Chapter 1: Research and Research Methods

Question 1

Experience, Intuition, and Authority all have limitations as means of gathering evidence for behaviour. The preferred alternative is ___________, which uses evidence from senses as the basis for conclusions.

Answer 1

Empiricism.

Question 2

The 5 steps of the scientific method are

Answer 2

Identify question, Form hypothesis, test hypothesis, Analyze data, Build body of knowledge.

Question 3

What is a variable?

Answer 3

A characteristic that can vary.

Question 4

What is an operational definition

Answer 4

Definition of a variable/concept in terms of specific procedures used to produce/measure it.

Question 5

A factor that may affect results of a self-report is ________ bias

Answer 5

Social desirability.

Question 6

Observational studies need reliable ___________ for consistent coding of observations and reliable results

Answer 6

operational definitions.

Question 7

What are demand characteristics

Answer 7

Aspects of an observational setting that make subjects behave as they think they should (social desirability bias)

Question 8

Three kinds of psychological tests are

Answer 8

Personality tests, intelligence tests, neuropsychological tests

Question 9

___________ Research seeks to explain how an individual behaves, especially in natural environments

Answer 9

Descriptive.

Question 10

Advantages of naturalistic observation include

Answer 10

Rich description of behaviours, avoids demand characteristics.

Question 11

Disadvantages of naturalistic observation include

Answer 11

Cannot inform person that they’re being observed, long period of observation to get single measure of desired behaviour.

Question 12

Three kinds of descriptive research are

Answer 12

Case study, naturalistic observation, surveys.

Question 13

________ is the set of all individuals about whom we seek to form a conclusion, __________ is the subset of individuals drawn from set

Answer 13

Population, sample.

Question 14

A _________ accurately reflects the important characteristics of the population

Answer 14

representative sample

Question 15

With _____________ every member of population has an equal chance of being selected for sample

Answer 15

simple random sampling

Question 16

Correlational research (can/can’t) determine causation

Answer 16

can’t

Question 17

The correlational coefficient ranges from ___ to ___

Answer 17

-1 to 1

Question 18

In a positive correlation, the decrease of one variable is associated with the (increase/decrease) of the other variable.

Answer 18

decrease

Question 19

If no correlation is observed, the corresponding correlation coefficient would be

Answer 19

0

Question 20

Two disadvantages of correlational research are

Answer 20

It cannot infer causation, relationships may be due to a third variable.

Question 21

The __________ variable is manipulated by the experimenter in experimental research

Answer 21

independent

Question 22

The ___________ variable is the measured variable of study in experimental research

Answer 22

dependent

Question 23

What is the difference between a between subjects/groups and within subjects/groups design?

Answer 23

Between subjects design exposes each group to different treatments of independent variable, Within subjects design exposes each group to all treatments of independent variable.

Question 24

Participants in research must provide ___________ prior to the study, and have ____________ of their results for it to be deemed ethical.

Answer 24

informed consent, privacy/confidentiality