Week 3 - Study Guide Vocab

Question 1

Validity

Answer 1

the degree to which a study’s results accurately represent the reality being studied, and are not influenced by other factors

Question 2

Internal Validity - Lab experiment

Answer 2

the degree to which a study can confidently establish a cause-and-effect relationship between variables

Question 3

External Validity - Field experiment

Answer 3

the extent to which the results of a study can be generalized to other populations, settings, and situations beyond the specific conditions of the study itself

Question 4

Attrition

Answer 4

the loss of participants or study subjects from a sample over time

Question 5

Maturation

Answer 5

any natural changes that occur within participants over time during a study

Question 6

Mortality effect

Answer 6

the phenomenon where participants drop out of a study over time

Question 7

History

Answer 7

certain events or factors that have an impact on the independent variable -dependent variable relationship might unexpectedly occur while the experiment is in progress

Question 8

Testing Effect

Answer 8

the phenomenon where taking a pre-test in a study can unintentionally influence the results of a post-test, potentially affecting the accuracy of the research findings

Question 9

Instrumentation

Answer 9

the specific tools, methods, or procedures used to collect data

Question 10

Selection/Assignment bias

Answer 10

a systematic error that occurs when the participants chosen for a study are not representative of the larger population being studied

Question 11

Sampling bias

Answer 11

a situation where the selection process for participants in a study systematically favors certain members of a population over others

Question 12

Fidelity

Answer 12

the extent to which a study is conducted exactly as planned, ensuring that the intervention or treatment is implemented consistently and according to the original protocol

Question 13

Adherence to protocol

Answer 13

the degree to which a study strictly follows the pre-defined procedures and guidelines outlined in its research protocol

Question 14

Agent competence

Answer 14

refers to the knowledge, skills, ability, experience, attitude, style, or other individual differences that may introduce variation in how intervention or treatment specifications are understood, interpreted, and implemented

Question 15

Treatment differentiation

Answer 15

refers to clarity and distinctiveness in the treatment intervention relative to the existing or common context or to a specified control context

Question 16

Generalizability

Answer 16

that is, just because we see the relationship in our sample, does that mean we will see it in other situations or at other times?

Question 17

Equivalence

Answer 17

refers to whether study groups that are to be compared, such as the treatment and control group in an experiment, are comparable on any characteristic that may be related to or influence the dependent variable measure or are probabilistically equivalent in their relationship to the dependent variable prior to exposure to the treatment.

Question 18

Random assignment

Answer 18

The researcher uses a randomization protocol to assign which subjects belong to which group

Question 19

Randomized treatments

Answer 19

that even if there are differences between groups, there is no intentional or systematic bias in which group gets assigned to which condition

Question 20

Matching

Answer 20

the researcher identifies the measurable characteristics of the treatment group and then attempts to identify a non-treatment comparison group that most closely aligns on the characteristics

Question 21

Statistical control

Answer 21

By including measures of characteristics of group members in the statistical analysis, there are mathematical techniques that allow the researcher to partition out the effect due to the characteristics

Question 22

Population validity

Answer 22

the entire group of individuals or entities that a study is aiming to draw conclusions about

Question 23

Ecological validity

Answer 23

the primary question is whether the research setting is representative of the natural setting

Question 24

Subgroup validity

Answer 24

trying to identify relevant subgroup characteristics that may impact the association between an independent and a dependent variable.

Question 25

Field experiment

Answer 25

a research method where a study is conducted in a real-world setting, manipulating variables to observe their effects, thereby prioritizing external validity (generalizability to real-life situations) over the tight control offered by a laboratory experiment

Question 26

Taxonomy of field experiments

Answer 26

a classification system that categorizes different types of field experiments based on the level of control researchers have over the environment and participant awareness

Question 27

Conventional lab experiments

Answer 27

a standard laboratory experiment where researchers tightly control variables in a controlled setting to study the impact of an independent variable on a dependent variable

Question 28

Artefactual lab experiment

Answer 28

a type of field experiment where the study is conducted in a lab setting but uses a non-standard subject pool, meaning participants are drawn from a specific population relevant to the research question

Question 29

framed field experiment

Answer 29

a type of field experiment where the research is conducted in a real-world setting, using the natural environment and tasks of the subjects, while still maintaining a level of experimental contro

Question 30

Natural Field experiments

Answer 30

where the environment
is one where the subjects naturally undertake these tasks and where subjects do not know they are in an experiment.

Question 31

Quasi-experiment

Answer 31

a study design where researchers evaluate the impact of an intervention without randomly assigning participants to treatment and control groups

Question 32

Quasi-field

Answer 32

a study design where researchers attempt to examine a causal relationship between variables in a real-world setting, but without the ability to randomly assign participants to treatment and control groups

Question 33

Triangulation

Answer 33

the practice of using multiple data sources, research methods, theories, or investigators to study the same phenomenon

Question 34

Causal inference

Answer 34

the process of determining whether a relationship between two variables is truly a cause-and-effect relationship, going beyond mere association, and establishing that one variable directly influences another

Question 35

Manipulation/treatment

Answer 35

he act of purposefully changing a variable (usually the independent variable) by the researcher in an experiment, allowing them to observe the effect of that change on another variable (dependent variable)

Question 36

Control

Answer 36

the practice of managing and minimizing the influence of extraneous variables (factors not directly being studied) to ensure that any observed effects are truly due to the manipulated independent variable, thereby strengthening the study’s internal validity

Question 37

Manipulation check

Answer 37

a method used to verify that the independent variable in an experiment is being manipulated effectively