PSYC33 Chapter 3-6 vocab

Question 1

Constructs

Answer 1

are hypothetical attributes or mechanisms that help explain and predict behavior in a theory.

Question 2

Operational definition

Answer 2

is a procedure for measuring and defining a construct.

Question 3

Validity

Answer 3

the validity of a measurement procedure is the degree to which the measurement process measures the variable that it claims to measure.

Question 4

Face Validity

Answer 4

is an unscientific form of validity demonstrated when a measurement procedure superficially appears to measure what it claims to measure.

Question 5

Concurrent Validity

Answer 5

the type of validity demonstrated when scores obtained from a new measure are directly related to scores obtained from a more established measure of the same variable.

Question 6

Predictive validity

Answer 6

is demonstrated when scores obtained from a measure accurately predict behavior according to a theory.

Question 7

Construct Validity

Answer 7

requires that the scores obtained from a measurement procedure behave exactly the same as the variable itself.

Question 8

convergent Validity

Answer 8

is demonstrated by a strong relationship between the scores obtained form two different methods of measuring the same construct.

Question 9

Divergent Validity

Answer 9

is demonstrated by using two different methods to measure two different constructs.

Question 10

reliability

Answer 10

The reliability of a measurement procedure is the stability or consistency of the measurement.

Question 11

Test-retest reliability

Answer 11

is established by comparing the scores obtained from two successive measurements of the same individuals and calculating a correlation between the two sets of scores.

Question 12

Parallel forms reliability

Answer 12

if alternative versions of the measuring instrument are used for the two measurements

Question 13

inter rater reliability

Answer 13

is the degree of agreement between two observers who simultaneously record measurements of the behaviors.

Question 14

split half reliability

Answer 14

is obtained by splitting the items on a questionnaire or test in half, computing a separate score for each half, and then calculating the degree of consistency between the two scores.

Question 15

ceiling effect

Answer 15

is the clustering of scores at the high end of a measurement scale

Question 16

floor effect

Answer 16

is the clustering of scores at the low end of a measurement scale.

Question 17

demand characteristics

Answer 17

refers to any of the potential cues or features of a study that suggest to the participants what the purpose and hypothesis is and influence the participants to respond or behave in a certain way.

Question 18

reactivity

Answer 18

occurs when participants modify their natural behavior in response to the fact that they are participating in a research study or the knowledge that they are being measured.

Question 19

informed consent

Answer 19

requires the investigator to provide all available information about the study so that an individual can make a rational, informed decision to participate in the study.

Question 20

deception

Answer 20

occurs when a researcher purposefully withholds information or misleads participants with regard to information about a study.

Question 21

passive deception

Answer 21

is the withholding or omitting of information; the researcher intentionally does not tell participants some information about the study.

Question 22

active deception

Answer 22

is the presenting of misinformation about the study to participants.

Question 23

debriefing

Answer 23

is a post experimental explanation of the purpose of a study that is given to a participant, especially if deception was used.

Question 24

confidentiality

Answer 24

is the practice of keeping strictly secret and private the information or measurements obtained from an individual during a research study.

Question 25

anonymity

Answer 25

is the practice of ensuring that an individual’s name is not directly associated with the information or measurements obtained from that individual.

Question 26

IRB

Answer 26

Institutional Review Board, is a committee that examines all proposed research with respect to its treatment of human participants.

Question 27

IACUC

Answer 27

Institutional animal care and use committee.

Question 28

fraud

Answer 28

is the explicit effort of a researcher to falsify or misrepresent data

Question 29

replication

Answer 29

is repetition of a research study using the same basic procedures used in the original.

Question 30

plagiarism

Answer 30

is the representation of someone else’s ideas or words as one’s own, and it is unethical.

Question 31

population

Answer 31

is the entire set of individuals of interest to a researcher

Question 32

sample

Answer 32

is a set of individuals selected from a population and usually is intended to represent the population in a research study.

Question 33

representativeness

Answer 33

of a sample refers to the extent to which the characteristics of the sample accurately reflect the characteristics of the population

Question 34

biased sample

Answer 34

is a sample with different characteristics from those of the population

Question 35

selection bias or sampling bias

Answer 35

occurs when participants or subjects are selected in a manner that increases the probability of obtaining a biased sample.

Question 36

Sampling

Answer 36

is the process of selecting individuals to participate in a research study.

Question 37

probability sampling

Answer 37

the entire population is known, each individual in the population has specifiable probability of selection, and sampling occurs by a random process based on the probabilities

Question 38

random process

Answer 38

is a procedure that produces one outcome from a set of possible outcomes.

Question 39

non probability sampling

Answer 39

the population is not completely known, individual probabilities cannot be known, and the sampling method is based on factors such as common sense or ease, with an effort to maintain representativeness and avoid bias.

Question 40

Quantitative research

Answer 40

is based on measuring variables for individual participants to obtain scores, usually numerical values, that are submitted to statistical analysis for summary and interpretation.

Question 41

Qualitative research

Answer 41

is based on making observations that are summarized and interpreted in a narrative report.

Question 42

research strategy

Answer 42

is a general approach to research determined by the kind of question that the research study hopes to answer

Question 43

validity

Answer 43

of a research study is the degree to which the study accurately answers the question it was intended to answer

Question 44

external validity

Answer 44

refers to the extent to which we can generalize the results of a research study to people, settings, times, measures, and characteristics other than those used in that study.

Question 45

internal validity

Answer 45

a research study has internal validity if it produces a single, unambiguous explanation of the relationship between two variables.

Question 46

extraneous variable

Answer 46

any variable in a research study other than the specific variables being studied is an extraneous variable.

Question 47

confounding variable

Answer 47

is an extraneous variable that changes systematically along with the two variables being studied.

Question 48

assignment bias

Answer 48

occurs when the process used to assign different participants to different treatments produces groups of individuals with noticeably different characteristics.

Question 49

maturation

Answer 49

When a group of individuals is being tested in a series of treatment condition, any physiological or psychological changes that occurs in participants during the study and influences the participants scores.

Question 50

testing effects or order effects

Answer 50

occur when the experience of being tested in one treatment condition has an influence on the participants’ scores in a later treatment condition.

Question 51

statistical regression or regression toward the mean

Answer 51

is a mathematical phenomenon in which extreme scores (high or low) on one measurement tend to be less extreme on a second measurement.

Question 52

research design

Answer 52

is a general plan for implementing a research strategy.