecological validity?

A

Ecological validity refers to the conditions under which the study is done, and how well they reflect real life.

32
Q

How is real life data collected?

A

Experience-sampling collects self-report data dictated by subjects as they go through their daily life.

Diary method: Complete a questionnaire at the end of the day.

Day reconstruction method: A report given after the fact, through a systematic reconstruction which includes emotional experiences.

Electronically activated recorder: an audio recorder that intermittently records while participants go about their normal life; allows for observation outside of the laboratory in a natural setting.

33
Q

What are some ethical issues?

A

Deception, meant to keep participants blind to the hypothesis, poses an ethical issue.
Who can view the results of the experiment, how their confidentiality be kept.

34
Q

How can you avoid ethical issues?

A

Debrief subjects with informed consent and avoiding coercion (threaten or force).

35
Q

What is the primary means of data analysis?

A

Descriptive and inferential

36
Q

What are descriptive statistics?

A

Descriptive statistics are used to describe the data using numerical terms- most common for central tendency and are based around mean (average), median (middle number) and mode (most common answer).

37
Q

What is the measure of variability?

A

Standard deviation- how much the data varies around the mean.

38
Q

What does greater deviation from the average mean?

A

The greater the deviation from the average, the more variability there is in the scores within the data set (bigger range between the highest and lowest scores).

39
Q

What does normal distribution mean?

A

When a population has an even distribution of scores above and below the mean.

40
Q

What is an inferential statistic?

A

Inferential statistics use a mathematical formula to determine the statistical significance of a given scientific result.

41
Q

What is a p-value?

A

A p-value is used to test the validity of the hypothesis and is the percentage probability of a difference between groups being due to chance- the lower the value the lower the probability of it being by chance.

42
Q

What is the cutoff for a p-value?

A

The cutoff is usually p < 0.05- a 5% chance.

43
Q

What factors affect the statistical significance of a result?

A

The larger the sample size, the greater the statistical significance

The larger the initial difference the greater the statistical significance

The greater the variation in the measures (I.e. measuring someone’s height has less variation than measuring their running speed), the lower the statistical significance.

44
Q

What is null hypothesis?

A

The null hypothesis is that there is no statistical significance.

45
Q

What is a type 1 error?

A

Reject the null- hypothesis when it is actually true (false-positive). When you think there is one and there is not.

46
Q

What is a type 2 error?

A

Fail to reject the null-hypothesis when it is actually false (false-negative). When you think there is not one and there is one

PSYCH 100 (8 decks)

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