Week 2 Flashcards
Precisely define what we mean by a particular behavior in order to measure it
Operational Definition
A statistical analysis of a large number of studies to get a better sense of a phenomenon than just a single study could provide
Meta-analysis
___ experiments - Environments are artificial but most variables are closely controlled
Laboratory
___ experiments - Studying subjects in their natural environment. Environments are more authentic, but many variables can not be controlled.
Field
___ observations - Observing individuals in their natural environment in order to make correlations/predictions.
Naturalistic
Individuals might behave differently in the presence of an observer
Reactivity/Hawthorne Effect
All of the people that a scientist is interested in for a particular study
Population of interest
A subset of the population of interest
Sample
Portion of the population of interest that reflects the population as a whole. Often achieved with a random sample to avoid sampling bias.
Representative Sample
Representative samples are portions of the population of interest that reflects the population as a whole. Often achieved with a ___ sample to avoid ___ bias.
Random sample
Sampling bias
Study of different groups of people of different ages
Cross-sectional designs
Historical factors that influence an age group might be responsible for the outcome of a study, not actual differences
Cohort effects
Study the same group at different points in time.
Longitudinal design
Groups may figure out how to take a test, and therefore do better on subsequent offerings
Practice effects
Individuals disappear.
Attrition
The extent to which a study actually measures the concept it is supposed to measure.
Validity
How consistent a measurement is
Reliability
How likely it is that 2 people take the same measurement and get the same outcome
The consistency of an operational measure across time and observers (inter-rater)
Inter-rater reliability
Help us to understand patterns in data, but can’t tell us if the patterns or differences between groups are meaningful
Descriptive Statistics
Looks at how many subjects belong in each category
Frequency Distribution
