Week 2 Flashcards
What is a population
entire group of people of interest (e.g., all PSYC1010
students at York)
How did prefrontal lobotomies occur and what was it for ?
Used to treat schizophrenia and other severe
mental disorders
* Severed the fibres connecting the frontal lobe
and thalamus
What is a sample
smaller group of people, drawn from the population, who
participate in the study (e.g., a group of 20 students who actually do
your study
What is random selection and why is random selection important?
Choosing participants from a larger
population in such a way that every
person has an equal chance of being
selected
* Helps to ensure sample accurately
represents population
* Important for studies seeking
generalizability
What is operational definition
Translating your research question into specific, testable procedures that can be measured & observed
Name all methods of research
Naturalstic observation
Case Study
Self report measures and surveys
Correlational designs
Experimental designs
What is naturalstic observation + advantages and disadvantages
Watching behaviour in
in a natural/real world
setting..
Advantage : High external validity (generalizable)
* Rich, detailed information
* Sometimes the only possible option
Disadvantage : Lack of control
* Time and resource consuming
* Observer bias
* Can’t draw cause & effect conclusions
Case study, and advantage + disadvantage
An in-depth analysis of a single person or setting. Includes detailed
descriptive accounts of behaviour, history and other factors
- Qualitative data
Common when studying rare, unusual or noteworthy phenomena (lowfrequency) - E.g., brain injuries, medical/clinical diagnosis, rare diagnosis
Advantages
* Rich, detailed descriptions and
data
* Sometimes the only possible
method
Disadvantages
* Low external validity
* Researcher bias
What are self report methods + examples
Surveys & questionnaires, interviews
self-report methods involve collecting data
via asking participants to describe their own
behaviours, attitudes, views, perceptions
Advantages and disadvantages of survey questionnaires
Advantage : * Affordable & efficient
* Large samples
* Many different variables
* Anonymity
* ”Snapshot” of how a group of people think/behave at a given time
* Can inform policy, lawmakers, public agencies
Disadvantages :
Assumption is that people answer honestly and provide meaningful
responses BUT:
- Careless/random responding
- Misunderstanding questions
What is response bias and social desirability
Response bias: tendency for participants to respond inaccurately or
untruthfully
- Social desirability: “faking good”, responding in a way that presents
them in a positive light
What is reactivity ?
Reactivity is a concern across self-report, behavioural & physiological
How do you choose a measure
- Think about your operational variable and research question / hypothesis
- Make your own measure or use established
- What is the cost of the measure ?
- What is the quality of the measure
What do you use to evaluate measures ?
Reliability
* Consistency of measurement
Validity
* Extent to which a measure assesses what it claims to measure
* A test must be reliable to valid, but a reliable test can still be
completely invalid
What is reliability ?
Reliability refers to the consistency of a measure. A test is reliable if it
gets the same result repeatedly.
* Test-retest reliability
* Interrater reliability
What is test retest reliability ?
How consistent is the measure
across time points?
* Test-retest correlation:
correlation b/w scores at Time 1
and 2
What is inter rater reliability?
How consistent is the measure
across different raters?
* Cohen’s kappa: extent of
agreement between raters
Example of inter rater reliability
Feline preference behaviours
Watch the participant interact with the cat and record how many times
they engage in the following feline preference behaviours such as:
* Petting the cat
* Making cute faces at the cat
* Giving the cat treats
Do raters have similar scores ?
What is validity
Validity refers to how well a measure measures the variable its
When is a measure high validity ?
a measure is valid (high validity) if it seems to actually measure what
the construct is designed to measure
What is correlational/non experimental method
- Examine the strength of relationship between variables
- Variables observed, but not manipulated
- Correlation coefficient range from -1.0 to +1.0 (positive, negative, or
zero) - Higher value means stronger relationship
Explain correlation vs causation
Just because two things are related (e.g., A + B) does not mean that
one thing causes the other!
- Many possible explanations
- Determining causation is only possible through experimentation!
Pro and con of correlational/non experimental designs
Advantages
* Can establish trends across large amounts of data
* Good for describing behaviour
* Can be used to predict future behaviour
* Sometimes necessary due to ethical issues
Disadvantages
* Cannot infer causal direction
* Third-variable problem (aka confounding variable
What is a third variable/confounds in correlation
A third variable is an outside factor that influences both variables,
potentially creating a false or misleading association between them
What is the experimental method ?
Research designs that focus on determining causal influence between
variables
* At least one variable is manipulated, one is measured or observed
* Random assignment of participants to experimental or control group
What does IV and DV stand for ?
Independent variable (IV): manipulated by researcher, causes change in
other variable (different levels = different experimental conditions)
Dependent variable (DV): affected by changes in IV; is measured by
researcher
What is the control condition
Basis for comparison, lacks any treatment or manipulation of the IV
What is placebo effect
Improvement because you expect
improvement
* Subjects must be blind (unaware of
which treatment they receive)
What is nocebo effect
Harm resulting from the expectation of harm
What is expectancy effect ?
- Researchers’ hypotheses lead them to
unintentionally bias outcome - Double-blind designs prevent this
What is demand characteristics
Cues that participants pick up allowing them to
guess the researcher’s hypothesis
* Disguising the study’s purpose can decrease this
What is replication and explain the two types
Replication is the repetition of
findings previously presented
or published.
§ There are two types of
replication:
§ Exact or direct replication
§ Conceptual replication
What is informed consent
Potential participants should be informed in
advance of all aspects of the research that may
influence their decision to participate
What is protection from harm and discomfort
- Psychologists must take reasonable steps to avoid harm to research
participants - E.g., not harm them, not cause psychological distress, provide them
with counseling services etc
When is deception required ?
Required in cases where knowing the true purpose would change
their behaviour of responses (e.g., the bystander effect)
* Are not told the purpose of the study
* Misled (given a false purpose) OR not told
