Unit 1 Exam (ch. 1-5)

Question 1

What are the four goals of scientific research?

Answer 1

Description, prediction, determination of cause, and explanation of behavior

Question 2

What is the scientific approach?

Answer 2

Skepticism: findings must be based on careful logic & scientific study

Empiricism: knowledge based on observations, data, collected & analyzed following rules

Falsifiability: good scientific ideas (theories) can be tested; potentially proven false

Peer Review: scientists evaluate each other’s research

Question 3

What are pseudoscience characteristics (6)?

Answer 3

Not typically tested
Methodology is not scientific & validity is questionable
Evidence is anecdotal
Ignores conflicting evidence
Vague & appeals to pre-conceived ideas
Claims are never revised

Question 4

How is applied research and basic research the same?

Answer 4

Not always a clear distinction
Neither is best
Applied research is often guided by basic research
Findings in an applied setting often require more basic research
Basic research is crucial to public policy

Question 5

What is a theory?

Answer 5

a general set of statements
(rules, assumptions, proportions, or principles) used to explain facts

Question 6

What do theories do for us?

Answer 6

Allow us to generate hypotheses
Allow prediction
Provide guidance
Stimulate new research
Act as filters

Question 7

What is a hypothesis?

Answer 7

A testable idea or explanation based on known facts. A research prediction

Question 8

What sources do people use to “know” about the world?

Answer 8

Authority (believing something because an “expert” said it was true)
Intuition (“hunches,” “It’s just obvious,” “gut feeling”)

Question 9

What can be sources of ideas (5)?

Answer 9

Common sense
Observation
Past research
Practical problems
Theories

Question 10

What is the anatomy of a research article?

Answer 10

Abstract
Introduction
Method
Results
Discussion

Question 11

What are variables?

Answer 11

Any measurable/manipulated characteristics for each participant that can change

Question 12

What are the four types of variables?

Answer 12

Situational Variables: characteristics of environment or condition (ex: length of words, # of people in room, time of year

Response Variables: variables that depend on the behavior of the participant (ex: reaction time, questionnaire responses)

Participant/Subject Variables: variables that describe the participants (ex: age, gender, socioeconomic status

Mediating Variables: variables that change between other variables (ex: anxiety- the change relationship between test difficulty and performance

Question 13

What is an operational definition?

Answer 13

A set of procedures to measure or manipulate the concept of interest

Question 14

What are the three claims?

Answer 14

Frequency claims: focus on a single measured variable (no manipulation) (reported as percentage or amounts)

Association claims: “linked to,” “higher risk,” “correlated with,” “more likely,” “tied to,” “goes with”

Casual claims: two variables, with the suggestion that one causes the other (“causes,” “prevents,” “increases,” “may lead to, ““worsens,”)

Question 15

What are the relationships between variables?

Answer 15

Positive linear association: variables change in the SAME direction

Negative linear association: variables change in OPPOSITE direction

Curvilinear association: increases in one variable related to both INCREASES & DECREASES IN ANOTHER

No Relationship/No (zero) association: variables do not influence each other

Question 16

What are the criteria for causation?

Answer 16

Covariation between the two variables
Temporal Precedence
Need to eliminate plausible alternative explanations

Question 17

What is the third variable problem?

Answer 17

Any extraneous, uncontrolled variable that may be responsible for the association observed between two variables.

Question 18

What are the four IV & DV validity?

Answer 18

Construct validity
Statistical validity
Internal validity
External validity

Question 19

What is the Belmont Report (1979)?

Answer 19

Ethical principles & guidelines for the protection of human subjects of research (Balancing beneficence and justice for the respect of persons)

Question 20

What are the pros and cons of psychological research?

Answer 20

Pros: educational, new skill, treatment for a psychological/medical condition, payment/gift, and personal satisfaction.

Cons: psychical harm, stress, loss of privacy/confidentiality, and cost of NOT performing research

Question 21

What is a consent form required to have?

Answer 21

No fine print
Easy to read
No 1st person POV
Contact info provided
Study description
Listed risks and benefits
Confidentiality
Voluntary participation
Incentive

Question 22

What are the problems with getting informed consent?

Answer 22

Some are unable to provide informed consent.

Coercion (ex: prisoners, employees)

Providing all the info about the study may change the results.

Question 23

What counts as a misrepresentation?

Answer 23

Fraud: falsifying data
Plagiarism: misrepresenting other’s work as your own

Question 24

What are the three types of measures?

Answer 24

Self-report (interview, questionnaire, parents responses for child)

Observational

Physiological (recording of biological data)

Question 25

What is the quant measurement scale?

Answer 25

Ordinal: understood ranked order.

Interval: equal distance between measurement units

Ratio: equal distance; true zero

Question 26

What is the reliability of measures

Answer 26

True score & error: every measure has some measurement error!

Test-retest: how do we know a test is reliable? It agrees in itself.

Internal consistency (split half): randomly divide the test in half

Internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha): can look at all of the items & see how we divide the test to see which items go into which half.

Inter-rater: when ratings agree with one another

Question 27

What are the construct validities?

Answer 27

Face validity: the content of the measure appears to reflect the construct being measured

Content validity: the measure must capture all domains (behavioral, emotional, physiological) of the constant

Criterion validity: is the measure related to the theorized outcome? Can it predict the outcome?

Convergent: the measure corresponds to other measures that are used at the same time (scale & behavior) and already exist (compare not well-known, validated scale)

Discriminant validity: the measure should not be influenced by other constructs