Research and Statistics (One)

Question 1

scientific method

Answer 1

system for reducing bias and error in the measurement of data

Question 2

five steps of the scientific method

Answer 2

1. perceiving the question
2. forming a hypothesis
3. testing the hypothesis
4. drawing conclusions
5. report your results

Question 3

perceiving the question

Answer 3

derived from goal of description

Question 4

hypothesis

Answer 4

a tentative explanation for the behavior seen

Question 5

forming a hypothesis

Answer 5

related to goals of description and explanation

Question 6

confirmation bias

Answer 6

people have a tendency to notice only things that agree with their view of the world

Question 7

testing the hypothesis

Answer 7

goal of getting explanation for behavior

Question 8

drawing conclusions

Answer 8

goal of prediction

Question 9

report results

Answer 9

do it, need to so reliable study

Question 10

replicate

Answer 10

people can do exactly same study over again and get the same results

Question 11

descriptive methods

Answer 11

naturalistic observation, laboratory observation, case studies, surveys

Question 12

naturalistic observation

Answer 12

studying people/animals in their natural habitat

advantages: realistic picture of bx
disadvantages: subject to effects/biases, each setting unique—can’t generalize

Question 13

observer effect

Answer 13

animals or people who know they are being watched will not behave normally, means observer must hide from view often

Question 14

participant observation

Answer 14

when researchers become participants in a group to do research on the group

Question 15

observer bias

Answer 15

when person doing observing has particular opinion about what they expect to see and only recognizes actions that support their expectation

Question 16

blind observers

Answer 16

one way to avoid observer bias
people who don’t know what the research question is and therefore have no preconceived notions about what they should see

Question 17

lab observation

Answer 17

in a lab

advantages: more control, can better design setting
disadvantages: artificial behavior

Question 18

case studies

Answer 18

one individual studied in great detail

advantages: huge amount of detail, only way to get certain info
disadvantages: can’t generalize, vulnerable to bias

Question 19

surveys

Answer 19

ask series of questions

advantages: get at private information, can collect huge amounts of data on large group of people
disadvantages: have to be careful about group surveyed, people don’t always answer honestly, hard to find good wording

Question 20

representative sample

Answer 20

a group of people representative of a certain population

Question 21

population

Answer 21

the entire group in which the researcher is interested

Question 22

participants

Answer 22

people who are part of the study

Question 23

courtesy bias

Answer 23

when people deliberately give the answer they think is more socially correct rather than their true opinion so that no one gets offended

Question 24

methods that allow researchers to know more than just description of what happened

Answer 24

correlation and experiment

Question 25

correlation

Answer 25

a measure of the relationship between two or more variables

Question 26

variable

Answer 26

anything that can change or vary

Question 27

correlation coefficient

Answer 27

represents the direction and strength of a relationship
r
-1 less than or equal to r less than or equal to 1

Question 28

direction

Answer 28

inverse (negative) or direct (positive) relationship

Question 29

numbers

Answer 29

closer to abs value of 1 is stronger, closer to 0 is weaker

Question 30

correlation and causation

Answer 30

correlation does not prove causation

Question 31

experiment

Answer 31

when researchers deliberately manipulate the variable they think is causing some bx while holding all the other variables that might interfere with the experiment’s results constant and unchanging

Question 32

how to select

Answer 32

randomly selection from a population determined by researchers

Question 33

operational definition

Answer 33

definition that specifically names the operations that the experimenter must use to control or measure the variables in the experiment
specific
include measurement
allow experimenters to have same working definition of term(s)

Question 34

independent variable

Answer 34

variable that is manipulated

independent of anything participants do

Question 35

dependent variable

Answer 35

response of participants

depends on independent variable

Question 36

hawthorne effect

Answer 36

when the behavior of the experiment participants is altered as a result of being a part of the experiment or study itself

Question 37

confounding variables

Answer 37

variables that interfere with each other and their possible effects on some other variable of interest

Question 38

best way to control for confounding groups

Answer 38

have two groups of participants randomly assigned by the experimenter

Question 39

experimental group

Answer 39

the group that is exposed to the independent variable

receives experimental manipulation

Question 40

control group

Answer 40

group that gets either no treatment or some kind of treatment that should have no effect
used to control for the possibility that other factors might be causing the effect

Question 41

random assignment

Answer 41

of participants to groups

best way to ensure control over other interfering variables

Question 42

extraneous variables

Answer 42

interfering variables

Question 43

alzheimer’s disease

Answer 43

a form of mental deterioration that occurs in some people as they grow old

Question 44

placebo effect

Answer 44

the expectations and biases of the participants in a study can influence their behavior
if placebo effect, control group shows changes in dependent variable even though only received placebo

Question 45

placebo

Answer 45

a harmless substitute for the real thing that has no medical effect
often given to the control group

Question 46

experimenter effect

Answer 46

when the behavior of the experimenter causes the participant to change his or her response pattern

Question 47

single blind study

Answer 47

when participants are blind to treatment they receive

Question 48

double blind study

Answer 48

neither participants nor person(s) measuring the dependent variable know who got what