Chapter 9 Glossary

Question 1

What is accessible population?

Answer 1

The subset of a target population that is available to the researcher and from which the subset is drawn.

Question 2

What is ad hoc sample?

Answer 2

Sample of participants drawn from an accessible population. The ad hoc sample should be described to define the limits of generalsiability.

Question 3

What is automation?

Answer 3

Use of equipment to present stimuli and record participants’ responses. Automation increases precision in data gathering and minimises experimenter bias.

Question 4

What is balanced placebo design?

Answer 4

A 2x2 factorial design developed in alcohol research in which the factors are 1) what the partciipants consume and 2) what the participants are told they are consuming. This design seperates the pharmological and expectation affects of alcohol.

Question 5

What is base rate?

Answer 5

Naturally occuring frequency of an event or condition.

Question 6

What is blind?

Answer 6

When the researcher and/or participant are unaware of information that may bias their responses.

Question 7

What is conceptual replication?

Answer 7

Repeating a study using different operational definition.

Question 8

What is a control group?

Answer 8

A group of participants that serves as a basis of comparison for other groups. The ideal control group is similar to the experimental group on all variables except the independent variable that defines the group.

Question 9

What is control?

Answer 9

Control in research.

Question 10

What is deception?

Answer 10

Procedures used in research to hide the true nature of the study. Ethical use of deception requires complete debriefing at the end of the study.

Question 11

What is double blind procedure?

Answer 11

Research procedure in which neither the researcher nor the particpants know to which condition the participant. was assigned.

Question 12

What is exact replication?

Answer 12

Repeating a study by using exactly the same procedure used in the original study.

Question 13

What is experimental design?

Answer 13

In experimental design, participants are randomly assigned to groups and ll appropriate control procedures are used.

Question 14

What is experimental group?

Answer 14

Groups defined by a specified level of the independent variable.

Question 15

What is free random assignment?

Answer 15

Assigning participants to groups so that the assignment of any given participant has no effect on the assignment of any other participant.

Question 16

What is general population?

Answer 16

A defined set of objects or events.

Question 17

What is kappa?

Answer 17

Index of interrater agreement that adjusts for chance agreement.

Question 18

What is matched random assignment?

Answer 18

Experimental procedure in which participants are matched on relevant variables and a set of matched individuals is randomly assigned so that one member of the set appears in each of the conditions of the study.

Question 19

What is objective measure?

Answer 19

Any measure that requires little or no judgement on the part of the person making the measurement.

Question 20

What is participant assignment?

Answer 20

Assigning participants to conditions either randomly or on the basis of preexisting variables.

Question 21

What is participant selection?

Answer 21

Participant used to select participants for a research study.

Question 22

What is percent agreement?

Answer 22

A measure of interrater reliability in which the percentage of times that the raters agree is computed.

Question 23

What is placebo?

Answer 23

An inert treatment that appears identical to the experimental treatment.

Question 24

What is the principle of initial equivalence?

Answer 24

The necessity of having experimental groups equal on the dependent measure before any manipulation occurs.

Question 25

What is random sampling?

Answer 25

Procedure for selecting participants in which each participant has an equal chance of being selected and the selection of any one participant does not affect the probability of selecting any other participant.

Question 26

What is randomising within blocks?

Answer 26

A control procedure to reduce sequence, which involves using a block of one trial from each condition and randomising participant assignment to these conditions before going on to the next block.

Question 27

What is random-number generator?

Answer 27

Computer program that generates random sequences of numbers.

Question 28

What is representative sample?

Answer 28

Sample of participants that adequately reflects the characteristics of the population.

Question 29

What is a single blind procedure?

Answer 29

Research procedure in which the researcher is unaware of the condition to which each participant is assigned.

Question 30

What is statistically equal?

Answer 30

Groups are statistically equal when the small diferrences that do exist are the result of sampling error.

Question 31

What is stratified random sampling?

Answer 31

Sampling in which a population is divided into narrow strata, and participants are selected randomly from each strata.

Question 32

What is systematic replication?

Answer 32

Repeating a study with small, theory-based procedural changes.

Question 33

What is a table of random numbers?

Answer 33

A table containing randomly generated numbers.

Question 34

What is target population?

Answer 34

Population to which we hope to generalise the findings.